This blog post was published under the 2015 to 2024 Conservative government

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Helena Ou

Senior Science Policy Adviser for FCO Science and Innovation Network in China

Part of Global Science and Innovation Network

28th November 2016 Beijing

UK and China Join Hands in Agri-Tech Innovation

UK China Forum on Agri-Tech Innovation on 6 November opened by Holly White and DG of CRTDC

MOU Signing, witnessed by Michelle McIlveen, Northern Ireland Agriculture Minister and Holly White, Science Counsellor in British Embassy China  

Agriculture has dominated China’s economy for as long as its history can tell. Although its share of GDP dropped to 9% recently, Agri-Tech has become more crucial for the country to feed its 1.4 billion people and tackle its dire environmental challenges. This is reflected in China’s 13th Five Year Plan (2016-2020) which has set aside £3 billion for its national agri-tech programmes. The opportunities for the UK in this sector are numerous.

SIN China delivered a series of high profile events to catalyse UK-China collaboration in Agri-tech at the 23rd Yangling Agricultural Hi-Tech Fair in China on 5-9 November. This is a major event for the Agri-tech sector which attracted 1.7 million visitors this year, both international and from across China. It succeeded in securing business transactions worth RMB116.7 billion (£14 billion). The SIN China team managed a 50 plus UK delegation of researchers and companies, led by Innovate UK and the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs of Northern Ireland.

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UK China Policy Roundtable on Agri-Tech Innovation on 5 November

It was the first time for many UK delegates to visit this small city in central China, an hour’s drive to the Terra Cotta Army and the ancient city Xi’an, but they were too busy to do justice to the tourist attractions. There were two key events for the UK delegation: a roundtable and a forum focussed on UK China Agri-Tech Innovation, both of which involved about 70 key players in China’s agri-tech sector.

The roundtable provided helpful insights from the senior Chinese officials on China’s national plan on agri-tech research, the country’s overall agriculture policy and the encouraging progress of on IP issues. The event culminated in the signing of an MoU between Innovate UK and CRTDC to launch a longstanding cooperation agreement in agri-tech innovation. This will develop partnerships in a range of areas, including big data in agriculture, precision agriculture, intelligent agricultural equipment, crop & animal health and high quality nutritious foods.

The UK China Agri-Tech Innovation Forum on the following day offered a podium for the representatives from 40 UK and Chinese agri-tech agencies and companies. They were chosen from the 130 organisations to present their work to potential partners. As each was given 5 minutes only, the 4 hour morning session was a blur of presentations! Participants commented that the event was an effective networking opportunity, and left with lots of ideas to follow up.

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UK China Forum on Agri-Tech Innovation on 6 November opened by Holly White, Dr. Jia Jingdun Director General of CRTDC and Prof. Zhao Zhong, Deputy Party Secretary of Southwest Agriculture and Forestry University

8 comments on “UK and China Join Hands in Agri-Tech Innovation

  1. This superbly organised visit shone a light on the potential opportunities for collaboration between the UK and the wider agri-tech and agri-food partners in the UK. It is clear that there are shared learning opportunities for all partners in these future collaborations, and I look forward to developing links established during this visit.

    Jonathan – N8 AgriFood Operations Director

  2. Echoing the previous comments – thanks Helena and congratulations to the team (and support staff) for an excellently coordinated and productive visit. We look forward to building on the strong collaborative foundations created between UK Agri-Tech and China during the visit.

    Simon
    Agrimetrics Ltd

  3. Congratulations to the whole team and especially Helena for this excellent work. Agritech is an important priority for the Science and Innovation Network and the UK has lots of expertise to offer.

  4. Many thanks to you Helena and your team for bringing us together. It proved to be a very worthwhile visit from University of Nottingham perspective with plenty to follow up on areas such as collaborative R&D, short courses, studentships and exchange programme to name a few.

    Great also to meet colleagues from across the UK network too.

    ATB

    Amreesh

  5. Well done all this looks as if it was an excellent start to a very promising initiative, well done all

    Many thanks Helena

    Janet

    CEO DIT ATO

Comments are closed.

About Helena Ou

Helena Ou became the Senior Science Policy Adviser for FCO Science and Innovation Network in China in 2014. I follow and report on the development of China’s science policies. I…

Helena Ou became the Senior Science Policy Adviser for FCO Science and Innovation Network in China in 2014. I follow and report on the development of China’s science policies. I am also the lead contact for agriculture, food and water work for SIN China, helping to promote UK China research and policy collaborations in these sectors.

I have worked for British Embassy for 16 years (about 8 years on low carbon work) and lived in Beijing for 25 years. I have a contact database of over 5000 people based in China and another 600 based in the UK. Most of them are government and academic/scientific contacts, an exciting network to engage work with. I love shadow boxing and Chinese traditional medical theories.

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