Taking design off the drawing board

His focus on the finite-element method led to his involvement in commercial exploitation of the methodology. In 1985, he formed Rockfield Software Ltd to transfer his academic research on computational modeling to the industrial sector.

By the time Owen retired as its chairman in 2010, the company, which initially had two engineers, employed 35 staff members in the United Kingdom and 10 in Australia.

Owen's first visit to China was in 1982. Over three decades, he has developed strong links with many of the leading Chinese universities and research institutions, especially Tsinghua University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Owen's standing in the Chinese scientific community led to his election as Foreign Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2011.

This year, he was presented with a prestigious Chinese Friendship Award, the highest honor given by the Chinese government to foreigners for their contributions to the country.

He says he is very honored by the award.

"It's something quite unique because in the UK, you would never have an equivalent award," he says.

Another thing he values is Chinese dining－and not just the food.

"Whenever I made decisions on carrying out any joint research, inevitably it happened over dinner," says Owen.

"I think that's a very good social convention."