Indian-origin professor in UK wins Chinese award

An Indian-origin professor in the UK has won China's first-ever National Rainbow Bridge Award for creating strong and mutually beneficial technology partnerships between China and Britain.
Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya, chairman of Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) at the University of Warwick, was presented with the award in Beijing yesterday.
The National Rainbow Bridge Award has been awarded in recognition of the "leading role that Lord Bhattacharyya has played in the creation of strong and mutually beneficial technology partnerships between China and the UK".
"To have played a role in this new age of Chinese innovation has been a stimulating and exciting part of my life for over 30 years and I've witnessed the leaps in innovation in Chinese technology in every field from astronautics to exoskeletons.

"China's Research and Development Budget is now larger than all of Europe's and soon China will be the world's largest innovator. Together, we are creating a greener, lighter, smarter world economy. Together, we are building a bridge to a better tomorrow, a true rainbow bridge," Lord Bhattacharya said.
He founded WMG in 1980 to help reinvigorate UK manufacturing and improve the competitiveness of organisations through the application of value adding innovation, new technologies and skills deployment.

It is counted among world-leading research and education groups and one of the largest organisations dealing in the multi-disciplinary facets of manufacturing developments.
Xu Bingjin, president of the China-Europe Association for Technical and Economic Cooperation, said: "He strongly promoted Sino-British exchanges in education, science and technology, especially in the earlier stages of Chinese modernisation construction.

"On the condition of the critical shortage of scientific talents in China, Lord Bhattacharyya trained a large number of excellent talents for Chinese industries of automobile, aviation, aerospace, transportation and national defense and has made outstanding contributions to the development for the cause of Sino-British friendship."
The award was presented by Zhang Rongming, the 10th and 11th vice-chairperson of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, at a special ceremony as part of the 2015 China Annual Conference for International Education in Beijing.