New Cambridge project aimed at nurturing ties with China

A new association was established in Cambridge on Monday with the goal of strengthening the British university city’s booming academic, business, and technology ties to China.

Known as the Cambridge China Centre, the non-profit association will host regular seminars and an annual conference tasked with connecting academics and businesspeople in China with those in Cambridge.

“Our association is established in response to a real need from Cambridge’s businesses, academic colleges, shops, and retailers in Cambridge to strengthen China links,” said Li Jinzhao, the director of the new center.

Li, who is also director of First UK Education and Tourism Ltd, a consultancy established in 2012, said the new organization is focused on making the most of opportunities.

“In recent years, Cambridge experienced a surge of visits from Chinese academic and business groups,” she said. “These visits are great starting points for further collaboration, but often they do not lead to concrete collaboration, due to the lack of follow-up efforts.”

She hopes the new association will ensure the follow-up efforts happen, courtesy of the additional meetings and visits, and the exchange of information and expertise at its seminars.

The establishment of the Cambridge China Centre closely follows the launch of the Cambridge Innovation Park China Centre last month, which is a private-sector initiative that seeks to share Cambridge’s technology incubator expertise with similar accelerators in China.

In addition, the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge is preparing to launch another China center, which will focus on researching and analyzing the business models of Chinese companies, and use the content as case studies for business school teaching material.

Unlike universities in Oxford and Nottingham, and Kings College London, the University of Cambridge currently does not have an official university-hosted China center.

Cambridge has always held an important place in the hearts of Chinese people, thanks to its academic reputation. It was further popularized through a 1928 poem about leaving the city that was written by the famous Chinese poet Xu Zhimo, who had studied there.

Cambridge is already a top destination among Chinese tourists visiting the UK and is a popular destination among Chinese exchange students and summer school students. In recent years, it has attracted significant Chinese investments.

Last year, the Chinese big data company BBD established a research and development center in the city’s St John’s Innovation Centre. And earlier this year, Tsinghua University Science Park announced it is joining hands with Cambridge’s Trinity College to invest more than 200 million pounds ($266 million) in a new phase of development at Cambridge Science Park.