At the EFEC UK–China Life Sciences Innovation Hub, responsibility is not a policy — it is part of how we build. Every collaboration we facilitate across the UK and China reflects our belief that innovation must be both ambitious and accountable. Our focus on life sciences means we work where scientific progress intersects with human impact — areas that demand ethical, sustainable, and transparent practices.
We view ESG as an active commitment to designing systems that match the scale of human ambition, without compromising on integrity, equity, or the environment.
The Hub works with organisations that recognise sustainability as a foundation for innovation. Across our partnerships, we promote environmentally conscious operations, responsible resource use, and sustainable modes of collaboration. We encourage our partners to consider the full lifecycle of innovation — from research and clinical validation to data infrastructure and market access.
Our role is to amplify what’s already working — helping ecosystems align sustainable growth with real-world impact.
Our social responsibility begins with people. We help organisations and innovators operate confidently across borders by embedding cultural fluency, inclusion, and shared understanding into every collaboration.
Through our in2UK and in2China services, we support businesses entering each other’s markets with the right context, connections, and confidence. We focus on bridging not just opportunity gaps, but also differences in expectations, communication, and professional practice.
We prioritise fairness, opportunity, and mutual respect in all our partnerships — creating environments where intelligence, talent, and purpose can thrive.
Trust is the currency of cross-border innovation. The Hub ensures that partnerships between UK and Chinese institutions are guided by clear governance principles, transparent processes, and respect for data, regulation, and intellectual property.
We align our approach with global best practice in compliance and ethics, while remaining sensitive to local contexts. Our governance philosophy is simple: collaboration should strengthen integrity, not test it.
We hold ourselves accountable to a framework built around three enduring commitments:
Promoting ethical use of AI, data, and technology in life sciences
Enabling people and organisations to collaborate effectively across contexts
Ensuring open, equitable, and compliant partnerships
Building infrastructures that enable long-term collaboration, not short-term transactions
We work with institutions, investors, and innovators who share our belief that growth and responsibility must evolve together. Our collaborations across the UK and China— from research institutions to legal, regulatory and investment partners — are built on shared ethical standards and the pursuit of positive global impact.
For practical guidance on ESG in cross-border life sciences partnerships, see our ESG Primer in the Resources section.