Officials unveil the official plaque of a new research institute established by Peking University in Changshu, Jiangsu province on May 18. [Photo/pku.edu.cn] 

Jiangsu province has established a fruitful partnership with Beijing’s prestigious Peking University in recent years that has brought a multitude of job-creating programs to the region.

The university established a third research institute in Jiangsu on May 18, in the southeastern city of Changshu, which will focus on making breakthroughs in new materials, new energy, biological medicine and advanced manufacturing.

Combined with Peking University’s research institutes in Nanjing and Qidong, set up in 2012 and 2016 respectively, the university has now invested more than 600 million yuan ($88 million) on establishing research facilities in Jiangsu.

Local companies in the province are also benefitting from the research support they are increasingly receiving from Peking University. Wuxi-based semiconductor manufacturer MEMSIC, for example, has made a key R&D breakthrough since partnering with the university, developing integrated chips with signal processing.

The CoreWell Tea Garden in Nanjing, once struggling with low production efficiency, has also benefited greatly from the modern management skills offered by PKU.

According to Zhang Ji, an assistant director at the research institute in Nanjing, a management system based on the technology of narrow band internet of things has helped the company realize real-time monitoring over tea growth, analyze potential risks, optimize its growing conditions and lower production costs.

As one of China’s top universities, Peking University has also helped raise Jiangsu’s profile nationwide, including establishing regular cooperative mechanisms between a Suzhou-based international center for technology transfer and various leading colleges, such as Stanford University in the US and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

The university has also infused great vitality to the talent market in Jiangsu, especially in emerging fields such as the internet of things and integrated circuits, training up more than 2,200 postgraduates and 1,300 graduates.