Northern Netherlands engineers are looking for cooperation with China

Bart van de Laar and Leoni von Ristok of the FSE Programme Team Yantai China are ready: bringing researchers from the Faculty of Science and Engineering in Groningen in contact with fellow researchers and business life in China to share knowledge through Science and Innovation Seminars. Bart will be anchoring the team; Leoni does the communication.

Bart: “We organised the first Science and Innovation Seminar in June for researchers and entrepreneurs from China and the Netherlands on the theme of biomass conversion (BioCon). The mission was led by prof. Jasper Knoester, Dean of the FSW, and prof. Erik Heeres, Chemical Technology at the University of Groningen (UG). Almost 100 excited stakeholders from Yantai and from the province of Shandong visited the matchmaking seminar. An experience which we would like to see more of and which we will indeed give further substance to.”

Biomass valorisation

It was mostly because of a social reason why we chose BioCon as the kick-off seminar. Shandong is a major province and China has expressed its wish to reduce the CO2 intensity 40 to 45 per cent by 2020 in comparison to 2005. It is an ambitious mission that leads to collaborations towards a sustainable energy supply in the future. China needs for instance affordable biomass conversion technologies that can generate clean, cheap fuels for heating and energy with a marginal CO2 footprint.

Leoni: “Sustainability, green energy and the transition to a bio-based economy are themes we at the University of Groningen have a lot of experience with and we conduct a lot of research on. That is why we introduced a BioCon Seminar on several green themes: from green and smart biomass conversion technology to the processing of green polymers for industrial purposes.”

Concept

A smart knowledge valorisation concept that could yield demand-driven research and new industriousness on both sides of the world. Bart: “From a plenary start session, researchers disperse into smaller groups, or where necessary one-on-one, to discuss subthemes and to determine together where the supply and demand lies to go forward together.” Begin with small and concrete research projects. “Small meaning projects that start from the basis but that do have the intention to develop into long-term collaborations and further research,” Leoni adds.

Made in China

The collaboration between the Faculty of Science and Engineering and partners in Yantai has come at the right time and takes place at the right place, according to Bart and Leoni. Bart: “We were recently in Yantai to organise the Biomass Conversion Seminar and that is when you feel the eagerness and curiosity of our Chinese partners to want to collaborate. They want to get rid of their cultural reputation: Designed in US, Made in China. We as the Northern Netherlands can gather expertise together with researchers and entrepreneurs in China to realize innovation from start to finish.’

Province and the city of Groningen show interest

So time to persevere, according to the FSW Programme Team Yantai China, combative at the Linnaeusborg on the Zernike Campus. The next matchmaking Research and Innovation Seminar will be organised on 9 & 10 November in Yantai on the theme of Nutrition & Health. Prof. Folkert Kuipers, former dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences, will take the lead. In 2019, prof. Jacquelien Scherpen, Automation and Control Technology, will visit China with a delegation of researchers from Groningen to attend the seminar on the theme of smart industries.

The province and city of Groningen have now expressed their interest in the Yantai Science and Innovation Seminar exchange concept and see opportunities for stakeholders in the city and region. “Our appeal is explicitly meant for a large group of researchers and companies,” Bart and Leoni say. “Including other UG faculties, the Hanze University of Applied Sciences and TNO Research and Advice. And for every entrepreneur in Northern Netherlands who sees an opportunity in social innovation and collaboration in Yantai and China. Sending an email is sufficient.”