The University of Nottingham Ningbo China is the EU’s first certified EU|BIC in China and a working bridge between European innovation and the world’s largest market

A Chinese campus as a bridge into the world’s largest market

China is an enormous market, yet it comes with regulatory complexity and cultural distance from Europe. It boasts highly developed supply chains and a business environment that rewards local knowledge and presence. For a European company with a technology that could scale in China, the question is rarely whether the opportunity exists, but how to get through the door.

The University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC) occupies a unique position in this landscape. Established almost twenty years ago as the first Sino-foreign university in China, UNNC now serves over 10,000 students, with international staff accounting for more than 65% of its academic workforce. It is a Chinese institution with deep European roots, a place where researchers from the UK and around the world work alongside Chinese faculty, PhD candidates, and students who move fluently between both contexts. Structurally, it is a bridge. Min Rose, Director of UNNC’s Research and Knowledge Exchange Coordination Office, articulates the institution’s ambition clearly:

The Li Dak Sum Incubator serves as that bridge for innovators. Housed within UNNC’s Research and Knowledge Exchange Office, it is the first EU|BIC-certified organisation in China, operating in accordance with EBN’s internationally recognised quality standards. Its host city, Ningbo, is one of China’s most dynamic manufacturing and trading hubs, home to the world’s busiest port by cargo throughput, handling over 1.3 billion tonnes annually. The incubator helps international companies, researchers, and entrepreneurs navigate the transition into the Chinese market, while also helping Chinese innovators reach outward. It offers workspace, access to UNNC’s research capabilities for in-country product testing and validation, one-to-one coaching, and connections to venture capital and government grants. Crucially, it also provides access to students and graduates who combine technical competence with the cross-cultural fluency that early-stage companies entering China cannot easily hire for themselves. The Li Dak Sum Innovation Fellowship provides annual seed funding of between €280,000 and €450,000 for early-stage R&D commercialisation. Since its launch in 2017, the incubator has supported over 70 startups, created 290 new jobs, and achieved an 83% survival rate for the companies it has backed.

Embedded within this infrastructure is the International Proof of Concept (PoC) Centre, which addresses a specific and persistent bottleneck: the gap between research achievement and commercial application. Academic research produces results with industrial and commercial potential, but converting those results into a product requires financial, relational, and technical resources. The PoC Centre’s phased funding model operates in two stages: a Pathfinder Fund of RMB 50,000–200,000 to support market analysis and initial business planning, followed by a Translational Fund of up to RMB 2 million (approximately €250,000) for prototype validation, minimum viable product (MVP) development, and commercialisation testing. These funds are disbursed in tranches against milestones over a period of up to 24 months. Projects that go on to form companies can convert the translational investment into equity; those pursuing licensing routes have the funding amount recovered from licensing fees. The structure is designed to attract private capital, and its success is measured by what it makes possible next.

The Global Pitch competition, launched in 2018 and held annually across UNNC’s UK and China campuses, is the most visible expression of this cross-border logic. Twenty promising projects are selected for the final roadshow in Ningbo: five from Western Europe, ten from Greater China, and five from Southeast Asia. They are brought into direct contact with more than 30 investment institutions, 60 leading companies, and 100 global incubators and accelerators, alongside industry leaders from companies including Geely and SINOPEC. The EU|BIC Community is among the ecosystem partners that provide European ventures with a structured introduction rather than a standing start. Companies from the EU|BIC community can apply directly to the PoC Fund. 9i Robotics, a UK company founded by Haroon Ayub, a recent robotics engineering graduate, demonstrates what this introduction can achieve. Ayub developed the MM2 Panda Robot, an 110 cm eldercare companion robot featuring fall detection, voice interaction, and real-time family connectivity, and presented it at Global Pitch 2025 to an audience of over 150 investors, enterprises, and ecosystem stakeholders. The programme arranged curated one-on-one meetings with Ningbo-based manufacturers and site visits to local industrial parks to map supply chain opportunities. Following Global Pitch 2025, 9i Robotics established a Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprise in Ningbo and applied for tenancy at the Li Dak Sum Incubator to set up its China R&D lab. Ayub’s account of the experience is direct:

EBN and UNNC are collaborating to offer members of the community, from entrepreneurship and business support organisations to startups, a tailored and privileged experience in China. In September 2026, EBN will lead a week-long EU|BIC Ecosystem Discovery Visit to Ningbo, Hangzhou, and Shanghai, bringing European innovation hubs, incubators, and startups into direct contact with Ningbo’s manufacturing and deep-tech ecosystem. The bridge is being actively used.