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.

Source: Changping District Integrated Media Center

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   Caption: The 2023 International Forum on Life Science was held in Changping, 
Beijing.