The Creative Economies are key growth drivers and economic sectors for both the UK and China. Digital platforms such as social networks, search engines, online marketplaces, and content distribution help to generate new products and services both online and offline. For those concerned with physical objects especially in the craft and visual arts sectors, digital platforms provide opportunities through the 4th industrial revolution where there is a blurring between physical and digital production. For example, digital platforms provide opportunities for innovation through using new materials and production techniques, they facilitate greater and closer access to markets and customers, and provide opportunities to include customers more in the design process. Digital platforms are therefore key to enabling growth in the Creative Economies in the UK and China. This is despite the fact that the UK and China have unique cultural heritages and traditions, different economic, social, and political profiles, and divergent digital infrastructure and regulations. Digital platforms are inevitably implemented, used, and leveraged differently the UK and China. Firstly, there are deep rooted differences in culture and heritage between the UK and China which would affect conventions and methods of production and consumption in Creative Economies which would make different use of digital platforms to support them. Secondly, there are significant differences between countries' internet infrastructure and policies of use. For example, social media such as Twitter and Facebook are ubiquitous in the UK in contrast to Chinese social media platforms such as QQ and WeChat. Similarly, popular craft marketplaces such as those on taobao in China contrast with craft marketplaces such as NotOnTheHighStreet and etsy.com which are prevalent the UK. Thirdly, there are differences in different cultures' use of digital platforms such as social media which may be reflected in the use of digital platforms in the Creative Economy. Finally, there are differences in digital inclusion between urban and rural areas which are different in the UK and China and which would have an impact of the possible uses and uptake of digital platforms. Whilst digital platforms are used across Creative Economy sectors there has to date been a concentration of research interest in those sectors which produce or consume digital content. For example, games, music, and media production sectors, which have included comparisons between the UK and Chinese sectors. However, the use of digital platforms in cultural domains which involve physical object production, consumption, and archival are not well researched despite the importance of craft as a driver of innovation in the Creative Economy and wider industries. The project will directly address this lack of research in the use and potential of digital platforms for craft sectors in the UK and China.

This project aims to create an interactive online tool to enhance the viability of small maker enterprises in the form of an Interactive Viability Roadmap. This tool will contribute the future viability of small maker enterprises through a personalised, design-based approach that provides tailored strategies for product development, process improvement and promotion effectiveness. The tool will assist enterprises in making decisions about future strategies that are in line with their values and priorities and also with the principles of sustainability. All the strategies suggested to an individual enterprise will be based on a) information supplied by the enterprise and b) successful 'real world' examples. The data visualised by this tool will also provide regional economic development and policy advisory organizations, such as the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Craft, with aggregate information about the values and priorities of small maker enterprises so that economic and other forms of support, and policy development decisions, can be better aligned with their needs. In recent times, there has been renewed interest in the provenance of the products we consume. This ranges from the foods available in supermarkets to the ingredients of restaurant menus, and from local craft beers to handmade objects. The research base for this present project was tangible goods, but the concept can be extended to include other kinds of goods. Notwithstanding the renewed interest, however, the viability of enterprises that produce these kinds of goods is often precarious - as indicated by the UK's Radcliffe Red List of Endangered Crafts and, at the international level, UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) Programme, both of which aim to support these cultural practices and raise awareness of their importance and value. While the UK presently does not subscribe to the UNESCO ICH Programme, it has been enthusiastically embraced in China at the national, regional and municipal levels. We have also seen considerable work in this area in the USA. Hence, this is a global issue and the potential use and impact of the proposed Interactive Viability Roadmap is international. Evidence demonstrates that there is a need for better understanding of how small maker enterprises can contribute to a vibrant creative economy through effective support that is respectful of their values and often has deep cultural roots. This project addresses this issue in two ways. First, it allows individual enterprises to adopt new strategies that are aligned with their declared values and priorities and with sustainable principles. Second, it enables regional economic development and policy advisory organizations to ensure that support and policy take into account the values and priorities prevalent among small maker enterprise owners, to ensure appropriate provision. TradeCraft will generate benefits for enterprise owners and other stakeholders, including designers working in the field, Craft Council, Design Council, North West Craft Network, Heritage Crafts Association, and regional tourist organizations; regional economic development organizations such as Local Economic Partnerships; policy advisory groups such as the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Craft; and researchers working in this field. In addition, the work will be of interest to groups internationally, such as Craft-ACT, Australia, the International Folk Arts Museum, Santa Fe, and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing. The extent to which COVID-19 will have a long-term negative effect on the cultural industries and tourism is too early to say. However, whether planning for resumption or for entirely new ways of appreciating and ensuring the resilience of small maker enterprises, this Interactive Viability Roadmap will allow enterprises and economic development and policy advisory organizations to make better-informed decisions about appropriate strategies and support activities.

The LeNSin project aims at the internationalization, intercultural cross-fertilization and accessibility of higher education by consolidating and empowering a global network called the Learning Network on Sustainability. This network is composed of 6 existing, functioning regional networks (14 HEIs in 5 partner countries and 4 European HEIs): LeNS_Brasil, LeNS_Mexico; LeNS_South Africa, LeNS_China, LeNS_India and LeNS_Europe. The project stresses curriculum development in the field of Design for Sustainability (DfS) focused on Sustainable Product-Service Systems (S.PSS) and Distributed Economies (DE), both known as promising models to couple environmental protection with social equity/cohesion and economic prosperity. LeNSin fosters capacity building in each region through 5 Seminars and 10 Curricular Courses, designed and implemented by the Partner countries’ and European HEIs in close collaboration and involving local companies/NGOs/institutions.The two supporting structures of the project are:-The distributed Open Learning E-Platform (d.OLEP): a decentralized web platform enabling distributed production&transfer of knowledge, adopting a learning-by-sharing mechanism with an open&copyleft ethos. It is a repository of learning resources (slide shows, video, audio, texts, etc.) and tools that any teacher can download for free and reuse and adapt to contextual conditions. -A set of labs (LeNS_labs) that: support students, teachers, researchers and local stakeholders with DfS tools and resources; host the d.OLEP with regionally developed resources and tools; and act as hubs connecting all LeNS_labs with local and global HEIs and companies/NGOs/institutions in a multipolar scheme. The d.OLEP and the labs will remain after the project end to ensure endurance of the action.An international “Decentralized Conference” (5 simultaneous national Conferences in the Partner countries and 1 in Europe) and a Students’ Design Award further disseminate the project results.

The Chinese 11th Five-Year Plan considers Sustainable Energy Supply and Sustainable Built Environment as crucial for achieving sustainable development. Recognising the potential benefits, the UK government has actively encouraged international collaborations with China. Two Engineering Schools at Queen's University Belfast (QUB), with internationally recognised research excellence in the Built Environment and in Electric Power & Control, have taken used these opportunities to collaborate with a number of, geographically distributed, leading Chinese universities, research institutions and industries. This effort has been supported by the EPSRC, the Royal Society & the Royal Academy of Engineering, and includes a 1M EPSRC grant for a UK-China joint consortium on sustainable electric power supply and a 220K EPSRC project to run UK-China Network of Clean Energy Research to promote SUPERGEN (Sustainable Power Generation and Supply) in China. Some QUB technologies have also been tested in major construction projects, such as the Beijing National Olympic Stadium (Bird's Nest) and the Hangzhou Bay Sea-Crossing Bridge (longest such bridge in the world). The applicants aim to enhance their science innovation and technology transfer activities in both China and the UK helped by their 7 university partners (principally Tsinghua University, # 1 in China & Zhejiang University, #3 in China, the others being Chongqing, Shanghai Jiaotong, Southeast, Shanghai and Hunan), 3 Chinese research institutions (Central Research Institute of Building & Construction CRIBC, the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Electrical Engineering, and the Research Institute of Highways). The China State Railway Corp. (largest under Ministry of Railways), the China State Construction Corporation (largest under Ministry of Construction), Bao Steel Corporation (largest in China, #6 in world sales) and Shanghai Electric Group (largest in China) are the main 4 Chinese industrial partners. Complementary UK support includes Amphora NDT Ltd, Macrete and SUPERGEN.