ALLIANCES for SCIENTIFIC SUCCESS the Diverse Histories of China’S Cities Strongly Influence Their Collaboration Patterns

PHILIPPE LOPEZ/AFP/GETTY

Hong Kong-based Yuen Kwok-Yung, who identified the cause of SARS, says collaboration between scientists of different perspectives leads to novel breakthroughs. ALLIANCES FOR SCIENTIFIC SUCCESS The diverse histories of China’s cities strongly influence their collaboration patterns.

BY HEPENG JIA The findings came about through the team’s combined knowledge and resource base, u Aimin knew that collaborating drawing on the Korean researchers’ physiology represented his best chance for success expertise, the HKU lab’s excellence in biology in his quest at Hong Kong University and unique animal models, and the Saudi IMAGERITE/ALAMY X(HKU) to identify the relationship between Arabian lab’s clinical samples. obesity and the glucose-regulating hormone “Hong Kong is a relatively small place,” says adiponectin. Xu, a professor in the university’s department Connecting with colleagues in Saudi Ara- of medicine. “Collaboration with [Chinese] bia and Korea, he formed a team that revealed mainland and overseas institutes is the best something unexpected. While obesity is a con- way to maximize the economic and societal sequence of metabolic dysfunction, it is also impacts of our research.” exacerbated by it, because the expression of Xu’s first-hand experience echoes what large adiponectin is reduced. Altering this activity scale studies show about science in the twenty- may represent a new strategy for the treatment first century: research resulting from collabo- of obesity-related disorders, their study, pub- rations is more frequently cited, especially lished in Nature Communications, suggests. papers with international co-authors. In the Nature Index, three Chinese cities A sculptural sundial at HKUST represents early stand out for their collaborative orientation: human invention, an inspiration for scientists. Hong Kong, Hefei and Tianjin. The focuses of their collaborations differ, Exploring the roots of these patterns reveals TIANJIN all bring great reward. While Hong Kong and the importance of history in shaping regional Hefei institutions have formed a record num- strengths. HEFEI ber of partnerships with their international As Wu Yishan, vice president of the Chinese peers (see ‘Hong Kong’s hotspots’), Tianjin Academy of Science and Technology for HONG KONG scientists have focused on forging local links Development, puts it: “With the joint forces (see ‘Close ties’). of historical tradition, research capacity, local

policies and personal links, Chinese regions coronavirus to Chinese horseshoe bats, was have formed different preferences in research appointed its first co-director. Yuen then went collaborations.” on to help launch the HKU AIDS Institute in

XINHUA/ALAMY collaboration with the Aaron Diamond AIDS HONG KONG Research Center, an affiliate of Rockefel- WFC rank China: 7 ler University in New York. “Scientists from AC: 600 different cultures and ethnicities have very different and novel perspectives for looking The index shows that Hong Kong’s collabora- at a scientific question and provide varied tions are firmly entrenched with, but certainly approaches to find the solution,” Yuen says. not limited to, mainland China, the United States and Europe. For example, the two lead- HEFEI ing international collaborators for the Hong WFC rank China: 5 Kong University of Science and Technology AC: 696 (HKUST) are the National University of Singa- pore and Singapore’s Agency for Science, Tech- Like Hong Kong, Hefei, capital of the Chinese nology and Research. HKU’s most frequent mainland hinterland province of Anhui, has a overseas collaborator is Taiwan’s National Tsing limited number of research institutions in the Hua University (see ‘Hong Kong’s hotspots’). index. One of these, the University of Science The collaborative atmosphere in Hong Kong and Technology of China (USTC), is the appears to be fostered by funding policies. The driving force behind the city’s collaborations. region’s local agencies support a large number USTC’s WFC between 2012 and 2014 was 517, of collaborative and joint funding schemes more than six times that of the second player, with other bodies at home and overseas. the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, which An example is the HKU-Pasteur Research is affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Centre, which was established to tackle emerg- Sciences (CAS). ing infectious diseases in China and elsewhere History and tradition help explain USTC’s in Asia. Yuen Kwok-Yung, an HKU microbi- unique role. Founded by CAS, the university ologist who is renowned for tracing the human moved from Beijing to Hefei in 1969 during Hefei’s USTC campus provides a highly supportive SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) the Cultural Revolution. Following the opening environment for collaborative research.

up of China, a large number of USTC alumni HONG KONG’S HOTSPOTS United States went to overseas institutions, temporarily or While collaborations with the United States dominate Canada permanently. This, combined with a dearth of the top ve partnerships for Hong Kong's leading United Kingdom institutions, each has a particular regional focus for other local institutes to work with, has pushed France their remaining partners. the university towards international collabora- Germany Portugal tions for cutting-edge research, particularly in physics and chemistry. Japan Singapore A USTC physics professor, Guo Guoping, REACHING OUT Taiwan says that he and colleagues regularly seek col- The University of Australia laborations to promote theoretical develop- Hong Kong has many Others ments based on their experimental results. partnerships in the United States and “International partners are crucial to explore western Europe. our frontier studies,” he 140 says. A good example is a study Guo recently “Support for collaboration 120 co-authored in Physics Review Letters with sci- is reflected in entists from the United Hong Kong’s 100 CLOSE TO HOME States and Japan which funding Hong Kong University of policies.” Science & Technology explores the application 80 collaborates often with of graphene in quantum Asia Paci c institutions. communication.

Collaboration score Collaboration 60 USTC is jointly sponsored by CAS and the Ministry of Education. This historic link has contributed to the university’s widespread 40 collaborations with CAS institutes. In 2014 CAS was USTC’s largest partner, earning it

20 a collaboration score of 136.43. The collaboration score is an indicator of an institution’s collaboration in terms of co-authorship of 0 articles in the 68 high-impact journals covered THE UNIVESITY OF HONG KONG THE CHINESE CITY UNIVESITY THE HONG KONG HONG KONG UNIVESITY OF UNIVESITY OF OF HONG KONG POLYTECHNIC by the index. SCIENCE & HONG KONG UNIVESITY Both Guo and Yuen at HKU argue that TECHNOLOGY while policy support is important, science rather than money drives collaboration.

IT TAKES TWO International collaboration score International and domestic collaboration scores of Tianjin’s top 10 collaborating institutions. Domestic collaboration score

NANKAI UNIVESITY

TIANJIN UNIVESITY

TIANJIN MEDICAL UNIVESITY

TIANJIN NOMAL UNIVESITY CLOSE TIES Researchers at Nankai and Tianjin universities co-author more papers with each other than TIANJIN INSTITUTE OF INDUSTIAL any other domestic partner. Top ve domestic collaborators in 2014 are shown. BIOTECHNOLOGY, CAS

Others TIANJIN MEDICAL UNIVESITY CANCE INSTITUTE & HOSPITAL Others Tianjin University TIANJIN POLYTECHNIC NANKAI TIANJIN UNIVESITY Peking University UNIVESITY UNIVESITY Tsinghua University Nankai University Central China TIANJIN UNIVESITY Northeast Normal University OF TECHNOLOGY Normal University Chinese Academy of Sciences Chinese Academy of Sciences HEBEI UNIVESITY Tsinghua University Peking OF TECHNOLOGY University

TIANJIN UNION MEDICINE CENTE

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260 Collaboration score

“Special collaboration grants to support travel TJU and Nankai jointly established the Tianjin Nankai and TJU are Tianjin’s largest col- and conferences are good, but only support the Co-Innovation Center of Chemical Science and laborators, and in 2014, most frequently col- original ideas,” Guo says. Engineering. “The centre has produced many laborated with each other (see ‘Close ties’). of our co-authorships,” says Nankai materials These strong local links have been forged, TIANJIN chemist, Yang Zhimou, who along with his according to Yang, as a WFC rank China: 10 team has authored several Nature Index papers. “International result of relatively poor AC: 461 Many TJU faculty members graduated from partners funding and a lack of Nankai or vice versa and retain strong alle- are crucial equipment at Nankai Tianjin has more universities in the index than giances to their alma mater. This contributes to explore and Tianjin universi- Hong Kong and Hefei, although much of its to ongoing close collaboration, says Ma Jun- our frontier ties. This situation has basic research is conducted at two institutions An, a TJU Department of Chemistry professor pushed researchers to — Nankai and Tianjin universities. These who recently published in Organic Letters, a top studies.” exploit resources avail- universities had collaboration scores of 254.3 chemistry journal in the Nature Index. able locally. and 163.9 in 2014; much larger than the But local partnerships do not thwart collab- combined figures of the remaining universities oration with other domestic and international and institutes in this northern city, which partners. “Besides strong local partnership, neighbours Beijing. we also have stable collaborations with CAS, Research at these universities is highly com- CNRS [in France], RIKEN [in Japan] and the plementary, partly because of historical logis- University of Texas [in the United States]. They tics. In 1952, in line with a Soviet model, the are mutually supportive,” Ma says. newly-founded People’s Republic of China The Nankai-TJU Co-innovation Center VIA GETTY CHINAFOTOPRESS government transferred most of the science was established under policies of the departments in Tianjin University (TJU) to ministries of education and of science and Nankai while boosting TJU’s engineering technology to encourage collaborations among capacity. As a result, TJU’s engineering research Chinese research institutions. Initiated in and application is strong, but its basic research 2011, so far nearly 100 co-innovation centres is relatively weak. To counter this, the neigh- have been recognized and funded partially bouring universities formed a strong partner- by the ministries. Other financial sources ship in chemistry and physical science research. come from the universities themselves, local In 2012, partially funded by the Ministry of Tianjin University researchers explore airflow for governments and industries, when a centre is Education and Tianjin municipal government, the first China-developed passenger jet, the C919. industry-oriented. ■