Victoria University of Wellington’s Robinson Research Institute has signed a four-way agreement that further cements the role of New Zealand in China’s drive to boost development of green technologies and high-value manufacturing.19 July 2016

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) follows a multi-million-dollar deal between Robinson and Chinese company Beijing Milestone Science and Technology Development Co Ltd.

The deal will see Robinson’s high temperature superconducting (HTS) technology underpin a ground-breaking device that could cut the heavy energy use of Beijing’s subway system by forty percent.

Robinson will also be working on a portable compact magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system for use in China’s regional hospitals.

The MOU is between Robinson, assisted by University commercialisation office Viclink; Milestone; Jiangsu Zhongguancun Science and Technology Industrial Park; and Suzhou New District Economic Development Group Corporation.

Jiangsu Zhongguancun Science and Technology Industrial Park is in Liyang near Shanghai and is where two of the three companies created by the Robinson-Milestone deal will be located. The third will sit alongside Robinson in the Gracefield Innovation Quarter in Lower Hutt, where it will develop and manufacture HTS sub-assemblies for the subway device and MRI (known as a podMRI). Components will be sourced from other New Zealand companies.

Suzhou New District Economic Development Group Corporation invests in and operates technology parks in China, including Jiangsu Zhongguancun, and manages funds to invest in the parks’ companies.

Mi Wang, Milestone chairman and Chief Secretary of the Zhongguancun Superconductor Research Alliance, says Jiangsu Zhongguancun is not only a research and manufacturing base for superconducting-related companies but will also include a superconducting research institute.

“The institute will provide public testing and other services so companies in the park can evaluate their manufacturing standards. On top of this, it will facilitate connections to financial institutions in order to jointly establish a superconducting industrialisation trust to provide support for the park's companies to develop fully."

Robinson Director Professor Bob Buckley says HTS is a key enabling technology of the future and New Zealand is a leader in its development.

“China, through Milestone and the other MOU signatories, is keen and ready to adopt these two HTS applications and to work with us on developing a range of others. This is a wonderful opportunity for New Zealand and China alike.

“The Chinese Government is committed to growing its high-value manufacturing sector and encouraging HTS and green technologies. As a globally minded capital city university, Victoria is committed to making whatever contribution we can to New Zealand’s own high-value manufacturing sector and to improving the environment and health and wellbeing in the Asia-Pacific region as a whole.”

The seniority of those at the MOU signing is a measure of its significance for opening up scientific, technological and investment activities between the organisations and countries, says Professor Buckley.

Those attending included:

• Jinlong Cai, Vice Mayor of Liyang
• Weizhu Qiang, Director, Jiangsu Zhongguancun Science and Technology Industrial Park
• Xiao Yun Qu, Vice General Manager, Suzhou New District Economic Development Group Corporation
• Mi Wang, Chairman, Beijing Milestone Science and Technology Development Co Ltd, and Chief Secretary, Zhongguancun Superconductor Research Alliance
• Al Ross, Science and Innovation Counsellor, New Zealand Embassy, Beijing
• Angela Strahl, Consul, Science and Innovation, New Zealand Consulate-General, Shanghai
• Dr Rod Badcock, Principal Engineer, Robinson Research Institute
• Peter Lai, Viclink.

Funding over many years from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and its predecessors and KiwiNet has supported Robinson’s HTS research and development.

A Victoria University press release Tuesday 19 July 2016