Dr Zhengrong Shi began his PhD in Electrical Engineering in 1989, doing research in the ground-breaking photovoltaics laboratory led by Martin Green and Professor Stuart Wenham at the University of New South Wales.

He established Suntech in 2001. Between 2001 and 2008, the global solar industry averaged 41 percent growth year-on-year. “He was the right person at the right spot at the right time to move in both Chinese and Western cultures,” Professor Green has said.

As Suntech grew, so did Shi’s determination to fortify his relationship with the Australian solar industry and with UNSW. This has culminated in several successful joint research efforts and agreements between Suntech and the university, all with the aim of developing cutting-edge solar technologies. Both organisations have mutually shared the benefits of their technology breakthroughs.

In 2006, for example, Suntech set up a collaborative research agreement with the Centre of Excellence for Advanced Silicon Photovoltaics and Photonics at UNSW, which included a AU$1.5 million contribution from Suntech to the university.

“Through our unique collaboration, UNSW students and staff are involved in the complete technology develop-ment process, and we are able to transfer new solar technologies to commercial production in a relatively short time,” Dr Shi said.

The network is hard at work here. Dr Shi’s former professor Stuart Wenham is now Suntech’s chief technology officer and has played a critical role in the development of Suntech’s new Pluto technology.

Dr Shi credits much of his success to his UNSW contacts. “Had it not been for the vision, dedication, and exploration of some of my Australian academic colleagues and mentors, and the atmosphere of innovation provided by UNSW, I would not be at the head of a global solar energy company today,” he says.

Dr Shi continues to give back. In 2007, he pledged to sponsor 30 Chinese students, including Suntech employees, to study a Masters in Photovoltaics at UNSW. In July 2010, he donated AU$2 million dollars from his family charitable foundation to create the first major installation of the solar cell technology in Australia, and has been used to construct Australia’s largest-capacity rooftop solar panel array at the Sydney Theatre Company’s Walsh Bay building.