Tag Archives: Johan

Sino-Swedish Biomedicine seminar held in Uppsala

By Xuefei Chen Axelsson

STOCKHOLM, Sept. 21(Greenpost)– Changsha National High-tech Industrial Development Zone delegation held a seminar with Research Institute of Sweden and Uppsala Bio on Thursday in Uppsala to discuss cooperation in biomedicine.

The seminar was presided over by Zhao Shouting, Nordic Chinese Sustainable Development Association.

Song Jie,  deputy director of  the Changsha National High-tech Industrial Development Zone delegation gave a brief introduction about his zone.

“CNHDZ is Hunan Province’s Silicon Valley and ranks top 10 in innovation capability. We have issued a new policy to encourage more overseas enterprises and talented people to open businesses in the zone. ”

Song said the grants can be as high as twenty million yuan every year and the total is 100 million per year.

The zone is very strong in biomedicine and really likes to cooperate with Swedish counterparts.

He said Changsha was the place that raised the first artificial baby and held the largest frozen sperm bank.

He welcomes Swedish companies to cooperate with their counterparts.  He promised that the government is just willing to provide a platform for enterprises to cooperate.

Johan Laurell gave a brief introduction about Research Institutes of Sweden or RISE. He is the marketing manager.

He said RISE includes a lot of industries including food and medicine and plays a role of helping enterprises to find their international partners.

Erik Forsberg from Uppsala Bio introduced his company which is a very famous Swedish biomedicine company.

The famous Pfizer company used to be part of it.  Forsberg said it is good to understand what kind of cooperation model will be and will bring more relevant companies to meet next time.

Jan Peter Axelsson used to work in Pfizer and now in Vascaia also introduced his company, his colleague and his own expertise. He is good at providing automatic and efficient  production method.

Zhou Wenqiang is Chief Scientist from Hunan Fangsheng Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd

Hao Zou is General Manager from Hunan Hua Rui Biological Technology Co. Ltd.

Huang Qingxi is from Central Bio-MD Valley Technology Co. Ltd

Guo Xialing is Board Chairman of Argus (Hunan) Pharmaceutical Ltd.  She said she is looking for experts in fermentation.

The two sides also discussed partnerships, cooperation model, platforms and mechanisms to deepen the cooperation between the two sides.

Photo and Text:  Xuefei Chen Axelsson

World Water Week experts call for green water usage in Africa

Stockholm, August 30(Greenpost)–Water and climate experts have called for a Green Water Initiative in Africa, as part of a Water Revolution in Africa for alleviating hunger on the continent and meeting the Sustainable Development Goals.

“Large parts of the world are struggling to adapt to a drier reality, but challenges are especially dire in Africa’s drylands. Africa’s climate is its Achilles Heel”, said Professor Malin Falkenmark, Senior Scientific Advisor to Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) at the beginning of the World Water Week.

In the water-scarce regions of sub-Saharan Africa (mainly consisting of savannah), direct management of scarce rainfall must form an integral part of the development agenda,

Green water refers to the part of the rain that infiltrates into, and is stored in, the soil.

At the onset of World Water Week, a group of world-renowned hydro-climate experts said that rainwater harvesting and other green water management methods, are key to alleviating hunger in sub-Saharan Africa and meeting the Sustainable Development Goals.

 

Johan Rockström, Director of Stockholm Resilience Center and  Johan Kuylenstierna, Director of Stockholm Environment Institute, Charles J. Vörösmarty and Torgny Holmgren from SIWI attended the  Malin Falkenmark Symposium at World Water Week.

The vast drylands encircling the Congo Basin are home to some 750 million people, a number that is expected to increase to 1.6 billion in the next 35 years. Meanwhile, agricultural yields in this region are very low, on average around one tonne per hectare, as a result of frequent droughts.

The group said that to meet the Sustainable Development Goal 2 (End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture), Africa needs a Triple Green Revolution: green for productive use of green water, green for intensification and enhanced food production, and green for sustainability and building water resilience in watersheds.

Rain, the scientists said, is the ultimate water source in dryland agriculture, as the limited blue water (such as rivers and streams) will be needed for increased urban water supply, industry and energy production.

They suggest rainwater harvesting systems that can offer supplementary irrigation, harvested from slopes and valley bottoms and stored in ponds or dams for use during dry spells and drought periods.

To finance the initiative, the group proposed a Water Harvesting Innovation Fund for Africa, to build water resilience for food security and human well-being.

“Initiatives like the Green Water Initiative in Africa, within the framework of the 2030 Agenda is of great importance if we will have any chance of realizing the Sustainable Development Goals. I hope to see some concrete response to this call,” said SIWI’s Executive Director Torgny Holmgren.