Technology innovators and business people were encouraged to explore potential collaborations between China and United Kingdom in the Chinese city of Nanjing during a London Tech Week virtual conference organized by the Nanjing Economic and Technological Development Zone.

During the conference, the zone, which is known as the NETDZ, announced it will launch Tech Nanjing Advocates next year and become part of the Tech China Advocates and Global Tech Advocates network.

Global Tech Advocates is a network of more than 9,000 technology leaders, entrepreneurs, and experts across the world.

Russ Shaw, founder of Tech London Advocates and Global Tech Advocates, said: "I have travelled to tech hubs on every continent around the world and I have to say that nowhere is the tech industry growing faster than China and nowhere is it investing more resources than in its rise in tech companies."

He said during the conference that it is vital for any technology leader to understand the technology ecosystem that is being built across China.

"It's why we brought many entrepreneurs and investors from around the world to China for our first Global Tech Advocates summit," Shaw said. "We wanted to build relationships with investors and entrepreneurs and we wanted to encourage even greater collaboration between Chinese tech hubs, including Nanjing, and other tech hubs around the world.

"So, for me, the relationship between the tech sectors in London and Nanjing is a great opportunity, especially in areas such as artificial intelligence, mobility, advanced manufacturing, and health tech and med tech."

The NETDZ also launched the UK Overseas Collaborative Innovation Center in London, which is aimed at facilitating technological cooperation and business development between the UK and Nanjing.

Zhou Hua, deputy director of the NETDZ's management committee, said the new center will mark a new stage in cooperation.

Zhou told the conference that, along with existing centers in the United States and the Republic of Korea, the center will bring more international elements into the park and enable innovative elements from NETDZ to be more involved in international competitions.

The NETDZ is located in the northeast suburbs of Nanjing, in Jiangsu province. More than 5,000 enterprises, including some 300 international businesses, and 73 Fortune 500 companies are based there.