The attraction of European universities for China's smartest firms

Professor David Gann, Vice-President (Development and Innovation) highlights the value of European universities to China's economy.

As Imperial’s President Alice P. Gast leads a College delegation to China to promote education, research and innovation ties, Professor David Gann has written in China Daily about the benefits these partnerships can bring.  

Professor Gann says that the greatest need for China’s most ambitious firms today is research and development, adding that “Arguably the most exciting source for that innovation remains in Europe: Within our world-class universities.

That's why China's smartest firms, like Huawei, CSR and AVIC, are pursuing collaborations with some of the world's great universities, including my own, Imperial College London.”

Stressing what Europe and London in particular have to offer, Professor Gann writes that such firms are attracted by “the large network of high-performing universities, experienced in industrial partnerships and brimming with talent.”

He goes on to write that “universities offer a longer-term perspective to tackle fundamental questions. From climate change to making big data work for society, from aircraft efficiency to personalized healthcare. The challenges are huge, but so are the potential rewards.

“Universities are especially well placed to work on fundamental blue-skies research...  They provide the crucible for completely new areas of science and technology to emerge, like biomedical engineering, data science and synthetic biology, all of which have established major new fundamental research centers at Imperial in the past few years.”

In the piece, Professor Gann also notes the network benefits that European university partners can bring: “You can see this at Imperial Business Partners where major players like Shell, LG, BT, Huawei and GE get access to opinion formers, top academics and each other.

“This collaborative network effect can be seen in smart cities through initiatives like the London DataStore. This mayor of London-led initiative lets anyone see the "pulse" of the capital - and utilize that data in countless ways. Social entrepreneurs, startups and academics are empowering Londoners by mapping tube delays, property prices, crime rates, pollution and health.”

Professor Gann’s full article can be read in China Daily.