The University of Aberdeen is setting another collaborative milestone and strengthening commercial links with China today (April 7).
Cabinet Secretary for Education and Learning, Fiona Hyslop MSP, will witness the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding in Beijing by representatives of the University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences to create a new joint venture – the Institute of Environmental Technologies.
The Memorandum of Understanding represents a new form of agreement for the establishment of a new institute between the two partners to focus on the theme of environmental technologies. It will be a collaborative research and development programme which will stimulate new technologies and facilitate the commercialisation and dissemination of technology products.
The University of Aberdeen has reaffirmed its strength and commitment to environmental technologies by establishing an Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences which combines a wide range of research disciplines and integrates closely with stakeholders and the end-user community. Realising that research is an international discipline, it is further developing collaborative opportunities in Europe, North America and the rest of the world. China is strongly represented by such research and this agreement builds on existing research collaborations between the University of Aberdeen and RCEES and formalises these opportunities.
The focus of the collaboration will be the rapid urbanisation which has taken place in China. It will aim to deliver science-based technologies for urban pollution control, and technology transfer. One of the longest trading companies spun out from the University of Aberdeen, Remedios, will be central to the technology transfer.
The University will also be setting up an office in the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute in Beijing to move the project forward.
Establishment of the Institute of Environmental Technologies also coincides with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between RCEES and another of the University of Aberdeen's spin-out companies, NCIMB Ltd.
Collaboration between NCIMB and RCEES will enable development of the commercial potential for the Chinese market of the toxicity testing platform, MARA, created by NCIMB Ltd. NCIMB Ltd is one of Scotland's emerging biotechnology specialists, working on development of novel uses of microbes and the identification and preservation of bacteria.
Ms Hyslop, also visiting China this week, said: "On the same day as the Scottish Government signs a strategic agreement with the Chinese Education Ministry, this agreement demonstrates the growing potential for Scottish Universities to make exciting links with Chinese counterparts.
"China presents us all with an opportunity to drive forward sustainable economic growth for Scotland, and collaborations like Aberdeen's show how Scottish research and technology can play a big part in the global marketplace."
Professor Dominic Houlihan, Vice Principal for Research and Commercialisation, at the University of Aberdeen, who will sign the agreement on behalf of the University, expressed his delight at this further cementing of Scottish and Chinese collaboration in this important area of science for the future. He said: "This new institute is the culmination of a long-term collaboration in the area of environmental microbiology and soil geochemistry, in which we know the University is an international leader.
"The speed of China's development means it can learn a great deal both in legislation and technology from the western world's slow response to the environmental consequences of industrialisation. The University of Aberdeen is uniquely placed in our expertise at the applied and academic levels to develop genuine working collaboration with the Chinese partners.
"The partnership between NCIMB and the Chinese Academy of Sciences is extremely important in optimising exposure of the test system in China, and co-developing new products specifically for the Chinese market, where we believe there is a great need for rapid, routine ecotoxicity testing. This agreement is yet another example of novel research born and nurtured at the University of Aberdeen, commercialised as a spin-out company, and now poised to deliver very practical benefits for the world's largest economy."
Professor Jim Prosser, Director of NCIMB Ltd, explains how MARA works and said: "The MARA system uses microbial strains from the company's extensive culture collection to provide a 'toxic fingerprint' response to chemicals. The system has a multitude of applications and is currently being sold for ecotoxicity testing of environmental contaminants. MARA has considerable advantages over existing toxicity testing in providing a battery of analyses within a single test."