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Lord Sainsbury of TurvilleSoutheast University Professors, undergraduates and graduate students |
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President, ladies and gentlemen. I am delighted to have this opportunity to speak to you in Nanjing today. This is my fourth trip to China as a Minister and I have for a long time wanted to visit Nanjing in order to see for myself the very considerable achievements of your scientific and medical institutions, which have a world-wide reputation. We in the UK are very aware of the excellent calibre of students coming from China and this is clearly attributable to the large number of high quality universities in China, such as Nanjing's Southeast University. I am spending this week in China because I see great scope for collaboration between our two countries. The UK has an excellent track record in scientific discovery. We are justly proud of our basic research, whether it is the performance of our most eminent scientists - reflected in the list of Nobel laureates, 44 in the last 50 years - or broader indicators of research performance in the form of academic papers. In the UK we have 1% of the world's population, we do 4.5% of the world's science, produce 8% of the world's scientific papers, and receive 9% of the citations of those papers. In fact UK researchers are amongst the most prolific in the world, producing 16 research papers per $1 million of research funding. As a result, Britain is home to strong science-based industries such as aerospace and pharmaceuticals. 15 out of the world's top 75 medicines were discovered or developed in Britain, and Britain is also the leading European centre for optoelectronics, computer games and mobile telephone software and services. This is largely due to the excellent universities we have in the UK, as well as the importance we place on science education. That is why the Government is committed to strengthening the UK science base. Over the course of our new 3 year planning period, the Science Budget will grow by an average of 10% a year in real terms. As well as funding the science base, we also want to promote technology transfer from our knowledge base to the business sector by promoting stronger links with business and by developing business skills among our most able young scientists and engineers. The Government has initiated a number of schemes to encourage interactions between the science base and business. For example, University Challenge, which has introduced venture capital into universities. Science Enterprise Centres provide undergraduates and graduates in science and engineering with access to entrepreneurial skills. And the £140m Higher Education Innovation Fund provides funding to universities to encourage them to do knowledge transfer. The exciting story that comes out of this is that a transformation has taken place across the UK. There has been a real cultural change in our universities, as witnessed by rapid progress in generating businesses from the science base. 199 spin-off firms were created in 1999-2000, compared to 70 per annum on average in the previous 5 years. When adjusted for their size, UK universities' exploitation performance is comparable with US universities. In fact, the UK sees one spin-off from every $8 million of research money, whereas for the US that figure is only one spin-off per $50 million. So we actually have a pretty good entrepreneurial track record in our universities. A further element of the Government's strategy is to establish a climate where business is encouraged to invest in R&D, and investors are encouraged to invest in small hi-tech enterprises. That is why, in the last two budgets, we have introduced tax credits on R&D expenditure for small and large companies. In addition, to encourage greater levels of investment in small hi-tech companies, capital gains tax on unlisted companies is now only 10% after holding the investment for two years. There are few other places in the world with such an attractive tax regime for hi-tech businesses. The UK hopes to become China's partner of choice for international scientific education and business collaboration. We see the UK as a global hub for research and development. UK is at the leading edge of research and innovation in key hi-tech industries, and in the innovative application of technology in the service sectors. A wide range of courses in all areas of Science and Technology is offered at education institutions in the UK. Every year we welcome applications from scientists in China who wish to join the growing number of Chinese scholars spending time in UK to undertake further research or full academic awards. British education institutions are among the most welcoming in the world in terms of opportunities to enrol on full academic awards, or to work collaboratively on joint academic research. In the last four years, the number of Chinese scholars registered for awards at UK universities rose to around 18,000. The number of postgraduate students is just over half the total. Initially the main engine of growth in academic collaboration were the fields of business and management, accountancy, law, engineering and computer sciences. However, UK institutions have over 37,000 degree courses to offer, and science and technology offer many opportunities for Sino-British academic co-operation to grow and flourish. At the same time, education in the UK can provide excellent opportunities for individuals and institutions from all over the world to engage in practical, personal and professional development. Taught master's courses in UK are usually one year in duration, which maximise use of Chinese scholars' financial resources and time. Research postgraduate courses, while longer in duration than taught courses, offer Chinese scholars the opportunity to work in partnership with world-class researchers and academics. In addition, the number of scholarship opportunities is far larger than commonly thought. Every year, through our Chevening Scholarships scheme, the British Consulate provides a number of scholars from Nanjing with the opportunity to study in the UK. Many students also benefit from the numerous scholarship schemes offered by Universities throughout the UK. Sino-British academic partnerships are already strong and go far beyond student recruitment from China to Britain. Southeast University has already established many academic links in UK, and works successfully with the Universities of Warwick and Nottingham. Meanwhile Nanjing University of Science and Technology enjoys links with the Universities of Sheffield and Central England, and Nanjing University counts among its international partners the Universities of Birmingham, Coventry, East Anglia, Bristol, Durham, Sussex and Nottingham, as well as Queen's University Belfast and Imperial College, London. I also believe that there are very many important opportunities for scientific and technological collaboration between the businesses of our two countries. That is why I am in China this week to open the first ever UK-China High Tech Trade Forum. The strength of the UK interest in developing stronger science and technology and business links with China is shown by the fact that there are over 70 UK participants in the Forum, which include Sir Robin Saxby, the head of ARM, one of our most exciting high tech businesses, Prof. Harry Kroto the Nobel Laureate, Herman Hausser, the head of Amadeus Capital, one of our top venture capital companies, Terry Knibb, the Chief Scientist of BAE Systems, as well as representatives of Vodafone, BT, BP, Unilever and the BBC. In focused Working Groups we will be exploring the scope of the collaboration in areas such as Biotechnology, ICT, Clean Energy Technologies, Nanotechnology, Venture Capital and Science Parks, all areas of great UK strength and all areas of importance for sustainable wealth creation in China. As companies respond to the new challenges of the knowledge driven economy it is essential that Government provide the best framework for scientists and businesses to make international links. As our Prime Minister Tony Blair said in his recent speech to the Royal Society: "Science is both internationally competitive and internationally collaborative. If we are to remain an innovative, forward-looking nation, we need to retain the capacity to do this work both on our own and in collaboration with scientists in other countries." I believe that there are huge opportunities for beneficial collaboration between our two countries in science and technology, education and business. In the UK, we believe that if our society is to be at the forefront of science and technology then we can't be inward-looking and defensive. We believe that the UK is stronger when it collaborates internationally, and with China's entry into the WTO we want to strengthen our relationship with our partners in China, and with in particular Nanjing Southeast University. |
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Other speeches by Lord Sainsbury of Turville
(the following are available from the archive) |
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