WMG FOUNDER GIVES CHINA’S ENGINEERS THE SKILLS TO SOAR

China’s passion for engineering and innovation has elevated its manufacturing industry on the world stage and contributed to global scientific advances, according to Kumar Bhattacharyya, the influential British-Indian industrialist.

Bhattacharyya, founder and chairman of Warwick Manufacturing Group, had long been fascinated by the evolution and ingenuity of Chinese engineering when he first visited the country almost 40 years ago. Yet at the time, he said, he had no idea his life would be so intertwined with its rapid development.

WMG, one of the world’s leading research and education groups in the fields of manufacturing and management, was established at Warwick University in the United Kingdom in 1980. Two years later, the Indian-born professor traveled to Beijing as part of a high-level scientific and industrial mission sent by the British government.

China was just four years into its reform and opening-up policy, and Bhattacharyya said he remembers arriving at the capital’s old airport, and that the roads were filled with bicycles rather than cars.

He also noted that the country had a massive shortage of industrial talent in the manufacturing sector, although he felt a huge desire to learn and a real passion for innovation.

“It was an exciting time,” he said. “I knew China wanted to grow as fast as possible in the manufacturing economy and start producing products that could compete with the best in the world.”

Bhattacharyya said he believed that a prosperous China would not only lift living standards for the Chinese people but also speed up global scientific breakthroughs. So, he worked to reinvigorate Chinese manufacturing through the application of advanced research, education and knowledge transfers.

In 1983, he invited renowned rocket scientist Liang Sili as well as key members of the now defunct Ministry of Aerospace Industry to the UK for six months to learn from experts at WMG. During that period, he shared techniques and knowledge that contributed to the development and design of control systems for the Long March rocket.

Bhattacharyya was so impressed with the Chinese engineers’ ability to absorb and practice what they had learned that he invited a select group of them to work at WMG in 1985.

Not only was it one of the few technological partnerships between China and Western universities at the time, he said, but it also laid the foundation for a threedecade relationship with the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs.

The administration introduced WMG to some of China’s most innovative businesses and institutions, while the British side provided Chinese workers and managers with an advanced engineering education.

Since this mutually beneficial partnership was forged in the early 1990s, WMG has trained more than 20,000 Chinese students, workers and scientists, including awarding over 2,500 with master’s degrees.

At least 1,900 engineers trained by WMG now hold senior positions at Chinese companies and research institutes in the fields of astronautics, transportation, and defense. These include China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, Aviation Industry Corp of China, and the Beijing Academy of Science and Technology.

WGM now trains more than 300 Chinese students a year in the UK, and the group also offers full-time programs in Beijing and Hong Kong.

“China-UK scientific cooperation has been going very well, and this relationship is growing and getting better every day,” said Bhattacharyya, a member of the House of Lords since 2004. “Chinese scientists are very welcome in the UK, the same way British scientists are in China.”

In recognition of his longstanding contribution to China-UK scientific cooperation, the industrialist was presented last year with the Great Wall Friendship Award, by Beijing’s city government.

Q&A What differences have you seen in the way Chinese engineers were trained in the 1980s and how they are trained today?

Chinese students are always very keen to learn, but the speed they assimilate knowledge and practice what they have learned is so much faster than before. This is because China now has an environment that is more conducive for scientists and engineers to make an impact with their knowledge. There are policies that support them, and the necessary infrastructure, talent and market are there to see them succeed. As a result, the Chinese people have achieved remarkable development that no one in the world has done before.

What are the biggest changes you have seen in China?

In the beginning, China’s manufacturing industry began by reverse engineering products from abroad. You are not afraid of importing ideas from abroad; you import and improve on it. You slowly improve your skill base and industrial capability as you learn and practice. Although not everything succeeds on the first try, China never stops, and it keeps trying until it gets it. At the same time, there are open, visionary national policies that integrate infrastructure, the supply chain and talent. These government policies were crucial to making sure China succeeded at the rate it did. Now, China is well respected all over the world for its science and technology contribution.

What has been the impact of China’s reform and opening-up on the world?

The world now considers China as one of the top industrialized nations. No one questions whether Chinese products are in anyway inferior to other products. China is already on the world’s center stage. You must continue what you are doing now. Let innovation become your central plank, whether it is in health, manufacturing, defense or infrastructure. The Belt and Road Initiative will grant China access to markets along the initiative, and at the same time, grant those markets access to China. It will be more and more of a partnership, and countries who have (formed such a partnership) generally have done very well, because other people will learn from you just as you learn from other countries. Having open trade makes China much more resilient. I personally don’t believe in protectionism, because with protectionism you only gain a little bit of time and short-term gains. But a more open China will win the future.

What are your thoughts on China embracing new technologies such as artificial intelligence and clean energy?

China doesn’t want to just follow other countries. You want to leapfrog, and that is what has happened in the past 10 years. That has made working with Chinese very interesting. Take electric vehicles for example. Long before anybody decided to make e-vehicles a national policy, China did. In the West, there may be a policy, but it’s quite difficult to achieve. Here in China, you have a national policy that is well integrated with society, and you have the skill base to carry out the policy. If you do this, you will succeed.

What are your thoughts on China’s reform and opening-up going forward?

China has and will continue to do very well in certain sectors. But China’s future will depend entirely on its skill base. Because its economy is growing so fast, China must make sure it has the necessary high-quality talent to sustain that growth. That talent should also be diverse, and their innovations should benefit ordinary people in various ways, from medicine to transportation. China already has good national policies, so the question is in their implementation. Talent takes time to grow, but in some countries they only develop their skill base in certain fields because they can’t afford it. China cannot afford to cut corners, and it might need to double or even triple its skill base, especially those capable of innovation. Without innovation, you will not improve.