Cambridge and Nanjing break ground on 'smart cities' Centre

plc32 — Tue, 10 Sep 2019 04:03:44 +0000

Cambridge Vice-Chancellor Professor Stephen J Toope joined Zhang Jinghua, Party Secretary of Nanjing City Party Committee and Nanjing Deputy Mayor Jiang Yuejian to turn the first soil at the site where the Centre's dedicated building will rise in Nanjing's Jiangbei New Area.

̽��ֱ��Cambridge ̽��ֱ��-Nanjing Centre of Technology and Innovation will establish a home for joint research and innovation in collaboration with the Chinese government, industry and China's global research universities that is dedicated to the future of creating 'smart' cities.

"Here in Nanjing, an ancient city and former imperial capital, we are embarking on a unique enterprise," Vice-Chancellor Toope said at the groundbreaking ceremony. " ̽��ֱ��innovations emerging from this Centre will enable the development of 'smart' cities in which sensors can enable sustainable lifestyles, improve healthcare, limit pollution and make efficient use of energy."

Cambridge and its Chinese partners will share revenue derived from the commercialisation of Intellectual Property (IP) developed at the Centre. It is the ̽��ֱ��’s first overseas enterprise at this scale.

Funded by the Nanjing Municipality for its first five years, the project will have its own dedicated building as a pilot urban development based on high levels of technological innovation.

At the heart of the new Centre’s activities will be research into technologies that support a modern 21st century city with integrated IT, health care and building management. Innovations emerging from the Centre will enable the development of 'smart' cities in which sensors – applied at the individual level and all the way through to the level of large infrastructure – will enable sustainable lifestyles.

As well as supporting health and wellbeing in new cities, the new Centre will help deliver efficient energy use through its academic and entrepreneurial activities.

̽��ֱ��agreement between Cambridge and Nanjing will fund positions in Nanjing, both academic and management, and will allow Cambridge-based academics to engage with specific, long-term projects in Nanjing. It will also support the establishment of a professorship, based in Cambridge, with responsibility as the Centre’s Academic Director.

̽��ֱ��project has been driven by Cambridge’s Department of Engineering, although it is hoped that there will be opportunities to widen participation to other departments and Schools. IP generated by research funded through the Centre will be licensed for commercialisation by Cambridge ̽��ֱ��’s innovation branch, Cambridge Enterprise.

̽��ֱ��Centre will seek to demonstrate the power of collaboration with China’s universities, industry, government and other partners to conduct the kind of academic research of excellence today that will make life better for the city dwellers of tomorrow.

One of the two initial projects already approved is to create a high resolution scanner that can provide a low-cost easily accessible method for examining difficult areas of the body, such as bent spines, without using large and expensive CT scans.

That project will be led by Cambridge Engineering Department Professor Richard Prager, in collaboration with China's Southeast ̽��ֱ�� and established local ultrasonic manufacturer Vinno.

A second identified project led by Principal Investigator Professor Toni Vidal-Puig from Cambridge’s Clinical Biochemistry Department, will study the associated complications of increased obesity in China.

Both themes are closely linked to the focus area of local partner, NIHA (Nanjing International Healthcare Area).

̽��ֱ��Vice-Chancellor was joined at the groundbreaking ceremony by representatives from partners Nanjing ̽��ֱ��, Southeast ̽��ֱ��, Peking ̽��ֱ��. Tsinghua ̽��ֱ��, Fudan ̽��ֱ�� and Zheijiang ̽��ֱ�� as well as the Academic Director of Cambridge ̽��ֱ��-Nanjing Centre, Professor Daping Chu of Cambridge's Electrical Engineering Department, and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for International Relations Eilis Ferran.

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and the Nanjing Municipal Government have broken ground on the Cambridge ̽��ֱ��-Nanjing Centre of Technology and Innovation.

Here in Nanjing, an ancient city and former imperial capital, we are embarking on a unique enterprise.

Vice-Chancellor Stephen J Toope

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Yes

Cambridge and Tsinghua sign joint research initiative

plc32 — Tue, 11 Jun 2019 13:37:34 +0000

Climate change, food security, chronic disease and other global challenges all require the kind of scientific advances that can only be vastly accelerated by combining the research capacity and intellectual power of global research universities.

Tsinghua and Cambridge have a long history of collaboration in the United Kingdom and China. This new strategic research agreement will deepen our relationship and help us scale up our efforts to address real global issues.

Tsinghua created a £200 million Bio-Innovation centre at the Trinity College-owned Cambridge Science Park last year. ̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and Tsinghua have shared an engineering forum since 2013 and there are many other active academic research collaborations in areas such as advanced materials, nuclear engineering or energy and climate policy.

"By focusing on the grand challenges faced by our global communities, such as climate change and emerging technologies, I believe our collaboration will be a powerful engine to drive the academic fusion and synergetic developments between China and UK, as well as with global academic communities,” Tsinghua ̽��ֱ�� Vice-President of Research Professor You Zheng said.

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge is dedicated to seeking out collaborations wherever they offer the prospect of bolstering its mission to contribute to society through the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence.

“We are delighted to enter into this joint research initiative with Tsinghua ̽��ֱ�� which will provide increased momentum to the many existing collaborations between academics at the two universities and provide a framework for setting up new research collaborations in areas of mutual interest,” ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Institutional and International Relations Professor Eilis Ferran said.

Summer 2021 update: Call for proposals 2012/22

With COP26 taking place in Glasgow on 31 Oct – 12 Nov 2021, this initiative is issuing a call to fund collaborative projects that address the challenges relating to the climate emergency and the transition to a zero-carbon future. ̽��ֱ��initiative intends to fund around 10 projects for a project duration of not more than 12 months. ̽��ֱ��deadline for submissions is Friday 5 November 2021.

Find out more

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and Tsinghua ̽��ֱ�� signed a joint research initiative on Monday as part of efforts by both universities to tackle the urgent challenges faced by humanity.

We are delighted to enter into this joint research initiative with Tsinghua ̽��ֱ��

Cambridge Pro-Vice-Chancellor Professor Eilis Ferran

Yes

̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Tsinghua ̽��ֱ��

Cambridge and Nanjing break ground on 'smart cities' Centre

Cambridge and Tsinghua sign joint research initiative

Summer 2021 update: Call for proposals 2012/22