Location: Marks & Clerk LLP, 90 Long Acre, London, WC2E 9RA, UK
Nearest tube station: Covent Garden
Timing: Registration from 17:00: seminar from 17:30 - 19.15 (followed by refreshments)
Pricing:

• Free to Marks & Clerk clients and APTN's annual supporters
• £40 + VAT (Executives)
• £20 + VAT (Asian citizens/institutions, officials, executives from Small Companies)
• £20 + VAT (UKTI Clients)
• £10 + VAT (Academics),
• Free for the Media

To Register - please send your name, affiliation, phone number, category to biz22@aptn.org

Michael Raines
Mike has the responsibility to develop and implement strategies for commercial solutions and exploitation of Ricardo’s Low Carbon Vehicle Technology Projects. These Projects are focussed on leading to improved vehicle weight reduction and structural improvements, as well as focussing on the cost and pay-back issues around engineering solutions for reducing g/CO2 per Km. Prior to joining Ricardo, Mike worked across Europe as an automotive interim manager and consultant in the areas of organisational growth and business development serving a number of Automotive Tier 1 clients, OEMs and VMs such as Ford Motor Company GmbH. Prior to his consulting carer he was with Magna Automotive and Magna International as an Executive Director for 10 years, including 5 years based in Germany in a role involving global business development, new product introduction and programme management.

Dr Chris Beck
UK Trade & Investment Global R&D Specialist Chris Beck brings substantial experience from the performance engineering and materials sectors to help increase inward investment in R&D in the UK. Chris has 15 years’ experience in industry, working for a number of leading multinational organisations. He has a strong background in business development and R&D management with a reputation for strategic technology identification and capture. His expertise can benefit any multinational organisation looking to invest in R&D in the UK in the fields of: • Advance engineering • Materials • Process technology • Innovation and technology management Chris began his career in the chemical industry with Tioxide before gaining his BEng in Materials Engineering from the University of Leeds. He then joined GEC-Marconi where he spent a number of years initiating and managing research projects in the area of advanced materials and processes, including several international collaborative projects. He managed an engineering team focused on developing and implementing new assembly technologies for optoelectronic products, gaining experience in a broad range of manufacturing processes and technologies. Chris moved to TWI as a Senior Project Leader in the microtechnology department, where he worked with a number of international companies in packaging and assembly technologies, focusing on the areas of process design, reliability and production technologies. While at TWI he worked on a government-funded network focused on promoting collaboration between industry and the UK research base. He also has experience supporting SMEs in protecting, developing and commercialising their intellectual property. Most recently he spent two years working for a Department of Trade and Industry programme where he was responsible for facilitating inward technology transfer into the UK. He covered North America and worked on a range of technologies including technical textiles, aerospace, coating technologies, medical devices and home-based healthcare. Chris completed his PhD at the University of Leeds while working at the Cookson Technology Centre in Oxford. He is a Chartered Engineer and a member of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.

Ke Rong
Ke Rong takes his Ph.D study in University of Cambridge. He previously obtained a B.Eng degree in Automation at Tsinghua University, China. Then He joined Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge as a doctoral researcher. His Ph.D study is about ' Nurturing Business Ecosystem from Firm Perspectives in emerging mobile computing industry'. His research interests include business ecosystem, frugal innovation in emerging economies and low carbon supply chain strategy. He also conducted many industrial studies in emerging industries such as Shanzhai/Frugal mobile phone industry, carbon trading industry and low-speed/Micro Electric Vehicle industry in Great region of China, USA and UK area.

Project brief, Electrical Vehicle (EV) industry has emerged recently in China, stimulated by central government policies such as ‘ten cities, one thousand EVs’. However, through our investigation, besides the government supporting projects, there are also other grass-rooted innovation in this emerging industry, especially in Shandong province, where more than 100 thousands low-speed EVs (only around 3000 pounds) were sold in 2009. These products were regarded as Shanzhai /frugal products, similar to the Shanzhai/frugal mobile phones in south China, compared to luxury products. These cars were named as low-speed EVs, to be differentiated from the mainstream, high speed EVs. Nevertheless, in China, firms are not allowed to produce cars until they get license from the government. The specification of low-speed EVs does not reach the entry level of official EV standard (80km/h maximum speed, 250km distance per charge). As a result, companies cannot get official certificate, and thus were forbidden to produce or sell low-speed EV in China. Then, these low-speed EVs were sold “under earth” or exported to foreign countries, even thought there was big demand inside China. This phenomenon reminds us to consider about how to keep the pace between supply and demand sides in the business ecosystem around an emerging industry. It is essential for different levels of organizations to collaborate closely in order to provide right products for customers in need. In Shandong Province, industrial association, local government, industrial players and universities were actively engaging in this emerging industry. Those organizations network took a very novel way to approach the customer, shorten the lead time and integrate the local supply chain, which was a good lesson to map China’s unique innovation trajectory. They hoped to find another way to develop EV industry different from that of the central government. Companies were faced by dilemma. On one hand, there was no policy support; on the other hand the there were passionate entrepreneurs and huge market. The interaction among three players, government agency, industry players and customers, became essential. It seemed that policy was the obstacle, preventing the development of this emerging industry. Comparatively, high demanding market was positively supportive. The entrepreneurs were hesitated in the middle. Both of these two kinds of EVs are existing reflecting the competition between authority and grass-root power. In order to further understand this emerging industry in China, our Cambridge team from institute for Manufacturing, conducted in-depth case studies on both side along the different-level organizations of the business ecosystem: EV manufacturer, batteries suppliers, E-motor control, power control, industrial association and government agency, in different regions of China such as Shandong province, Fujian province, Zhejiang province, Beijing, Tianjian and Shanghai. In all, this new phenomenon inspires us with three dimensions synthesized in EV industry business ecosystem: Industry evolution, Policy adaptation and Firm elaboration. Besides these, the prospect market also highlighted the novel business model and implicated to the emerging industry. Finally, this phenomenon re-emphasized the ‘Shanzhai’/frugal innovation in China, which proposed a novel and feasible way for a latecomer.