Newsfeed for R&D, Innovation and Economics

Chinese President Xi Jinping has promised that China will innovate in engineering to realize peaceful and sustainable development. Addressing the International Conference on Engineering Science and Technology in Beijing, Xi described engineering as a force to change the world. He called for science and technology to be used to help solve global challenges and to realise sustainable development.

Scientists at Zhejiang University have found a way to disempower the body’s antigenic response to a blood mismatch, a finding that may help persons with rare blood group types in emergencies. The team’s findings, which may help to create a “university” blood, have been published in Chemical Science, an academic journal of the British Royal Society of Chemistry.

The rising number of industrial parks in China reflects poor planning and inefficient use of energy resources. The size of the average park has also grown, from 8,000 to 20-30,000km2 over the last few years, some of which have also been left idle. At present the ratio of green buildings is less than 1% in these parks, but by 2020 this will need to be 30%.

Speaking at the International Conference on Engineering Science and Technology in Beijing, Xi has called for engineering to change the world through innovation-driven development. The conference was co-sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Engineering, UNESCO and the International Council of Academies of Engineering and Technological Sciences.

Israel has signed a bilateral industrial R&D cooperation agreement with Zhejiang Province, known as China’s California and thus its Silicon Valley. The signing took place at the Israel Innovation Conference. Israel also signed agreements with Jiangsu Province’s Science and Technology Department to promote Israeli company participation in Chinese innovation parks. A first-of-its-kind poilot program will encourage Israeli company participation in the Changzhou Innovation Park.

R&D spending by Chinese companies is rising rapidly, up by 20% a year – against growth of spending of 1%-4% in the USA. As a result, China is now home to some of the world’s most innovative companies, especially in mobile technology, biotech and medical devices. An example is ambitious Biotech firm B.G.I.

The world’s most popular Chinese-language search engine, Baidu, has announced it will open a new artificial intelligence centre – in the heart of Silicon Valley in California. The new centre will be run by Andrew Ng, “Google Brain” founder and Director of Standford University’s Artificial Intelligence Lab. Ng helped Google set up its program to replicate the human brain using computer hardware and software, and at Baidu will oversee 200 employees working at a $300mn facility in Sunnyvale, CA. Taiwanese media also reports Ng will head the entire Baidu Research Institute, consisting of three laboratories: an artificial intelligence lab in Silicon Valley, a deep learning laboratory in Beijing, and a big-data laboratory, also in Beijing.

A scholar from Sichuan University created biocoal from leftover food that can produce more electricity than the coal currently used in electricity plants, reports the Chengdu-based WCC Daily. Lu Hongyan, professor with the university's college of architecture and environment, came up with the idea to turn a ton of leftovers into 80 to 120 kg of biocoal. His research was reviewed and approved by seven experts from and outside of the province on April 29.

Stem cell research is advancing rapidly, however only a tiny proportion of mothers save their newborn’s stem cells. Research is showing that through stem cells all sorts of diseases may be able to be cured. Outside of Beijing and Shanghai the practice is almost unheard of, but a tiny elite of Chinese mothers are starting to save their children’s cord blood.