Ignite Life for Future -- The 2023 International Forum on Life Science Held in Changping, Beijing

Thepresidentpost.id - Beijing, On November 18, the 2023 International Forum on Life Science was unveiled, under the theme of "Ignite Life for Future." Jointly organized by Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission, the Administrative Commission of Zhongguancun Science Park, the Beijing Municipal Association for Science and Technology, the Beijing Municipal Food and Drug Administration, and the Changping District Government, this year's forum aims to help shape an open, global, market-oriented, and dynamic innovation ecosystem, help build Zhongguancun Life Science Park into a world-leading "Life Science Valley" and a world-famous hub for the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, and promote the high-quality development of Beijing's pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, according to Changping District Integrated Media Center.

A life science forum that never ends online and offline

This year's forum adopts the "1+4+2+N" model to present a never-ending life science forum whose activities are held both online and offline, with offline events livestreamed in real time.

Specifically, the number "1" under this model refers to the main forum which serves concurrently as the opening ceremony. Well-known scientists and experts at home and abroad, representatives of medical institutions, investment institutions, industry associations and chambers of commerce, and domestic and foreign pharmaceutical enterprises are invited to discuss development and cooperation opportunities around the frontier of life science and pharmaceutical and healthcare industries.

"4" refers to the four themed panel sessions: the Medical Device Innovation and Development Seminar, the International Forum on the Development and Application of Artificial Intelligence and Medical Robots for Medical Equipment, the Drug Research and Development Forum & the Zhongguancun Life Science Park Development Forum, and the Changping Forum on Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Finance Investment and Innovation. They cover the whole life cycle of the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries from R&D, innovation to industrialization, and aim to deliver a gala where business insiders can exchange ideas and pool wisdom.

"2" refers to a press conference and a themed exhibition. The press conference was held in the press conference hall of the municipal government on November 9, introducing the basic facts of the forum, the development of the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries in Changping and the wider Beijing, how the district and the city had promoted the development of relevant industries by giving full play to their organizational and human resources strengths, and the high-quality development and innovation of medical devices in Beijing. The themed exhibition will be held during the group activity period, with focus on biomedicine, AI, and medical robot products.

"N" refers to multiple supporting activities. This year's forum will include some activities held by pharmaceutical and healthcare industry associations and enterprises, to amplify its voice and continue to expand its influence. Starting from July, five supporting activities have been held: the Gobroad Science Forum, the 2023 Clinical Biobank Innovation and Development Forum, the 2023 DIA China Drug R&D and Innovation Conference, the 2023 First "Life Science Valley" Forum on Biomedical Talent Development, the Integration and Innovation Development Forum of Medicine, Engineering and Finance, and the upcoming Brain Discovery: From Cognitive Science to Brain-like Intelligence -- 2023 Beijing Brain Conference (the International Academic Exchange Season) scheduled in December. These themed forums are expected to help enhance the innovation ecosystem and the development level, and build Zhongguancun Life Science Park into a world-leading model science park.

A gala of cooperation and exchange for common development with four highlights

This year's forum is of great significance. It will serve the implementation of relevant national strategies and the development of the capital in the new era, and drive the high-quality development of the city's pharmaceutical and healthcare industries. Moreover, it plays a leading role in Changping's drive to build the "Life Science Valley" brand, improve the pharmaceutical and healthcare innovation ecosystem, and create a first-class business environment. Overall, this forum has the following four highlights:

First, focusing on the frontier of science and technology. Aiming at the emerging trend of accelerating transformation of the global technological innovation paradigms, it focuses on the two core drivers: biotechnology and digital technology, with the main forum and themed forums discussing the issues from different perspectives. Nearly 100 industry heavyweights such as Xie Xiaoliang, Shi Hengning, Wang Lai, and Qiao Jie are invited to make keynote speeches, themed speeches and conduct roundtable dialogues, to share their frontier insights and forward-looking ideas to promote the development of the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries under the new development pattern.

Second, promoting the implementation of industrial projects. At this forum, Changping introduced a number of major industrial projects, mainly the R&D projects of multinational pharmaceutical companies and the commercialization of original research achievements, and signed 12 major industrial projects including Tong Ren Tang's Traditional Chinese Medicine Project, the Springer Nature Group project, the R&D and production headquarters project of Daqing Medical Device, the Life Science Valley International Frontier Technology Commercialization Center project, the uBriGene project, and the Estun project. The district has signed contracts with some of China's top 500 companies, world-renowned academic publishing houses and other industry leaders. At the same time, this year's forum will organize exhibitions and displays of cutting-edge biotechnology, high-end medical devices, and the beauty and health products, to fully promote Beijing's rich innovation factors, high-quality development space, and first-class business environment. Targeted investment promotion activities will be launched to identify and meet the needs of stakeholders, expand the "circle of friends" of Beijing's pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, and help more major projects and achievements land and commercialize in Beijing.

Third, cultivating an innovation ecosystem. This forum will bring together government officials, regulators, representatives of academia, businesses, medical institutions and investment institutions to discuss topics of common concern, such as technological breakthroughs, drug and device R&D, clinical translation, financial empowerment, and regulatory science, so as to further promote the in-depth integration and innovation collaboration among the government, industry, academia, research institutes, medical institutions, and financial intermediaries, and create a more dynamic and sticky innovation ecosystem.

Fourth, improving global influence. The forum specially invited Dr. Michael Levitt, the Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, and other European and American academicians and experts, among other international guests. The exhibitors include some of the Fortune Global 500, and a large number of Beijing-based innovative enterprises with global presence including BeiGene, InnoCare, Wantai BioPharm, and Pins Medical. All this is aimed to present a pharmaceutical and healthcare event that meets international standards and has global influence.

Building a world-leading "Life Science Valley" with thriving business

The pharmaceutical and healthcare sector is the most innovative strategic emerging sector worldwide, and bears directly on people's lives and health. It is also one of the "twin engines" to boost Beijing's innovation and development. Changping District attaches great importance to the pharmaceutical and healthcare development, make them its dominant sector, and is committed to building a 100 billion yuan pharmaceutical and healthcare industry cluster. Changping's pharmaceutical and healthcare development also receives much support from the city government which has issued two versions of the Beijing Action Plan for Accelerating Collaborative Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Innovation, clearly proposing to build Changping into a world-leading "Life Science Valley."

Changping, where this forum takes place, with the great support from the municipal and district governments, has seen a booming pharmaceutical and healthcare sector. In 2022, its pharmaceutical and healthcare sector registered a scale close to 80 billion yuan, and Changping was certified by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology as a specialty industry cluster of small and medium-sized enterprises and the offshore innovation and entrepreneurship base for overseas talents certified by the China Association for Science and Technology.

After years of effort, Changping now boasts rich resources across the pharmaceutical and healthcare supply chains, and all the factors needed for production, education and research. Its pharmaceutical and healthcare sector has entered the period of explosive growth of innovations and achievements, and pharmaceutical and healthcare enterprises have received extensive attention from the capital market.

In terms of the source of innovation, with the Zhongguancun Life Science Park at the core, Changping gathers more than 10 high-level R&D institutions such as Changping Laboratory, the National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing, Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, and National Center for Protein Science, Beijing. It has attracted many strategic scientists such as Wang Xiaodong, Xie Xiaoliang, and Shao Feng and more than 300 high-level specialists. More than 40 prestigious universities including Peking University, Tsinghua University, Beihang University, Beijing University of Posts and Communications, Beihua University, and China University of Mining and Technology have opened campuses and labs in the district.

In terms of service outsourcing regarding pharmaceutical and medical device R&D, Changping has a complete service ecosystem for the pharmaceutical and medical device industry. To meet the needs of commercialization, it has systematically built 34 key generic technology platforms for drug discovery, laboratory animals, and CMO/CDMO, and built a service system covering the whole industry chain ranging from incubation, R&D, to pilot test and commercialization, continuing to smooth the transition from R&D and innovation to industrialization.

In terms of administrative review and approval services, Zhongguancun Life Science Park unveiled Beijing's first pharmaceutical and medical device innovation service station in April 2023 to provide enterprises with face-to-face targeted services, including the administrative approval process. Other public services include Changsheng Posthouse, the activity room for international talents, the foreigner service hall, and free trade cluster registration platform. The Park is striving to provide all the administrative services companies need.

As to the number of pharmaceutical and medical devices enterprises, Changping has more than 900 pharmaceutical and healthcare enterprises, including 269 state-certified high-tech enterprises, 133 specialized and sophisticated SMEs, 19 unicorns and potential unicorn enterprises, and 18 listed enterprises (including those listed in the US and Hong Kong). In addition, the early-stage high-potential enterprises founded by scientific research institutes have kept emerging. Changping, leveraging its unique advantages of clustering high-end factors, has incubated 80 enterprises founded by well-known scientists, including Pyrotech Therapeutic founded by Academician Shao Feng, Huahui Health by Prof. Li Wenhui, BeiCell Therapeutics by Prof. Deng Hongkui, and Jianda Jiuzhou by Prof. Luo Minmin.

Changping has seized the opportunity created by Beijing's drive to develop the "Two Zones" (the Integrated National Demonstration Zone for Opening up the Services Sector and China (Beijing) Pilot Free Trade Zone). Considering the development characteristics of the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, Changping introduced the city's first pharmaceutical and healthcare development policy, namely, the Interim Measures for Changping Cluster to Support the Development of the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Industries in the Sci-Tech Innovation Area of China (Beijing) Pilot Free Trade Zone, and cashed out 83.73 million yuan last year. On the basis of the 2021 policy, Changping rolled out its version 2.0 for driving the development of the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries. This upgraded version 2.0 reflects the industrial development trend and Changping's unique advantages, focuses on the two core drivers of biotechnology and digital technology, and mainly supports the accelerating commercialization of innovations, the introduction and implementation of innovative projects, the strengthening and upgrading of innovative enterprises, and the optimization and upgrading of the industrial ecosystem.

In the future, Changping will continue to track the frontier of technology innovation in the pharmaceutical and healthcare fields, and continuously improve the innovation ecosystem and the development level. Seizing the opportunity presented by this forum, it will focus on building a pharmaceutical and healthcare industry cluster with a value of at least 100 billion yuan, continue to expand the depth and breadth of industrial space of the "Life Science Valley" Innovation Corridor, and improve industrial policies, the innovation ecosystem, and service facilities, striving to set a Beijing model for the development of the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries with global influence. At the same time, Changping will assure the investors, companies and their employees with the best environment, services, and policies, so that they can invest, work and live in the district confidently and conveniently to create a shared future. I sincerely hope that this forum will attract more entrepreneurs to Changping, to start a business, pursue their dreams, and create a win-win situation with us.