Universities boost Europe-China ties

European academics provide cutting-edge help for Chinese entrepreneurs

European universities are playing an increasingly significant role in helping China's entrepreneurs grow their businesses through research and development and commercialization of technology.

They are supplying the Chinese market with top-notch technology and expertise and helping to make those technologies marketable in China, which can also provide business opportunities for Europe.

This trend emerged as one of the key topics at this year's China Britain Business Council annual conference held in London.

One example is the Lancaster China Catalyst program, hosted by the University of Lancaster, which is set up to provide UK companies with dedicated support worth more than 70,000 pounds ($103,500; 98,300 euros) to plan and develop an international collaborative R&D and commercialization project with a Chinese partner.

The university's academics also provide technical assistance to the project, helping the companies adapt existing ones and develop new products, processes and services for the Chinese and global markets.

"One trend we have noticed over the past few years is the increasing willingness of small and medium sized firms to engage with opportunities in China, and we want to support that process," says David Brown, director of the Lancaster China Management Center at the university.

Brown says one benefit to the university in hosting the program is for its students and staff to take part in international entrepreneurial projects.

The university has also created a new degree, a master of science in international innovation, which will give students opportunities to work with the teams on projects as a part of their degree program, supported via a tax-free scholarship of 16,000 pounds over the course of their study.

"China has high strategic importance to our university, and our commitment is long term. As a research-led university, it is therefore important for Lancaster that China is prominently featured in our research," says Brown.

The program will also generate significant benefits for the UK's economy, he says. It is estimated that it will create 240 jobs, help up to 400 UK businesses and boost the economy by 40 million pounds. It also will greatly help UK small and medium-sized enterprises to engage with the Chinese market, given that such businesses generally have fewer resources to do business internationally.

Lancaster University is a major partner of the China UK Entrepreneurship Challenge, alongside the University of East Anglia, University College London and the University of Edinburgh.

This student-based competition, started seven years ago, simulates the real-world process of entrepreneurs soliciting start-up funds from early-stage investors and venture capital firms.

The competition is part of the British Prime Minister David Cameron's Initiative II Connect project, supported by the British Council and the Confucius Institute educational program funded by Hanban, the Chinese government office that oversees the program. The project gives the winners 7,000 pounds cash prizes and an investment opportunity of 250,000 pounds for the best business plans.

Brown says the university experts have supported the contestants with expert advice and guidance, and some of the earlier businesses created from the competition are now doing well by themselves in the market.

A similar competition at the IE Business School in Spain is IE Venture Day, which takes teams of students to different markets to pitch their stories to investors. IE students also compete against local start-ups.

IE Business School is a graduate school in Madrid. It was founded in 1973 under the name Instituto de Empresa and since 2009 has been part of IE University.

Paris de l'Etraz, managing director of the Venture Lab at IE Business School, says the school held the competition in 16 markets last year, and one key location was Shanghai, where the event was held in partnership with Fudan University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

"China is one of the most entrepreneurial markets in Asia because its young people are keen to take risks. This makes it very different from Japan and South Korea, where young people have a fear of making mistakes," De l'Etraz says.

He says the rapid growth of the Chinese economy and fierce competition there has made young people very comfortable with the notion of uncertainty, which creates great entrepreneurship and innovation.

"Universities have a crucial role to play in encouraging this innovation in China. For example, it is important for students of science and engineering subjects to take humanities subjects to broaden their horizons and become comfortable with taking risks and uncertainty."

IE Business School has a close relationship with a wide network of fund managers and investors in China, who it invites to the competition in Shanghai, he says. If they like the participants' pitch, they may then invest in these ideas and help them to develop in the local market.

He says organizing the competition and interacting with the participants has helped him and his colleagues with their academic research, and they in turn give students advice and guidance supported by their research experience and expertise.

The competition has been running for four years, and over the past three years it has been held in Shanghai, one of the earliest markets in which it was established, De l'Etraz says.

Another university keen to introduce its cutting edge technology to China is the University of Oxford. Isis Innovation, the university's technology transfer company, has a fully owned subsidiary company in Hong Kong and four technology centers in China's mainland that introduce global technologies to the Chinese market.

Ji Wenming, a senior consultant for Isis, says his colleagues in China work with Chinese investors to help commercialize the new technologies introduced by Isis, which are from both Oxford University and other places in the world.

"The technology that Chinese companies have a particular interest in are those that not only have a market in China, but also have great potential in the global market," Ji says.

Isis' mainland centers are in Changzhou, Liuzhou, Shenzhen and Suzhou, and each has its own local team that connects with local government, industries and investors to facilitate technology transfers locally.

One example of a University of Oxford spin-off that targets the Chinese market is Oxford MESTAR, founded by Cui Zhanfeng, a professor of bioengineering at the University of Oxford. Set up by Isis, Oxford MESTAR specializes in translational and regenerative medicine while strengthening connections with China. Translational medicine is a relatively new field that helps predict, prevent and diagnose diseases.

"Innovation is an important part to both the UK and Chinese economies, and university research plays a key role in creating the best innovation and technology that respond to industry needs," says Nathalie Cachet-Gaujard, a China business adviser at the China Britain Business Council.

To support this trend, the council has become a strategic partner of Chunhui Cup Pioneering Competition, led by the Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchange.

Started in 2006, the competition aims to boost entrepreneurship among overseas Chinese students and encourage them to establish high-tech enterprises back in China.

Chinese investors' desire to invest in high technology start-ups born out of Western universities' incubators led to the establishment of the Beijing-headquartered International University Innovation Alliance last year.

The alliance's founding members are leading universities in both China and the United States, and it is now looking to build partnerships with more universities globally. In the UK, it is exploring a partnership with the University of Cambridge.

The alliance was set up with the support of Chinese government agencies including the China Investment and Promotion Agency of the Ministry of Commerce, the Torch High Technology Industry Development Center of the Ministry of Science and Technology and the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs.

In three years, the alliance is expected to reach financing of $1 billion for more than 500 start-ups and provide support for 100 universities' incubators, officials say.

Chen BoBiao, chief financial officer of IUIA Investment Management Co, says the alliance was established with the goal of helping Chinese investors invest in the best technology and ideas globally through partnerships with Western universities.

"The alliance is founded on the basis of China's strategy to increase investment in the best technology globally. This will bring us financial returns as well as opportunities to take suitable technology and innovation to China for commercialization."

http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/epaper/2015-04/24/content_20525537.htm