Technology transfer is a key link in developing new productive forces and in high-quality economic growth. On 18 April the Westlake University / Westlake Laboratory technology transfer base — the first in the Hangzhou Chengxi Sci-Tech Innovation Corridor — officially opened at the Zijingang Cloud Valley park.
Westlake Pharmaceuticals, a technology transfer company of Westlake University that has grown quickly under this emerging model of science, industry and finance, was invited to the opening.
Jin Chen, standing committee member and executive vice mayor of Hangzhou and party secretary of the corridor, and Yigong Shi, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and president of Westlake University, unveil the base
Building innovation ecosystems around universities and major science platforms, and building technology transfer bases, is a priority in this year’s Hangzhou government work report and a lever for developing new productive forces suited to local conditions. The base is a practical step by the corridor and a pilot for the city’s effort to become the preferred destination for technology transfer.
At the event, agreements were signed for joint residency by “scientists + entrepreneurs + investors” and for technology transfer projects to locate at the base. Innovation studios of five leading scientists, including Yigong Shi, Tian Xu, Hongtao Yu and Guan Kunliang, were the first to move in; projects led by eight scientists, among them Zeng Anping, Yang Jian, Liu Xiaodong, Cheng Gang and Cao Lu, signed to locate there, with technical leadership in biomaterials, bio + AI, immunotherapy and brain-computer interfaces. More than ten professional organisations, including the Zhejiang IP Trading Centre, also joined.
Westlake Pharmaceuticals is a technology transfer company of Westlake University, led by leading scientists and focused on innovative drug discovery. It took part in the signing and will move into the base.
Drug discovery is a system: it needs strong basic research from universities and institutes, and a closed loop of science, industry and finance. A base combining talent, technology and capital brings new opportunities. Once resident, Westlake Pharmaceuticals will have more chances to exchange ideas with scientists and investors, and to work with upstream and downstream companies on shared products and technical resources.
Universities thrive with their cities and cities with their universities. President Yigong Shi said high-level talent and disruptive technology are the root and source of new productive forces, and the key point of university-city cooperation. In five years Westlake University has pursued both mission-oriented and curiosity-driven research, producing more than 30 major original results and nurturing 42 high-tech companies, eight of them quasi-unicorns.
“With the base, basic research and application, innovation and productivity, will be better connected. More companies that own critical core technology will grow into industry leaders,” he said.