Joint symposium highlights biotech collaboration with Cambridge

The Cambridge-ZJU Biotechnology Symposium was held at Clare Hall, Cambridge on December 11. The symposium consisted of three sessions: biomimetics, biomedical materials, and biomedical engineering. More than 50 participants from the two universities discussed a suite of common issues in collaborative research endeavours and achieved consensus in multiple aspects.

The symposium was organized with joint efforts of the University of Cambridge Strategic Partnerships Office, ZJU Office of Global Engagement and lead professors from both universities. The event aims at maximizing the impact of ongoing research collaborations and translating them into concrete actions for the future.

Before the symposium, ZJU President WU Zhaohui met with Cambridge leaderships including Vice-Chancellor Stephen Toope, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research Chris Abell and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for International and Institutional Relations Eilís Ferran. They reviewed the existing links in engineering, management, sciences and medicine and agreed to lend unflagging support to a stronger bond.

President WU also compared notes with Vice-Chancellor Toope on the latest developments of higher education in China and the UK. They look forward to making concerted efforts to respond positively to the ever-changing international climate and take up new challenges.

On December 10, President WU had the pleasure of meeting Imperial College London President Alice Gast and Vice President (International) Maggie Dallman, making the second visit during his presidency to one of ZJU's most valued UK partners.

The leadership meeting at Imperial featured a highly positive summary of substantial collaborations in postgraduate education and research in critical areas such as green energy, offshore engineering and data science. The two sides expressed wishes to further this partnership in the next phase, while sharing ideas for creating university-led innovation eco-systems.  

During the three-day trip in the UK, the ZJU delegation also visited the Center for Advanced Photonics and Electronics (CAPE) and Maxwell Center at Cambridge as well as the Energy Futures Lab and the Data Science Institute at Imperial.

On December 13, President Wu would embark on the second leg of his trip to Europe, including visits to Université Paris Saclay and Ecole Polytechnique.