A partnership including global bank HSBC launched a UK-China development and investment hub focused on fostering smart cities. The banking giant teamed up with the China Centre for Urban Development and engineering firm Arup Group in the initiative. The UK-China Smart City initiative will allow private companies to work with the Chinese government on challenges stemming from rapidly growing cities around the country. “Tireless collaboration between national and municipal governments, and between the public and private sectors, is needed to address the challenges arising from rapidly growing cities and society’s requirements for low-carbon infrastructure,” said HSBC Group Chairman Douglas Flint. “This new initiative will enable municipal authorities and businesses in both the UK and China to work more closely together to develop smart cities which meet our economic, environmental and social objectives,” added Flint. In a previous study by Arup researchers determined that the global smart cities market could grow to $408 billion by the year 2020.