CRI听力:UK to highlight hi-tech innovations at import expo

The United Kingdom is expected to highlight its advanced technologies at the upcoming China International Import Expo, scheduled to take place from Nov. 5 to 10 in Shanghai.

Mi Hiepa Sports is a Manchester-based virtual reality company that provides VR training for football players.

Its platform can also record the movements of football players in different simulated scenarios to help the players recover after matches and perform daily trainings.

"If we were to do it in real life, you'd need 25 people to do that one job where as you can do it without the impact and repetition a thousand times. So the benefits are very accelerated," said Adam Dickinson, the Development Director of Mi Hiepa Sports.

The platform has been providing training programs for more than 10 well-known European football clubs and it is now targeting the Chinese market by participating in the import expo.

"So we received an invitation from the UK government to participate in the event. So there is a leading edge, innovative company that thought we could really show what Britain is doing, what's great about British technology. We decided that we think it's a great opportunity for us to reach out to the Chinese market and engage with the grassroots football movement that's beginning there and we can help develop better players for the future of China," said Andy Etches, the Sports Director of Mi Hiepa Sports.

At the expo, the UK will set up a national pavilion featuring creativity and innovation. A total of 30 British companies from different sectors, including finance, retail, healthcare, culture, education and high-end manufacturing, will participate in the business exhibition.

"Some of the big names in British business will be there, Jaguar, Land Rover, HSBC, the Standard Chartered Bank, British Airways, are all taking exhibition space. And there will be a large UK national pavilion organized by the UK government, the department for international trade of the UK to provide opportunities to showcase British enterprise more generally," said Matthew Rous, the Chief Executive of China-Britain Business Council.

According to China's Ministry of Commerce, the bilateral trade volume between China and Britain reached $79.03 billion U.S. dollars in 2017, with China's imports from Britain up 19.4 perxcent year on year.

Britain is China's second-largest trading partner within the European Union (EU) and China is Britain's second-largest non-EU trading partner.