DEK Solar and Yingli Group announced on the 9th of August the establishment of a joint research centre that will help drive innovation and nurture the next generation of talent in the Chinese solar market.

A special signing ceremony and tour took place at Yingli Group's main manufacturing campus and headquarters in Baoding of China's Hebei Province. Under the terms of the agreement, DEK Solar will make a metallization line available to the Yingli Solar State Key Laboratory to jointly pursue the research and development of metallization technology and solar panels.

Attending the ceremony from DEK Solar were Mr Brian Lau, Director of DEK Solar, Dr Xiao Chen, Chief Technology Officer, and Mr Darren Brown, Alternative Energy Business Manager. Mr Miao Liansheng, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Dr Song Dengyuan, Chief Technology Officer and Mr Li Gaofei, General Manager of Yingli Technology Centre represented Yingli Group.

The Yingli Solar State Key Lab is being created to benefit the local PV industry and to provide an invaluable platform for solar manufacturers to develop new technologies, processes and materials.

The inclusion of a DEK Solar Apollo metallization platform will enable further international collaboration on core technology and application development, as well as the nurturing of talent in order to benefit the entire industry.

"DEK Solar is delighted to announce this collaboration with Yingli Group," said DEK Solar's Brian Lau, Director of DEK Solar.

"We continue to make significant investments in the Chinese PV market because we firmly believe that it is heading towards an upturn in 2014. In order to facilitate this, we need to find ways to deliver greater efficiencies and lower overall manufacturing costs. The Yingli State Key Lab will take us a step further towards realising these goals, and we are proud to be partnering with Yingli Group, one of the global leaders in PV manufacturing."

"DEK Solar is the perfect partner to help ensure the Yingli State Key Lab is a success for the local PV industry," said Mr Miao Liansheng, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Yingli Group.

"We are both determined to help achieve an upturn in the Chinese PV market, and we know that this can be made possible by investing in people and technology. The PV market is poised for an upturn and collaborations such as the Yingli Lab will ensure that it is China that drives this forward."