Synthetic biology has been hailed as one of the top ten technologies to change the world in the future. In recent years, relying on the favorable business environment and policy, Shenzhen has been a player taking the lead on the track of synthetic biology research. Nearly half of the newly established synthetic biology enterprises in China have settled in Shenzhen, while Guangming District has taken the lead to deploy in synthetic biology research and economy in the city, gathering nearly 80% of them. The whole industrial chain in the field of synthetic biology is basically complete. By the end of October 2022, nearly 40 synthetic biological enterprises had gathered in Guangming District. They take root here, trying to explore the application of synthetic biotechnology to serve the high-quality development of the real economy and improve people’s happiness in life.
At present, located in Heng Tai Yue Huanan Medical Valley, the Synthetic Biology Industrial Park of Guangming Science City Synthetic Biological Industrial Park was co-built by the government of Guangming District and SIAT. In the park, 13 synthetic biology enterprises are exploring the large-scale industrial development “from 10 to 100” day and night. With the accelerated agglomeration of enterprises, key elements such as talents, capital, science and technology continuously converge to Guangming District, and the cluster effect of synthetic biology industry begins to emerge.
Why is the synthetic biology industry developing so rapidly in the Guangming District? With questions, the reporter has recently interviewed a number of representative synthetic biology enterprises in Guangming District.
A can-do attitude
The government insists on solving problems for enterprises
On the afternoon of October 26, the reporter walked into the industrial park. As the city’s first pre-certified synthetic biology industrial park, the first phase of the park has covered an area of 40,000 square meters, which is spacious with a beautiful environment, gathering 13 excellent synthetic biology enterprises in the field of application research. Enterprises show their strengths, cooperate and complement each other, and achieve a good ecology for the industrial development.
Biocre Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Biocre) settled in the industrial park in August this year. The company is committed to the research of protein and peptide biosynthesis, which are mainly applied in the fields such as skin health, pet health, and pesticide, and its three product pipelines have reached cooperation with giants of cosmetics industry. At 15:00, the reporter met its founder and CEO Zhang Jiaquan, who was seeing off an investment agency representative with smiles. Zhang Jiaquan introduced that since Biocre settled in Guangming District, it had attracted close attention from the local government and social capital, and had completed three rounds of financing in the past year. New products will hit the market at the end of the month.
Zhang Jiaquan believes that Guangming District has a prominent advantage for the development of synthetic biology industry. The reason lies in its favorable policies. On the other hand, the local government is steadfast in its work, choosing to cooperate with top research institutions, and making a comprehensive deployment in various elements such as talents, venues, funds, and technologies, laying a good foundation for the rapid growth and agglomeration of synthetic biology enterprises.
In 2019, Zhang Jiaquan, returned from an overseas study in Australia, founded Biocre in Tianjin. Learning that Guangming Science City was committed to the development of synthetic biology industry and the deployment of state-level scientific infrastructure, he moved the headquarters of Biocre to Guangming District in 2021. At first, it transitioned in the Shenzhen Industrial Innovation Center for Engineering Technology (the Innovation Center) and explored technology industrialization “from 1 to 10” with a growing momentum all the way.
The Innovation Center can effectively break through the time-space barriers for original innovation and achievement transformation, which is suitable for the initial growth of the enterprise. With its development into a new stage, Biocre urgently needs a greater industrial space. So Zhang Jiaquan relocated it to the Industrial Park and rented a space of about 2,000 square meters for research and development and pilot work. Here, Biocre has more abundant space for research and development and experiments. The waste disposal facilities in the park are more suitable for pilot work, and the perfect property services can avoid enterprises from being distracted by trifles; those settled in the park can also enjoy rent subsidies and experimental equipment purchase subsidies.
“I can deeply feel that the government of Guangming District really wants to make a difference in the synthetic biology industry.” Zhang Jiaquan recalled that when he first arrived at Guangming District, a strange place to him, he often did not know who to ask for help whenever he encountered any difficulty. Due to the frequent interaction between the Guangming District’s Science and Technology Innovation Bureau and the Innovation Center, he made an attempt to contact the district’s Science and Technology Innovation Bureau for consultation. In the end, the bureau directly coordinated with the corresponding organizations to solve the problem. “Whether in the Innovation Center or the Innovation Park, when the district leaders make an inspection trip to the enterprises and learn about their difficulties, they will supervise or coordinate the solving of the problems.” He said, such an efficient, pragmatic and low-profile services were impeccable.
Considerate services - with comprehensive support from all quarters, enterprises have the courage to “innovate”
Shenzhen PAML Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as PAML), founded in 2021, is a synthetic biology enterprise in Guangming District incubated from the Innovation Center. It is committed to the development of new molecular materials. Its products under research include two pipelines of protein and polysaccharide, which can be applied in such fields as food, cosmetics and medical treatment. Its founding team is composed of “scientists and enterprise executives”. Zhong Chao, chief scientist and founder, has been working in synthetic biology research for more than 10 years, and Cui Junfeng, another founder and CEO, has taken positions of supply chain management with several companies such as MicroPort and 3M for nearly 20 years.
The hearsay about PAML that “research papers are published in the morning, more rounds of financing for enterprises are launched in the afternoon” is known to anybody in the circle of synthetic biology in Guangming District. On the morning of May 7 this year, Dr. Zhong Chao’s research group published an article on CO2 photosynthesis in the journal Science Advances. On the afternoon of the same day, the company obtained an angel plus round of financing. Cui Junfeng believes that there is no causal relationship, but simply because PAML has insisted on “innovation”.
Upstairs and downstairs, morning and afternoon
“PAML has realized the transformation of industrial achievements, and also has the conditions for large-scale industrialization, but it will never relax or slow down its innovation simply for stability.” Cui Junfeng said, innovation was accompanied by risks, but PAML was not afraid, since in the Guangming District, there were comprehensive support at different levels such as government, society, and technology: in the Innovation Center, enterprises can “move in directly” to share office space and high-end experimental equipment. With the “upstairs innovation and downstairs entrepreneurship” model, it only take the staff of the enterprise and the R & D team 1-2 minutes to go upstairs and downstairs to communicate face to face and solve all the questions encountered in the R & D process. In the Industrial Park, only kilometers from the Innovation Center, the “masters” gathered in the circle, competing healthily and achieving win-win cooperation, providing a richer eco-sphere for the development of enterprises.
“Talent is the prerequisite for innovations of enterprises. Thanks to the excellent talent service offered by the government of Guangming District, it only took one year for us to develop a company of three members to a company of 46 members, with our scale expanding all the time.” Cui Junfeng said, our employees were from renowned universities and companies at home and abroad. The government is very considerate, not only releasing a special action plan for the accurate introduction of talents, satisfy the demands of enterprises, but also further optimizing the supporting services to help enterprises to address and solve problems in the life of talents such as housing, children education and capital, allowing the talents to fight hard for their career without any worry.
Cui also learned that the SIAT University under preparation in Guangming District had set up the world’s first synthetic biology school, which will cultivate synthetic biology professionals from undergraduate to doctoral levels in the future.” In this way, enterprises can reach and recruit top composite talents at their ‘doorstep’. He was filled with anticipation.