HKU launches biotechnology innovation platform in Bay Area

The drive to cultivate mainland-Hong Kong biotechnology cooperation in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has borne further fruit as the University of Hong Kong on Monday announced it had established a biotechnology innovation platform in Zhongshan.

In cooperation with the Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, the biotechnology innovation platform is expected to become a national-level technology startup incubator

In cooperation with the Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, the biotechnology innovation platform is expected to become a national-level technology startup incubator. It aims to host at least 50 spinoff companies and commercialize the results of at least 10 HKU research projects within five years.

Andy Hor Tzi-sum, vice-president and pro-vice-chancellor (research) at HKU – who is in charge of the project – told a press conference the biotechnology innovation platform is the university’s first-ever biotech cooperation project on the mainland.

Professor Andy Hor Tzi-sum, right, the vice president (research) at University of Hong Kong (HKU) announce the establishment of a biotechnology innovation platform in the Greater Bay Area in cooperation with the Guangdong Pharmaceutical University at a press conference at the HKU, July 9, 2018. (PARKER ZHENG / CHINA DAILY)

The biotechnology innovation platform will focus on key areas including cancer treatment, medical devices and infectious disease treatment, explained Kim Shin-cheul, director of the Technology Transfer Office of HKU who joined Hor at the press conference.

Located at the Torch High-Tech Industrial Zone, a national health technology park in Zhongshan city, Guangdong province, the platform will have three core units – incubation facility, joint-laboratory and technology transfer unit.

Hor said GDPU is an ideal facilitator to commercialize HKU’s cutting-edge research outcomes as it is one of the nation’s three pharmaceutical universities boasting expertise in translational medicine development and in operating and incubation facility.

Moreover, steering a pharmaceutical industry alliance with 200 members – including enterprises, associations and educational institutes – the GDPU could provide an extensive network of potential collaboration partners for Hong Kong researchers, he added.

Soon after the platform’s establishment on Friday, the GDPU-HKU Innovations Platform attracted seven startups, achieving the first of its objectives, Hor said.

Besides the biotechnology innovation platform, a satellite branch of HKU’s Partner State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology will also be set up at GDPU, HKU said.

With support from mainland governments at all levels – 940,000 yuan (US$142,000) set aside for the incubation facility and 100 million yuan designated for the joint-laboratory – the project has sufficient funding for the following three years, Hor said.

An additional 500 million yuan has also been reserved for future investment if the project does well.

Source: China Daily