Ugandan owned Kiira Motors, an electric bus startup with its roots in plug-in electric vehicle (EV) hybrids, is building Africa’s first e-bus factory, making use of Chinese battery technology. The small bus company based outside the Ugandan capital, Kampala, is already negotiating several contracts for its newest offering, the Kayoola EVS. The company’s origins lie…
Tianjin-based vaccine producer, CanSino Biologics, has won patent approval for its Ad5-nCOV vaccine candidate. The Covid-19 vaccine was approved in Beijing on 11 August, Chinese state-owned media reported citing documents released by China’s Intellectual Property Administration. The Ad5-nCOV candidate was co-developed by CanSino Biologics and a team of infectious disease experts, led by Chen Wei,…
Global wind farm capacity is likely to grow nearly 800% by the end of 2030 – with China at the head of the pack, according to two recent reports. A report by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) indicates stronger than originally forecasted growth for the sector. The Energy Council had to review its latest…
China is host to the most valuable startups on the planet in the annual Hurun Global Unicorn Index from the Hurun Research Institute. In a year largely interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, China, the world’s second-largest economy, has 227 unicorns as of March this year – around 35% of the world’s unicorns. A unicorn is…
China has built the largest seaplane the world has seen since Howard Hughes’s legendary ‘Spruce Goose.’ The Asian superpower’s first-ever attempt at the feat, the AG600, made its maiden voyage on July 26. The AG600, also known as ‘Kunlong’, has been in development since 2009, but the public has seen it only a handful of…
Hengli Petrochemical, one of China’s largest privately-owned companies, has announced a move to turn coal into fabric. The $20 billion undertaking will produce polyester yarn, used in everything from clothing to packaging and bottling, from China’s vast coal reserves. In June, the chemical giant said it would make the multi-billion dollar transition into the coal-to-chemical…
China has successfully completed its first-ever interplanetary mission with the Tianwen-1 Mars mission launch. Propelled into orbit from Hainan Island at 12.40pm local time on 23 July, the Long-March 5 rocket used in the mission is one of the largest and most powerful of the Long March rockets built by China. The craft and its…
Sinopharm, one of China’s leading medical companies and a global contender in the race for a Covid-19 vaccination, may develop the much-needed vaccine ahead of schedule. The drug could be available this year, several months ahead of what was originally thought, according to Chinese state media on 22 July. Liu Jingzhen, chairman of the Beijing-based…
A group of Chinese scientists and Shenzhen-based tech firm, Tencent have created a model that uses artificial intelligence to quickly assess the likelihood of a patient’s Covid-19 infection turning severe or life-threatening. Research, published in the gold-standard journal Nature, showed that nearly 7% of Covid-19 cases can deteriorate rapidly, resulting in a near 50% mortality…
South African telecoms company, Vodacom, and Alipay, China’s largest digital payments platform, have announced a collaboration to further Vodacom’s transition from a telco to a tech giant. The two firms announced on Saturday that they would co-develop a ”super-app’ which will serve as a digital marketplace for goods and services for clients whether or not…