The China-Britain Business Council (CBBC) is organising a tour for UK higher education senior leaders for research and international activities, start-ups, entrepreneurial researchers, and innovators to visit the Greater Bay Area (GBA) between the 9-11 April 2024.
The theme of the tour is Knowledge Exchange Partnerships (KEP). There will be unique opportunities to meet with institutional counterparts, research centres, government departments, research funding bodies, investment funds, supply chain solution providers and other stakeholders in Shenzhen and Zhuhai and gain an in-depth understanding of business opportunities in the Greater Bay Area, including the advantages of bridging businesses worldwide via Hong Kong and Macau.
The delegation programme is designed in response to the growing demand from innovation industries, particularly in the areas of healthcare and medical devices, bio-medical and disease detection, smart hardware manufacturing supply chain, applied computing fintech and sustainable materials.
The tour has been designed following CBBC’s first UK-GBA Conference in November 2023, which attracted over 200 delegates including senior representatives from the British Government, Greater Bay Area local governments and senior representatives from British and Chinese companies based in the UK, mainland China and Hong Kong.
The tour will focus on partner scoping for business, investment and research, the understanding of the latest developments across the GBA and the operational knowledge of setting up businesses in the GBA through deployment of appropriate models and routes to market according to actual business needs.
Dates and Locations:
Tuesday 9 April 2024: Shenzhen
- AM Visit to Shenzhen – Hong Kong Sci-tech Zone
- Round table discussion
- PM Visit to Qianhai Modern Service Cooperation Zone
- Meeting with local stakeholders and policy analysts
Wednesday 10 April 2024: Shenzhen
- AM Visit to 2 unicorn companies established by international innovators in Shenzhen, meet with CEOs
- PM Roundtable discussion on KEP, policy development and investment
- Closed-door meetings with potential partners or investors
- Launch of CBBC Innovation Hub in GBA
Thursday 11 April 2024: Zhuhai
- AM Visit to Guangdong-Macau Cooperation Zone Exhibition Hall
- Visit to Zhuhai UM Science & Technology Research Institute
- PM Visit to Zhuhai National Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone
- Meeting with local stakeholders and potential partners
- Round table discussion
(NB The tour programme is subject to change and the final details will be available during March 2024.)
UK university senior leaders for research and international activities, leaders of spin-out companies, start-ups/scale-ups, individual researchers, and innovators are invited to submit an expression of interest via the attached form. Please note that there are a maximum of places available to ensure the quality of the service.
Once your EOI application is submitted, CBBC will be in contact to brief you on the details of the tour and to understand your expectations prior to departure. There may be additional funds available to support international travel costs.
Deadline for submission of EOIs: 18:00 UK time 28 February 2024.
Contacts:
Thomas Clayburn, Senior Adviser, Knowledge Economy and Education Sector Lead ([email protected])
Isabel Xu, Director, Knowledge Economy ([email protected])
Download the expression of interest form here.