On December 19th, the Qianhai Shekou Cell and Gene Industrial Ecology Conference & Innovation Seminar themed “Empowering New-Quality Productive Forces and Jointly Building a Highland for the Bay Area’s Cell and Gene Industry” concluded successfully. Representatives of world-class scientists, leading enterprises and investment institutions gathered to discuss the industrialization path of Cell and Gene Therapy (CGT), and drive Qianhai to reach a new height in the cell and gene field. Hosted by China Merchants Shekou, the conference was guided by the Shenzhen Municipal Office of Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Industry.
A responsible person of the Qianhai Administration Bureau stated that the ongoing 15th Five-Year Plan for the Qianhai Cooperation Zone explicitly identifies cell and gene as a key future industry. With a more open attitude, more innovative mechanisms and more pragmatic actions, Qianhai will work with all sectors to build a CGT industrial ecology and contribute the Qianhai Solution to the cause of health.
Positioned as a CGT Innovation Leadership Hub, Translation and Application Demonstration Zone and Industrial Development Cluster in the Greater Bay Area, the Qianhai Shekou Cell and Gene Future Valley is committed to building a national CGT innovation platform with the most prominent innovative demonstration effect. Centering on the Future Valley, Qianhai will create a diversified industrial spatial layout of “1+N”, and construct a full-chain ecology integrating government, industry, academia, research, medicine, finance and services. It will match policies and link resources for professional spaces and platform carriers, providing robust support for the development of specialized industrial parks. At present, the Future Valley has attracted a cluster of leading enterprises including Yaotang Biotech and Zhuoyuan Stem Cell, with its industrial development taking initial shape.
The keynote speeches of the conference unfolded around four dimensions: industrial policies, cutting-edge technologies, clinical translation and capital empowerment. Professor Wang Xiaoning from the Chinese PLA General Hospital, Professor Wang Zhengxu (Director of the Biotherapy Center at the Seventh Medical Center of the Chinese PLA General Hospital), Professor Zhang Zhiyong (Chief Scientist of Zhongke Ruiji) and other distinguished scholars successively shared the latest industry innovation achievements.
Parallel to the main conference was the Qianhai Shekou Cell and Gene Industry Innovation Seminar. At the Clinical Translation Sub-forum, experts including Zhou Guangqian (Founder of Shenzhen Danlun Gene Technology Co., Ltd.) and Wu Huijin (Chief Scientific Officer and President of BetaLife) took the stage one after another. They deliberated on systematic solutions to break the translation bottlenecks, covering topics such as cutting-edge applications of longevity medicine and breakthroughs in iPSC-derived islet cell therapy.
In the exchange and discussion session, representatives from government, industry, academia, research, medicine and investment sectors—including China Merchants Industrial Parks and Southern Medical University Shenzhen Hospital—gathered to offer insights and suggestions for building a highland for the GBA’s CGT industry. The Capital Empowerment Sub-forum focused on the core demand of precision matching, inviting representatives from China Merchants Securities, Pine River Capital, LianJia Venture Capital, Luye Pharma and other institutions to discuss investment and financing strategies in the CGT field from multiple perspectives. During the project roadshow session, Professor Wang Zhengxu and representatives of various financial institutions were specially invited to build a precision matching platform for capital and projects, facilitating the transformation of scientific research value into market value.
The successful holding of this conference demonstrates the strategic resolve and innovative vitality of the Qianhai Shekou China (Guangdong) Pilot Free Trade Zone in the cell and gene field, and contributes the Qianhai Wisdom to the high-quality development of the global cell and gene industry.
