Author: Yu Tao Ran

London local time on the morning of December 8, Shanghai Innovation Center (London) opened for business, the center is located in the "European Science, Technology and Innovation Center" building, will screen, invest, merge and acquisition of technology-based SMEs from the United Kingdom and other European countries, in Shanghai and London to build a bridge between technology transfer, science and technology finance, for the construction of Shanghai! Science and Technology Innovation Centre with global reach provides international resources. On the opening day, the inaugural Sino-British Science and Technology Festival, organised by the National Technology Transfer Eastern Centre, the UK Department for International Trade, the London Development Agency and Cocoon Networks, was held at the European Science, Technology and Innovation Centre, with nearly 100 UK high-tech projects on show, seeking opportunities to collaborate with Chinese companies.

The China-UK Technology Festival Forum was held at the Shanghai Innovation Centre (London). Photo by Science Control

The Shanghai Innovation Centre (London) is located in the European Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation in the City of London's Financial City, a building with a net area of approximately 10,000 square meters, making it the largest urban science, technology and innovation centre institution in Europe. It is operated by Science Control, the first Sino-European cross-border incubator and accelerator with a Chinese background and a platform for equity investment and technology transfer. Mr. Chengfeng Zai, founder and CEO of CQC, introduced that his team has been in the UK for more than three years and has established extensive cooperation with local governments, universities, research institutes, high-tech enterprises and investment institutions, playing the role of Chinese "pioneers" in the field of science and technology innovation in the UK. "In many lists, the UK ranks second in the world in science and technology innovation strength, after the United States. For example, the United States contains 100,000 tons of science and technology gold mines, many Chinese institutions are mining; the United Kingdom has 50,000 tons of science and technology gold mines, but few Chinese institutions to exploit them, so there is a lot of room for China-UK cooperation," Zai Chengfeng said.

European Science, Technology and Innovation Center Building

Currently, the European Technology and Innovation Centre has an occupancy rate of about 70%, including high-tech SMEs in various fields such as artificial intelligence, big data, new materials and new energy, with many candidates waiting to be admitted. The incubator has a roadshow room with multiple iPad Pro's, where startup teams from the UK and other European countries roadshow weekly, which are transmitted via live video feed to investment institutions in China, allowing investors to select their preferred ventures.

According to the introduction, there are not many innovative business model enterprises in Europe, the mainstream is "hard science and technology" entrepreneurial projects, most of which have patents and other intellectual property rights, so KIC usually has to manage intellectual property rights when screening and investing in projects. At present, the company has established cooperative relations with technology transfer agencies of famous universities in the UK, such as Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial College, etc., and is expected to transfer their scientific and technological achievements to Chinese enterprises, or recommended to the Chinese capital market.

With the support of the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission, the National Technology Transfer Eastern Center, in cooperation with Science and Technology Control, will invest in some of the companies that have settled in the European Science and Technology Innovation Center and introduce them to Shanghai and then to the Chinese market. Xie Jihua, president of the National Technology Transfer Eastern Center, revealed that they also intend to participate in the acquisition of a number of European high-tech enterprises to achieve cross-border technology transfer. The Eastern Center's clean technology transfer sub-platform, Yumo Enterprise Management Consulting (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. is also cooperating with Science and Technology Control, preparing to transfer the UK's environmental protection, new energy and other technological achievements to China to serve the implementation of green development concept.

"As one of the global centers of science and technology innovation, London's biggest advantage is that it is very efficient in combining capital and technology." Xie Jihua said that with the establishment of the Shanghai Innovation Center in London, domestic capital is expected to connect efficiently with European technology. In addition to the UK, the Eastern Center has set up the Shanghai Zhangjiang Boston Enterprise Park in Boston, the US, and innovation centers in Singapore and Australia, a global technology transfer network with Shanghai as its hub is taking shape. The Eastern Center also actively participated in international cooperation organizations, hosting the 2016 Global Young Entrepreneurs Summit Shanghai Day during the G20 Summit in Hangzhou; as a member of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Business Council, it participated in the APEC Summit in Lima, Peru, where Xie Jihua had in-depth exchanges with enterprises from the United States, Singapore, Vietnam and other countries for next year's global technology transfer The foundation was laid for the expansion of the network.

Mr. Xie Jihua of the Eastern National Technology Transfer Center delivered a keynote speech.

(Source: Shanghai Observer Title image courtesy of Visual China Photo Editor: Gala Xi)