This March, Bournemouth University’s global Festival of Learning (GFOL) back to China and held successfully in four cities, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Beijing, and Hong Kong.
Partnership with International Education Alliance for Creative Industries (IEACI), the GFOL Hangzhou event was successfully held on March 21st, named as UK- China Creative Industries Collaboration Innovation Forum.
Under the overarching theme for the GFOL 2018, Education Futures 2050: Inspiring Learning, Delivering Impact. The Hangzhou Events focused on the topics of the future of talent in the creative industries in the UK and China, especially on animation, digital media, film, entrepreneurship, and communication.
The event featured a series of keynotes, presentations and panel discussions. More than 20 BU staffs and students joined the event, and there were nearly 200 guests came onsite. Guest speakers from BU shared about the VFX industry in the UK, Applications & Future Trends of Robotics, and so on.
Besides guest speakers from BU, there were also several guest speakers from Chinese universities, industries and government share their innovative ideas. During the panel discussion, the pannists from UK and China disused the topic of Developing Chinese and UK talent in the creative industries. Also, IEACI invited the distinguished guest, Shelley Page, International Animation Talent Consultant to deliver a keynote speech about international animation talent development.
Members of BU’s delegation have even been interviewed by Chinese media outlets, furthering the impact of the Festival in China.
Dr. Alastair Morrison, International Partnership Development Manager at Bournemouth University, is with the team in China.
He said, “The Festival of Learning in China has got off to a great start in Chengdu bringing together leaders from industry and academia across China, kickstarting conversations around sports talent development and community engagement. It has been exciting to participate in the learning that has taken place as colleagues from the UK and China have reflected on shared challenges and opportunities for working together to create impact.”
“We are now in Dream Town in Hangzhou, a thriving ecosystem of startups and creativity. We look forward to a stimulating meeting of local government, academia and the creative industries from both China and the UK.”
The GFOL is an exciting platform for international public engagement that celebrates learning, disseminates cutting-edge research and delivers impact across borders. As one of our come from the event, The China Innovation Hub of BU is planning to set up at Dream Town in Hangzhou, and with a key goal of working with universities in China, as well as businesses and the Chinese government to research and deliver innovation, particularly in the fields of technology and entrepreneurship. We look forward to receiving more outcomes from the event.
