Facing global economic downturn and the urgency to deal with the climate crisis, many countries have realised that to become stronger in science and technology remains of key importance.
The UK took a remarkable step recently to earmark £250 million ($US367 million) for training more scientists and engineers.
The country's funding body for science and engineering, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), announced that the huge spending will be used to set up 44 new training centres across the country to train over 2,000 PhD students over the next five years.
The efforts are sought to find solutions to public concerns such as climate change and energy issues. Each research centre will concentrate on a specific area, such as security, biomedical engineering and sustainable environment, and 17 of the centres will be working closely with businesses to train industrial doctorates.
British Minister of State for Science and Innovation Paul Drayson said that Britain “needs scientists and engineers with the right skills to find answers to challenges of an ageing population, economic recession and the effects of global warming, build a strong economy and keep us globally competitive.”
China is another country which has also embarked on recently new initiatives to promote sustainable development.
Based on its 22-year-old experiment with sustainability practices, the country designated last week 13 areas in 10 municipalities and provinces to pioneer and trial innovative notions and mechanisms leading to a low-carbon economy.
Chinese Science and Technology Minister Wan Gang said these demonstration zones will explore how to integrate efforts to cut emissions and increase energy efficiency into the strategies outlined for local development. Doing so, the National Climate Change Programme could be put into practice locally, he said.
By 2006, there were more than 21.7 million Chinese scientists and technical professionals, the largest number for any individual country.
Read the Chinese version of this article on Global News Watch
Copyright Dongying Wang
Based on its 22-year-old experiment with sustainability practices, the country designated last week 13 areas in 10 municipalities and provinces to pioneer and trial innovative notions and mechanisms leading to a low-carbon economy.
Chinese Science and Technology Minister Wan Gang said these demonstration zones will explore how to integrate efforts to cut emissions and increase energy efficiency into the strategies outlined for local development. Doing so, the National Climate Change Programme could be put into practice locally, he said.
By 2006, there were more than 21.7 million Chinese scientists and technical professionals, the largest number for any individual country.
Read the Chinese version of this article on Global News Watch
Copyright Dongying Wang
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