Industral Innovation Center

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On March 31, 2020, the People’s Government of Guangming District of Shenzhen (hereinafter referred to as the “Government of Guangming District”) and the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology (hereinafter referred to as the “SIAT”) signed an agreement selecting Zhuohong Building in Guangming District as the site to jointly build the Shenzhen Engineering Biological Industry Innovation Center (hereinafter referred to as the “Innovation Center”). The project was approved by the committee in June 2020 (Development and Reform Commission of Shenzhen Municipality [2020] No. 374), and the approved amount of the project estimate is RMB 92.16 million.

The Innovation Center will strive to create an integrated platform for the integration of basic research and industrial application, and seek to innovatively break the time barrier often required in incubating new technology development “from 0 to 1 to 10”. It will also establish an enterprise cultivation model that links “scientific research - transformation - industry”, improve the innovative synthetic biology ecosystem (also known as engineering biology) in Shenzhen, and boost the “acceleration” of Shenzhen Comprehensive National Science Center.

Synthetic biology is an engineering discipline that integrates IT and BT. The Innovation Center is built with the Industrial Application Research Department and the Enterprise Incubation Management Company as the core. The Application Research Department relies on the Shenzhen Biofoundry and iSynBio to produce scientific research achievements, focusing on the original innovation that achieve developments “from 0 to 1”, and relies on the advantages of Shenzhen IT industry. The incubator management company connects with the sources of innovation, attracts high-quality and competitive startups, and focuses on making progress in developing “from 1 to 10”. Once the incubated startups have achieved competitiveness, they can launch products, build leading enterprises, accelerate the integration of IT and BT development, and actualize the overhaul of the biomedical industry. The Industrial Innovation Center initiates the model of “upstream and downstream innovation and entrepreneurship complex”, which reduces the spatial distance between the application research at iSynBio and the startups to zero, effectively eliminating the bottleneck of the lack of facilities and technology platforms for startups. Therefore, it shortens the time cycle required to transform original innovation into industrial application. The Innovation Center focuses on the incubation of synthetic biology-related companies, focusing on biomedicine, biomaterials, and other related industries. In the next three years, it is expected to attract no less than 30 high-tech enterprises in the field of synthetic biology.

The Innovation Center aims at major national strategic needs and the major needs of the national economy, in line with the idea of Guangming Science City’s “forward-looking plan for major innovation platforms and incubators”, the Innovation Center will accelerate the progress of basic research, platform development, and technology transformation and application in the field of synthetic biology at Shenzhen. It will create an open, forward-looking and cross-cutting innovation platform, encouraging a comprehensive innovation ecosystem that features multidisciplinary cooperation and collaboration. This will help build Guangming Science City into a national synthetic biology industry hub, and contribute to the construction of Shenzhen Comprehensive National Science Center, Shenzhen Socialist Pilot Demonstration Zone, and Guangming Science City.

XingboShenghui Fund

XingboShenghui Fund is jointly sponsored by iSynBio of CAS SIAT and DeepTech. As the first domestic synthetic biology industry fund, it will focus on synthetic biology companies working in the fields of medicine, materials, agriculture, energy, and food. It will include startups that adopt innovative technology in bioengineering and manufacturing, as well as companies that bring innovative technological changes to fields such as medical R&D methods, new materials, drug development, etc. Both parties will explore and practice the Venture Lab model. With the foundation as the starting point, both parties will cultivate high-quality synthetic biology startups, facilitate the transfer and transformation of scientific and technological achievements in synthetic biology, improve the industrial synthetic biology network, and promote regional industrial upgrade and integration. Both parties will also share think tanks, jointly develop scientific and technological resources, and jointly hold various seminars, training, forums, and roadshows in the field of science and technology. These will promote interaction among scientific research, industry, and capital resources in the industry, and promote cooperation and exchanges in the field of synthetic biology in China and abroad.

Transfer conversion

iSynBio aims to form industrial clusters and build leading enterprises by promoting technology transformation and incubating startup companies. In the fields of medicine and health, we will construct non-natural drug synthesis pathways, disrupt the traditional production model of the pharmaceutical industry, develop gene editing technologies, and enable new treatment methods to address major human diseases. In the fields of resources and environment, we will explore new ideas for resource development, eliminate major bottlenecks in resource development, disrupt the traditional model of environmental management, and build new pollution treatment systems that integrate monitoring, aggregation, and degradation functions. In the field of energy and chemical engineering, we will manufacture clean fuels and innovate new ways for energy production, and create green chemical synthesis pathways to promote the transformation and upgrade of the chemical industry. In the field of material manufacturing, we will synthesize new functional materials to meet major industrial needs, and develop biological computers to lay the hardware foundation for a new phase of information technology revolution.

iSynBio will set up an international synthetic biology industrial technology transfer base (limited liability company), and build a professional, market-oriented, and international new technology transfer platform that will integrate talents, technology, industry, and capital resources.