From May 29th to 31st, the Program Conclusive Meeting (UK-China Science Bridges: R&D on (B) 4G Wireless Mobile Communications) as well as the Inauguration Ceremony of “UK-China Future Wireless Network Joint Research Center” were held in Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, UK.
As the general leader of the program, Professor Wang Chengxiang, who is one of Shandong University’s “Taishan Scholar Overseas Senior Expert” and is currently in School of Engineering and Physical Sciences of Heriot-Watt University, hosted the opening ceremony. Scholars attended and addressed the opening ceremony include Prof. Steve Chapman, President of Heriot-Watt University; Chen Futao, minister-counsellor in the Science&Technology Department of the Chinese Embassy in the UK; Dr Edward Clarke in Research Councils UK (RCUK) as well as Prof. Ji Fei in National Natural Science Foundation(NNSF). Over 60 representatives from 25 UK-China partners participated in the meeting. As one of the chief Chinese cooperative partners of the program, Prof. Yuan Dongfeng and other professors from ISE of our university participated in the meeting on invitation. Yuan also held the post of chairman of the “(B) 4G Key Technology” branch meeting and was specially invited to give a speech for the meeting, namely, “Outlook of Future Wireless Communication”.
The program of “UK-China Science Bridges” was a major bilateral international cooperation program launched by Research Councils UK in 2009, aiming to pushing the forward-looking high-tech research and development between the first-rate universities and enterprises of the two countries, and therefore accelerating the industrialization process. “R&D on (B) 4G Wireless Mobile Communications” has obtained a grant of 1.13 million pounds by British government, as one of the four “UK-China Science Bridges” programs subsidized by the British government.
Certain first-rate universities and enterprises of the two countries which participated jointly in the three-year program of research and development include: ten universities in UK including Heriot-Watt University, University of Edinburgh, UCL, University of York, University of Bristol, University of Sheffield, University of Southampton, etc.; the Mobile VCE co-founded by 11 world top notch IT enterprises such as Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia; 7 Chinese Universities that occupy leading places in the domain of communication including Shandong University, Tsinghua university, Peking University, Southeast University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications; 6 Chinese enterprises including Wireless Communication Center in Shanghai, Huawei Technologies and China Mobile.
The program has obtained plentiful and substantial achievements in areas of cooperative scientific research, talent exchange and cultivation, and (B) 4G wireless mobile communication platform construction in forms of bilateral seminar, visiting scholar exchange, etc.
On the occasion of the conclusion of the program, the Inauguration Ceremony of “UK-China Future Wireless Network Joint Research Center” was held. As the continuation of the “R&D on (B) 4G Wireless Mobile Communications” program, the center plans to conduct cooperative research and development in fields like future wireless communication, aiming to enhance the cooperation and resource sharing between the academic circles and industrial circles of the two countries. The foundation of the center not only signifies the successful close of the three-year “UK-China Science Bridge” program, but also marks a new phrase of the cooperation in wireless communication area between UK and China.
This kind of bilateral or multilateral cooperation with world class universities in the form of major international cooperation program would promote the great-leap-forward development of the “information and communication engineering” subject of Shandong University, and therefore plays a positive role in the realization of the new educational goal of “to activate primarily world class university by 2020”.