On April 10th, Iain Gillespie, the vice president of the University of Leicester and his delegation visited in Jiangsu.

The University of Leicester, located in the central industrial center of the UK, is a long-standing comprehensive university. In accordance with the global college and university rankings published by Times Higher Education (THE), The University of Leicester ranks the 167^th place in the world, and the 25^th in the UK. It enjoys a high international reputation and influence in the field of life science research, which ranks the 6^th place in the UK. Meanwhile, it also has great attainments in the fields such as advanced materials, spaceflight and aviation, intelligent manufacturing, etc.

Jiangsu Center of International Technology Transfer accompanied the delegation of the University of Leicester visited Jiangyin High-tech Zone and Jiangning High-tech Zone. During the visit in Jiangyin High-tech Zone, the delegation of the University of Leicester visited Pacific Special Steel Holdings, Bekaert Asia Research & Development Center etc., and reached a preliminary cooperation intention with the Management Committee of Jiangyin High-tech Zone for the con-construction in the field of new materials. During the visit in Jiangning High-tech Zone, the delegation mainly understood the development of bioengineering and pharmaceutical industry and relevant policies, and showed great interests in the innovation center cooperation mode with international well-known colleges and universities which has been developed in Jiangning High-tech Zone. As discussed by both parties, they will have an in-depth exploration on the specific mode in the future.

During the visit, Wang Qin, the director-general of Jiangsu Science and Technology Department met Mr. Iain Gillespie and his delegation, introduced the latest development of scientific and technological innovation in Jiangsu, and proposed to take full advantage of the cooperation platform between the University of Leicester and Nangang Iron and Steel Group which has been established, to practically promote the implementation of technological projects in Jiangsu, thus to gather more excellent innovation resources of the University of Leicester in more fields to Jiangsu. Mr. Iain Gillespie said, he was deeply impressed by the industrial base and innovation ability of Jiangsu. The University of Leicester is located in the central industrial center of the UK and plays an important role in the engine plan in the middle of the UK. Thus, cooperation between the two parties features a strong complementarity. Now the university is seeking opportunities to establish a relationship with Chinese enterprises, and sincerely expecting to make deep cooperation with Jiangsu, establish joint research and innovation centers, and connect the top-level scientific research strengthen and teaching quality of the University of Leicester with the industries in Jiangsu, thus to bring a series of cooperation opportunities for both parties in the aspects of product research and development, service innovation, intellectual property etc.