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Provost Professor Tim Jones launches our Joint Research Institute in Biomedical Engineering at a ceremony in Suzhou.

Midlands businesses have the opportunity to meet key players in the UK-China biomedical engineering sector as the University of Birmingham stages a major networking event.

Companies from across the region are invited to attend the UK launch of the Joint Research Centre for Biomedical Engineering - a partnership between the University of Birmingham and Southeast University, in Nanjing, China and their respective networks.

The two-day event, which opens on Thursday 18 July, focuses on developing and commercialising new healthcare products by linking innovators, wider industry and professional service support.

It will feature senior representatives from companies with a major involvement in the UK-China healthcare technology sector, such as GE, Philips and United Imaging, as well as Midlands-based leaders in the field such as Hugo Technology and Kimal – both headquartered in Worcestershire.

Event organiser Dr Richard Williams, from the University of Birmingham’s Healthcare Technologies Institute, said: “There are potentially great business opportunities for Midlands companies operating in this sector and we hope that this event will be the first of many to connect regional enterprise with partners in the UK and China.

“For example, there is an opportunity for companies with micro-precision plastics engineering expertise to work with partners in China on developing medical sensing chips that require engineers to work at scales smaller than the thinnest human hair.”

Workshop sessions at the event will introduce market opportunities in China, networks for supporting healthcare innovation and a variety of technologies under development, as well as the intellectual property/legal landscape for UK-China interactions. 

Delegates from UK and China will see medical device and data-driven services that are either ready to enter UK and Chinese markets, or enter those markets pending clearance of well-defined technical or business barriers. The event dovetails with broader business support offered by organisations such as the China-Britain Business Council and the Department for International Trade (DIT).

Professor Jon Frampton, Co-Director of the University of Birmingham’s China Institute, commented: “Our innovative partnership aims to co-develop new healthcare products from technologies emerging from the University of Birmingham and Southeast University and position them well for commercialisation.

“The Joint Centre provides a platform for healthcare technology companies, and their supply chains, in the UK and China to create partnerships across our networks that will help to co-develop new healthcare products or commercialise existing technology. 

“The Centre also helps us to fulfil the University of Birmingham’s vision as a global civic university by training the next generation of scientists and engineers - developing a broader skill-set around the ‘bench-to-market’ process in different regulatory territories.”

Companies wishing to send representatives to the event should contact Dr Williams by email at r.l.williams.2@bham.ac.uk

  • The University of Birmingham is ranked among the world's top 100 institutions. Its work brings people from across the world to Birmingham, including researchers, teachers and more than 6,500 international students from over 150 countries. 
  • The history of collaboration between China and the University of Birmingham dates back almost to the foundation of the University in 1901. The China Institute was created to reflect the University’s extensive academic activities its colleagues undertake in China.