Sino-Scottish partnerships worth more than £43m announced during First Minister’s inaugural visit to China

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon witnessed the growing success of Scottish companies in China today at a business showcase event in Beijing, where she announced a series of new partnership agreements between Scottish and Chinese firms.

The agreements, between 10 Scottish companies and Chinese private sector partners, are estimated to be worth £43.15m to the Scottish economy and will collectively create 70 jobs in Scotland.

The Chinese Government has identified innovation as the foundation from which to build its economic future and in particular, collaboration with other countries in research, science, technology and education is seen as critical to this.

At the event, the First Minister addressed an audience of over 120 senior Chinese business people and national media to position Scotland’s innovative company and academic base as a bridge to a smarter, higher value-add Chinese economy.

She said:

“Scotland is well placed to benefit from China’s strategic focus on innovation, with our longstanding expertise in sectors which have been identified as essential for China’s future prosperity.

"Our world class universities and research base and an ever-growing base of innovative Scottish companies across energy, life sciences, technology, financial services and entertainment, fits well with China’s long-term investment plans for these sectors.”

The announcements made at the event in Beijing are:

• KAL - the world’s leading ATM software company launched its Retail Teller Machine (RTM) to the Chinese market and signed a new partnership agreement with JustTide, the Chinese OEM supplier which will manufacture RTMs for the worldwide market.

• Care Visions Ltd – The Scottish-based international healthcare technology company offering innovative non-pharmachological dementia solutions to individuals, communities and institutions announced the opening of its first China office in Beijing, and signed two Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) with Chinese partners

• Sgurr Energy Glasgow based renewable energy company signed a partnership agreement with Chinese lidar manufacturer OASIS in a deal which will complement their delivery of wind farm optimisation services. The agreement will create twenty new jobs in Scotland over the next three years.

• GB Therma Chem – announced a ground-breaking trial of Scottish technology to provide Chinese power stations with cost-efficient, lower carbon emissions-based solutions. The deal is expected to increase turnover by £12m in three years and will create five additional Scottish jobs.

• University of Aberdeen – announced a new joint engineering degree with Harbin University, worth £0.5m over three years.

• Calnex Solutions – a leading provider of R&D telecom test and measurement solutions signed an agreement with China Mobile Research Institute to assist in evaluating network equipment required for China Mobile’s next generation mobile network.

• Distrify Media – the first European video-on-demand (VOD) provider to sign a distribution deal in China, to deliver Future TV (digital arm of China’s CNTV) videos online including mobile apps and Smart TV. The deal is worth £25m to Distrify and will create 20 new jobs in Scotland and 10 in China.

• We.data – a Scottish data capture and analysis company, in the field of football and sports more widely signed an agreement with a new Chinese partner, led by former Chinese national women’s football captain, to bring new data analysis technology to market. The deal is worth £1.85m to We.data and will create 15 new jobs in Scotland.

• TEFL Scotland – an English language training provider, signed a new deal with 21st Century Media/China Daily Group to deliver online language training, which which includes and investment of £3.5m and the creation of 10 new jobs in Scotland.

• Edinburgh Napier University – signed an MoU with Chinese network GlobalMD to provide post graduate degree in clinical research. The deal will be worth £0.3m over three years.

Also speaking at the event, Julian Taylor, Executive Director Asia Pacific, Scottish Development International said:

“International trade and exporting is one of the most significant ways in which companies can grow and many Scottish companies already have long-standing, profitable partnerships in China. Today’s new deals demonstrate the growing demand in China for Scottish expertise and quality products in a host of industry sectors, with significant opportunities for many, many more Scottish companies to realise the benefits of expansion into this market.”