UK/China proof-of-concept fund established

The Shanghai skyline: the city’s Jiaotong University is taking part in the scheme.

The scheme will help joint research teams in the UK and China to develop and analyse options for commercialising research findings, thus strengthening the chances of securing commercial investment. This is the first UK–China programme supporting business and academic partners in joint research and technology transfer.

Innovation China UK to be led by the University of London, involves five British and more than ten Chinese higher education institutions. It will fund activities that are essential to securing business investment but are beyond the scope of a typical science or technology research project, enabling UK/China research partners advance projects to the point where they are ready for commercialisation.

The UK is providing £5 million funding from the Higher Education Innovation Fund, which supports knowledge transfer and increased business engagement in universities. China is providing complementary funding through its Ministry of Science Technology.

ICUK will focus on energy, climate change and sustainable technologies, infectious diseases, biomedicine and drug discovery (including traditional Chinese medicine), nanotechnology and material science and space technology.

The partners are Queen Mary, University of London, King’s College London, Nottingham University, Royal Veterinary College, and Southampton University.

Chinese collaborators include the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing University of Aerospace and Aeronautics, Fudan University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, China Ocean University China, Nanjing University, University of Science and Technology China and Xi’an Jiaotong University.