The virtual signing ceremony makes provision for future collaboration and knowledge transfer in six subject areas of specialism for City’s School for Mathematics, Computer Science and Engineering (SMCSE): medical devices; screw machines; fibre optic sensors; artificial intelligence for supply chain optimisation; Raven (software for finding videos on social media and classifying them as extremist).

Published (Updated )

City, University of London signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Nanjing Economic and Technological Development Zone (NETDZ) on 23rd June 2020.

The agreement, witnessed by over a million viewers online during the 2020 China Artificial Intelligence Summit, makes provision for future collaboration and knowledge transfer in six subject areas of specialism for City’s School for Mathematics, Computer Science and Engineering (SMCSE): medical devices; screw machines; fibre optic sensors; artificial intelligence for supply chain optimisation; Raven (software for finding videos on social media and classifying them as extremist propaganda); and qualeFOAM (software and services for modelling ocean engineering systems).

Professor Stan Newman, City’s Vice-President International, signing on behalf of City, offered his congratulations on the finalising of the agreement during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He added:

City is delighted to formalise our partnership with NETDZ through the signing of this agreement. NETDZ’s regional focus, its commitment to innovation and technical expertise all enable exciting opportunities for joint work.

Minister Counsellor from the UK Chinese Embassy, Mr Shen Jihong; Professor Rajkumar Roy (Dean of the School of Mathematics, Computer Science and Engineering); Professor Qingwei Ma (Professor of Hydrodynamics) and Dr Peter Popov (Associate Dean, International in SMCSE) were present at the virtual signing ceremony.

Innovation

Established in 1992, the NETDZ comprises four points of focus: industry, bonded warehouses, financial trade and comprehensive service.

Three competitive industries – optical display, high-end equipment and biopharmacy – contribute significantly to the development of the area, with an output value of nearly 300 billion yuan ($43.2 billion). Its optical display output value accounts for 70 percent of the Nanjing market. In the first nine months of 2018, the Nanjing zone achieved a regional GDP of 53.7 billion yuan, including an industrial added value of 42.9 billion yuan.

Professor Roy said:

“We are building on our 25 years of partnership with the Nanjing province of China and our partnership with the NETDZ will strengthen our collaboration in award-winning research and development in engineering and computer science at City, commercialisation of technologies, and skills development for industry. This is a partnership to promote cutting-edge technologies and innovation.”

City’s Engineering Departments have had strong and active links to many Chinese Universities and several engineering academics, including Professor Tong Sun and Professor Ma are graduates of premier institutions such as Tsinghua University, Nanjing University, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

In 2019 City’s Professor Ken Grattan OBE was awarded the People's Republic of China Friendship Award.

Please visit this weblink to watch the virtual signing.

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