8月4日  英国贸易投资总署通讯与信息技术行业主管李秦

7月的北京待着可不舒服。潮湿炎热的天气，让人恨不得躺在空调房里，一动不动。但对使馆贸易投资处的通讯与信息技术（ICT）行业组来说，待着不动可不行。“英国技术”，“中英携手创新”，阿里巴巴，百度成为这个炎热夏天的关键词。

一趟英国之行拉开了我火热七月的序幕。一个由中国高层政府官员和行业巨头组成的代表团由我带队赴英国参加了“中英通讯与信息技术行业携手创新”项目的英国启动仪式。这次活动旨在展示英国通讯与信息技术产业在中国强劲的发展状况，并介绍新一代充满创新精神公司登陆中国，在整体上提高英国通讯与信息技术行业在中国的影响力。

在一周的访问中，我们横跨英国到了伦敦，剑桥和爱丁堡等城市，与有意在中国市场初试身手的英国企业见面。我们还见了一批在中国已有建树的公司，他们希望寻找更多和大唐、华为、中国电信和中芯国际等中国电信巨头合作的机会，也希望中国工信部等政府部门能在行业政策上更加开放。

访问期间，我们的代表团还受贸易投资部长戴维斯先生邀请，在伦敦进行了圆桌讨论会。会间戴维斯部长询问四川迈普通信的王军副总裁道，听说你们在印度，新加坡和印度尼西亚都有投资，怎么还不来英国？令人欣慰的是，迈普公司已迈出了与英国电信建立伙伴关系的重要一步，正在计划此次访问后在英国开设办公室。

同样在7月，第二届中英互联网论坛在北京召开，英国公司得以与马云、李彦宏、张朝阳等中国互联网旗帜性人物齐具一堂。当周晚些时候，20家英国公司分别在南京，杭州和上海参加了“中英通讯与信息技术行业携手创新”项目相关活动。恰逢戴维斯部长在华访问，在他的支持下，参会的公司预计可获得总额150万英镑的新业务。

巧合的是，今年的7月正好是我们启动“中英通讯与信息技术行业携手创新”项目一周年的日子。记得一年前的7月，我才刚刚开始和英国贸易投资总署和英中贸易协会的同事一起讨论建立一套英国通讯与信息技术行业中国发展战略。一年后的今天，中英通讯与信息技术行业公司的合作已在如火如荼的发展，一如7月火热的天气。

与我们联系，请致电： ukticn@sina.com

ICT Heating up in July

by Qin Li,Second Secretary ICT, UKTI Beijing

In July, the last place I enjoy being in is Beijing.  Sticky, humid and very hot, it’s the sort of weather that makes you want to stay inside with air conditioning, lie down and definitely not have to move.  For the China ICT team, though, staying still hasn’t been an option.  “UK Technology”, “Enabling Innovation”, Alibaba and Baidu have been the hot buzzwords this summer.

My hot July began with a visit with Chinese senior officials and key industry players visiting the UK to participate in the UK launch of “Enabling Innovation - UK-China Partnership in ICT”.  This was designed to raise awareness of the UK ICT sector in China by demonstrating our strong existing presence in China and introducing a new generation of innovative companies to make the leap across to China.

During our weeklong visit, we travelled extensively around the UK to London, Cambridge and Edinburgh and met companies interested in exploring the Chinese market for the first time.   We met many companies that already have a presence in China, but are eager to seek more opportunities from Datang, Huawei, China Telecom and SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation) and looking for a policy steer from Ministries including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

The Trade Minister, Lord Davies, invited the group for a roundtable discussion while the group was in London.  Speaking to Jack Wang, Vice President of Sichuan Maipu Communications Technology, Lord Davies asked why they had invested in India, Singapore and Indonesia but not yet the UK. It was finding a partner in BT that was the key, and Maipu is now hoping to return to the UK in the near future to look for a location to set up.

July also saw the second UK-China Internet Forum taking place in Beijing, where UK companies shared a platform with Jack Ma, Robin Li, Charles Chao and other Chinese Internet gurus.  In the same week, a group of 20 UK companies attended Enabling Innovation East China events in Nanjing, Hangzhou and Shanghai. With support from Lord Davies, we expect to see UK company participants winning £1.5m of new business.

By chance, July also marks the first anniversary of us starting to develop the “Enabling Innovation” programme.  I remember back in July 2008 sitting down with a group of UKTI and CBBC colleagues to discuss how to establish an ICT China Strategy.  A year later, I feel that like the weather in Beijing the collaboration between British and Chinese ICT companies has definitely heated up.