Triangle-hosted tyre lab an “open platform” for innovation in China
According to China’s National Bureau of Statistics, last year the country spent RMB 861 billion (£85.7 billion) on research and development, a figure equal to 1.83 per cent of its gross domestic product. One area of investment was work towards establishing around 100 ‘National Engineering Laboratories’ that will specialise in facilitating innovation in a range of industries. The interests of China’s tyre industry will be served by a dedicated laboratory, and in August 2011 China’s government appointed the Triangle Group the host company for a joint-funded facility, the National Engineering Laboratory for Radial Tire Design and Manufacturing Technologies (NEL). At the Triangle Group’s 2012 Global Automotive and Tire Industry Forum & Business Summit, held in Beijing on 11 April, NEL associate director Harry Gong explained the laboratory’s purpose in greater detail.