The conference underway (Credit: The Argus)
The Sino-UK rendezvous was organised to discuss new ways of extending the lifespan of products without depleting resources.
According to The Argus, last month’s event was co-organised by the University of Brighton, England, with the aim of “fostering co-operation in remanufacturing between the UK and China.”
In attendance were representatives from the Governments of both countries, as well as those from Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, and from China’s Ministry for Information and Industry Technology. Figures from the British Embassy in China, and from the devolved Welsh Government, were also present.
Dr. Yan Wang, a senior lecturer in the School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics at the university, co-organised the event, and is a Visiting Scholar at the National Key Laboratory for Remanufacturing, in Beijing. She said: “Remanufacturing, which is an important element of the circular economy, is growing rapidly globally. The UK is a EU leader in remanufacturing and China is potentially the largest market for remanufactured products and services and play very important roles in supply chain in global remanufacturing.”
“Remanufacturing adds value to waste streams by returning items to working order, rather than reducing them to their raw material value only,” Wang continued, adding that “collaborating with China presents great potential for the manufacturing/remanufacturing community.”
