In the past month, the staff of Nanjing Biomedicine Valley have been extremely busy with the construction of the transformation platform of the National University Biomedicine Regional Technology Transfer and Transformation Center (Nanjing, Jiangsu). Externally, they went to more than ten universities such as Peking University, Fudan University, and China Pharmaceutical University to conduct in-depth communication and formed some transformation cooperation intentions; internally, they began to further sort out and upgrade the existing public service platform, and carefully planned the construction of 18 functional sub-platforms according to the existing situation.
“The Nanjing Biomedicine Sub-Center is really focused on the transformation of scientific research results from universities, which makes me both excited and encouraged. My team and I will do our best to prepare for a series of work.” said Dr. Kan Suli, General Manager of the Jiangbei New Area Biomedicine Public Service Platform.
On September 14, the Ministry of Education and Jiangsu Province signed a strategic cooperation agreement to jointly build the first national university regional technology transfer and transformation center, with Nanjing and Suzhou as the core bearing areas, and the first batch of three major industrial directions of biomedicine, information and communication, and advanced materials were determined, and more than 20 domestic universities were selected to participate in the construction. Among them, the Nanjing Biomedicine Sub-Center is located in Nanjing Biomedicine Valley.
Why was Nanjing chosen as the location for this “national center”? How will the center be built? What positive impacts will it bring in the future?
0 1Why choose Nanjing?
Possessing three major “first-mover” advantages
As the main force in basic research and the source of major scientific and technological breakthroughs, universities are a “rich mine” of scientific and technological achievements. However, in the process of promoting the transformation of achievements, there are always various “difficulties”: the achievements are out of touch with industry needs and cannot be transferred; the technology maturity is not high and is difficult to transfer; the technology transfer talent team lacks professional capabilities and cannot be transferred… It is in this context that the Ministry of Education has proposed to pilot the construction of regional technology transfer and transformation centers for national universities in some areas to meet national and regional industrial needs and form an effective model for university scientific and technological innovation to fully support industrial innovation.
Facing the best universities in the country, there is an opportunity to transform the most advanced scientific research results in universities into real productivity, which is naturally attractive to the region. Jiangsu was able to stand out and become the “first in the country” after comprehensively considering its advantages such as solid industrial foundation, rich scientific and educational resources, excellent business environment and huge market size.
n Kan Suli’s view, Nanjing’s three “first-mover” advantages in developing the bio-pharmaceutical industry are the most important factors for the establishment of the sub-center.
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As the capital of Jiangsu Province, Nanjing has obvious location advantages.
Whether the center is connecting with universities in the south or the north, or serving enterprises across the country, the transportation is very convenient and the commuting time is not very long. Especially with the construction of Nanjing North Station, the transportation convenience of Nanjing Biomedicine Valley will be further improved. At the same time, in recent years, the Medicine Valley has fully utilized the advantages of the “double-zone superposition” of the national-level new area and the free trade pilot zone, and has deeply promoted the open innovation of the entire biomedicine industry chain. The innovative industrial cluster of biological pharmaceutical products manufacturing has become a national-level innovative industrial cluster.
02
Nanjing has many universities, hospitals and bio-pharmaceutical companies with significant resource advantages, which can provide convenient conditions for “from research to production”.
In Nanjing Biomedicine Valley, the country’s largest state-owned public technology service platform has been built. The platform serves more than 400 research groups from universities across the country and has rich experience in promoting the transformation of scientific research results. In addition, the Pharmaceutical Valley Park has gathered more than 1,100 biomedicine companies with a complete corporate gradient. Any transformation of scientific research results can find application scenarios in the corresponding companies.
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As an emerging industry that Nanjing focuses on developing, biomedicine has more prominent industrial advantages.
Kan Suli introduced that the industrial ecology of Nanjing’s biomedicine, especially the industrial cultivation model, has a more “transformative temperament” of discovery, incubation and industrialization. “Whether in Nanjing or Jiangbei New District, a large number of listed companies, unicorns or gazelle companies are basically cultivated from the source. Take the Pharmaceutical Valley as an example. Star companies such as Nanwei Medical, Yaokang Biotechnology, and Shihe Gene have all grown from small saplings into towering trees. Therefore, Nanjing has the patience and experience to promote the transfer and transformation of scientific research results.”
At the end of September, the National Regional Technology Transfer and Transformation Center (Jiangsu) Construction Promotion Conference of Colleges and Universities was held in Nanjing. At the conference, the Nanjing Biomedicine Sub-center released its construction blueprint. The center will make efforts in three aspects: building platforms, promoting transformation, and gathering elements, promoting the “two-way rush” of colleges and universities and enterprises, connecting the entire chain of “discovery, verification, transformation, and application” of scientific and technological achievements in the field of biomedicine, and creating a “dual center” for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements in colleges and universities and the cultivation of innovative and entrepreneurial talents.
In the field of biomedicine, the research and development of new drugs is a systematic project that requires numerous tests and verifications, all of which require the support of high-precision equipment. The Nanjing Biomedicine Sub-Center will set up 18 functional sub-platforms, including an intelligent pharmacy platform, a drug design and screening discovery platform, a database and biological sample library platform, a future technology research platform, and a medical device and equipment platform.