Bradford shakes hands with China over technology partnership
University of Bradford Professor of Polymer Engineering Phil Coates delivered a keynote address at the recent Chinese Innovation Forum in Beijing – a major annual event in China.
A range of humanoid robots were at the Zhongguancun (ZGC) Innovation Centre to shake hands with delegates.
The University of Bradford is pioneering a number of advanced materials based on polymers, including: microneedles less than a millimetre in length for pain-free drug delivery (due to enter clinical trials in 2026), super-strong elevator ropes and pipes, ’geo-grids’ to stop land erosion, advanced polymer materials such as those used in suitcases and bio-resorbable medical implants.
Professor Coates, director of the University’s Polymer Interdisciplinary Research Centre (IRC) and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, attended the ZGC Forum, which celebrates international collaborations to fund research into cutting-edge materials and technology.
He said: “This was a profoundly significant event that highlights just important our relationship is with China and just how cutting-edge some of the work we do here in Bradford really is.
“Ultimately, this is about forging partnerships based on trust that end up delivering materials and products that change the world for the better.”
Professor Coates watches robots with realistic human faces, which were paraded during the conference.
Polymer research
Professor Coates has led the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Science Bridges China collaboration since 2009, a partnership that led to the formation of the UK-China Advanced Materials Research Institute, which has over 300 academics involved in joint research projects and has already resulted in numerous scientific breakthroughs, principally in healthcare, but with applications in other areas such as engineering, recycling and energy use.
Professor Coates said: “Advanced materials research, including polymer research, has a direct beneficial impact on people’s lives. If you ever need to go into hospital, polymers are used in all kinds of procedures. This conference shows the level of trust we researchers have and the strength of our collaboration. It would be good for our politicians to be able to build on this.”
£9m investment
Since its inception over a decade ago, the Since Bridges China collaboration has resulted in over £9m in research funding (around £6m of which has come to Bradford), 80 research exchanges and over 100 publications in top quality peer-reviewed journals.
Professor Coates attended the conference at the invitation of Fortune Top 500 company Sinopec, which has consistently funded polymer orientation research at the University’s Polymer IRC. He spoke immediately after the President of Sinopec, who gave the first keynote address.
Prof Coates keynote was entitled ‘Cross Boundary Collaboration and International Open Cooperation in the Era of Big Science.’
In 2018, Professor Coates was presented with China’s top scientific award for overseas academics by President Xi Jinping.