On Aug.17, OriginWater announced its entry into the first torch innovation precinct outside China — Torch Innovation Precinct at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia, which marks that the two sides have officially entered a substantial stage of co-building a world-class water research center, and that OriginWater has become the first Zhongguancun Science Park enterprise to enter this torch innovation precinct. Chen Yili, Director of OriginWater R&D Center, and Warwick Dawson, Director of Board of UNSW signed a strategic cooperation agreement. 

This April, Premier Li Keqiang met the visiting Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. In the presence of the Premier and the PM, the Torch High-Tech Industry Development Center of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and the University of New South Wales (UNSW) signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Torch Innovation Precinct. On Aug.16, Zhang Zhihong, Director of the Torch Center headed a delegation of 50 people to visit Australia, where they attended the opening ceremony of the Torch Innovation Precinct at UNSW. As a high-end partner in the field of water, being warmly invited by UNSW, OriginWater also attended the ceremony. 

Zhang Zhihong said, the delegation included numerous high-tech enterprise leaders, and it is hoped that China and Australia would, during the interaction of scientific & technological innovation and enterprise production capacity, elevate the production capacity to a higher level in order to generate greater business value. 

At the signing ceremony, Professor David Waite from the School of Environment and Civil Engineering, UNSW, said in a media interview that he was very happy today, as the water pollution treatment project he led was successfully signed with a Chinese enterprise, and he hoped that the future cooperation between the two sides could bring the research level to a new stage and enter the commercial stage, making his research successfully create social value. 

Chen Yili said, “Wen Jianping, President of OriginWater, is an alumnus of UNSW. OriginWater has conducted international scientific research cooperation with UNSW for more than ten years, and set up an Australian branch of OriginWater R&D Center at UNSW. This signing ceremony not only substantially strengthens the cooperation between the two sides in developing cutting-edge water treatment technology, but also acts as a sincere gesture from a Chinese student who studied in Australia and achieved entrepreneurial success after returning home to requite his alma mater.”

Zhang Zhihong, Director of the Torch Center, Jin Zhiyong, Counsellor for Scientific and Technological Affairs from Chinese Consulate General in Sydney, Zhang Qian, Director of Zhongguancun Liaison Office in Australia and Brian Boyle, Vice-president of UNSW together witnessed this signing ceremony. 

It is reported that their latest cooperation project is an Australian Research Council research fund (ARC) project — a combination of the new-generation membrane distillation and solar energy technology.