During this second week of the Chinese New Year, I’ve been in Beijing building our relationship with one of the UK’s most strategic trade and investment partners. From the highest level, the Chinese government recognise the important role of standards in the Chinese economy and see standards as a driver for future development. A new China Standardization Law has been enacted which encourages the participation of industry in standards activity and the adoption of international standards as tools to stimulate bilateral trade and economic growth. China is an important market for hundreds of leading UK companies and China sees the UK as a strong partner in research and innovation. The Standardization Administration of China (SAC) and BSI are close allies in the world of international standardization. There’s a lot to do!
We spent time at the British Embassy in Beijing discussing the role of standards to support market access in infrastructure, healthcare and Smart Cities. Previous projects supported by the UK government Prosperity Fund have delivered excellent outputs, which have been welcomed by our Chinese partners. Talking to the China Britain Business Council (CBBC) there are clearly opportunities to put together a suite of standards that will support UK companies work with innovation zones.
Bilateral meetings with SAC enable us to share positions and address specific challenges that both countries are facing. I signed a new cooperation agreement with the National Standardization General Working Group on Smart Cities – which is currently surveying 240 Chinese cities against international standards and are keen to cooperate with UK cities and work together on the benefits that ‘smart’ digitalization can bring at the community scale. The major outcome of the week has been to agree the format for the next formal meeting of the UK Standardization Cooperation Commission, which we will host in Manchester in June. On the agenda there will be more Smart City discussions, a review of our progress in the commercialization of graphene and new work on sustainable and green finance.
And it’s been snowing, the first snows in Beijing this winter – they say it’s a lucky sign in the New Year!