What will be the shape of tech collaboration between China and the UK in the future? The recent tussle over Huawei, WeChat and TikTok inspires little confidence. The UK-China Tech Forum, hosted today by TechUK, sought to paint a rosier picture.

The web event highlighted ways in which business in both countries are looking to digital innovation and cooperation as a way to boost productivity, reduce costs and enable more flexible, ethical and sustainable business models.

The timing of the webinar was prescient following Xi Jinping’s pledge at the UN today to make China carbon neutral by 2060.

In his opening comments UK Consul-General in Shanghai, John Edwards, stressed the current scale of tech collaboration between UK and China and identified key areas for future development, from fintech and education, to agritech, healthcare, mobile gaming and clean energy.

In doing so, Edwards also acknowledged that concerns over IP protection remained one of the main obstacles to closer collaboration.

The shadow of the US election in November also lurked unsaid.

More than 100 participants from China and the UK joined the event, which was co-hosted by China-Britain Business Council and the UK Department for International Trade.

Speakers included Dr. Wanli Min, founder of NorthSummitCapital in Shenzhen, Markus Kuhlo, director of marketing and strategy at Tencent Cloud Europe and Chee Thong Foo, head of solution consulting at Sage, a cloud-based business solutions provider.