China's Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute (JITRI) has signed an agreement with Australia's University of New South Wales on Thursday, to collaborate on 10 major technology projects.
As part of the deal, an 8-million-Australian dollar (5.8-million-U.S. dollar) investment fund was set up to drive innovation in advanced materials, biotechnology, energy and environmental engineering.
With the research projects set to take place at UNSW's Torch Innovation Precinct, the latest collaboration at the facility is yet another milestone for China-Australia ties.
Launched in 2016 to promote greater cooperation between the two countries' scientific networks, the 100-million-Australian dollar (73-million-U.S. dollar) tech hub has amassed a wide range of vital research partnerships.
"The announcement highlights the importance of Australian-Chinese collaborations and national innovation planning and Australia's bilateral relationship with China, our largest trading partner," President and Vice-Chancellor of UNSW Sydney Ian Jacobs said.
The investment will provide a further boost to collaboration between UNSW and China that will drive innovation, he added.
"One of the major projects under the new collaboration will offer new opportunities to scale up UNSW's new Center for Transformational Environmental Technology, the University's first research base outside Australia that will translate environmental research into industrial application in China."
Although China's Torch Program has been driving global technology innovation since 1988, the JITRI was only recently established in 2013 to promote and support the economic development of China's eastern Jiangsu province through industrial research and the commercialization of advanced technologies.
The institute focuses on bridging the gap between fundamental research and commercialization, that's why Dean of engineering at UNSW Professor Mark Hoffman believes the partnership will be such a positive for Australian scientists.
"This translation of research into the development of technology -- whether in renewable, water or biomedical devices -- connects closely with JITRI's aims," he said.
"We don't sit in two countries, large parts of our population sit in both countries."
"Employers of engineering graduates are very diverse and at UNSW we are driven to have social and economic impact."
