From December 15 to 17, over 600 universities nationwide gathered in Guangdong to showcase more than 3,000 scientific and technological achievements.
The 2025 University Scientific and Technological Achievements Fair (hereinafter referred to as the “Fair”) got off to a flying start, securing 100-million-yuan deals on its opening day. Over the three-day event, a total of 1,361 transactional achievements were concluded, with a total turnover of 7.244 billion yuan.
Why is this Fair held at an opportune time and of great significance? Why have universities across the country, represented by Peking University and Tsinghua University, chosen Guangdong to commercialize their scientific and technological achievements?
The answer is both simple and profound.
High Standard
Recently, both the state and Guangdong Province have issued proposals for the 15th Five-Year Plan, emphasizing the integrated advancement of education, science & technology, and talent development.
Hosting such a high-standard Fair in Guangdong bears extraordinary significance. The weight of this event is first reflected in who is in attendance.
Secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee and Minister of Education were present to jointly unveil the National University Regional Technology Transfer and Commercialization Center (Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area). Research and commercialization teams from 627 universities also participated, with more than 220 university leaders personally leading delegations to the “southern expedition”.
Behind the high-standard organization of the Fair lies a high-level consensus. A high standard signifies strong determination.
Guangdong has repeatedly expressed that its demand for science and technology is “more urgent than ever before”. This is not only a local aspiration but also an inevitable path to implementing the strategy of “mutual promotion and reinforcement between industry and technology”.
The first and second editions of the Fair originated in Huizhou, Guangdong. Now, returning to Guangdong for its fifth edition, the message from the Ministry of Education is clear: Guangdong is the ideal venue for the Fair, a key platform to enhance the efficiency of integration.
When decision-makers at both the ministerial and provincial levels work together to promote an initiative, the signal could not be clearer: Guangdong is a crucial testing ground for scientific and technological achievements to enter the market, and the best destination for commercialization among universities nationwide.
Universities hold “fruits of wisdom” in their hands and need to find a place where these fruits can be valued highly and transformed into thriving industries.
Hence, President Li Luming of Tsinghua University attended the Fair, launching the Artificial Intelligence Open Alliance on-site, expounding on the university’s “grounded yet top-tier” research layout, and sharing its outstanding achievements.
President Nancy Ip of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology was present to share the concept of “integration” and demonstrate its role as a bridge connecting the Greater Bay Area with the world. President Song Yonghua of the University of Macau also participated, elaborating on the cross-border innovation ecosystem practice of “Macau R&D + Hengqin Commercialization”.
Leaders of top universities both inside and outside the Greater Bay Area are not mere participants; they are contributors to strategies, sharers of models, and co-builders of the innovation ecosystem.
Abundant Achievements
The “achievement supermarket” of universities nationwide has opened in Guangdong, and the market has responded directly:
During the Fair, enterprises put forward more than 1,900 specific demands, engaging in “precision matchmaking” with over 3,000 achievements from universities. Over three days, 1,361 scientific and technological achievements were successfully signed, with a total value of 7.244 billion yuan.
Guangdong is a vibrant hub of innovation. It is home to one-tenth of the nation’s market entities, over 27,000 specialized, sophisticated, distinctive, and innovative (“little giant”) SMEs, and a quarter of China’s foreign-invested enterprises.
Enterprise-driven innovation is a prominent strength of Guangdong. Local businesses not only possess the keen insight to “detect the first signs of industry trends” but also have the courage to “be the first to embrace new technologies”.
Boasting a complete industrial chain, rapid market responsiveness, and enterprises willing to “experiment with new ideas”, Guangdong ensures that any useful new technology or achievement will easily find testing scenarios and cooperative partners.
At the 2025 Fair, representatives from universities and enterprises engaged in in-depth discussions, aiming not only to close deals but also to achieve mutual growth.
Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Holdings Ltd. collaborated with Lanzhou University to develop a bezoar cultivation technology into a 100-million-yuan product line; vocational colleges in Shenzhen integrated classroom teaching with real-world projects, addressing the shortage of industrial software talents.
A dedicated College Students’ Entrepreneurship Demonstration Zone was set up at the Fair, showcasing 262 projects. Among them, there may well be the next Huawei, DJI, or Narwal Robotics.
In Guangdong, technology commercialization forms a virtuous cycle integrating “research, education, and industry”, where talents and technologies grow in tandem while solving real-world problems.
Innovative Mechanisms
The buzz of the grand event will eventually fade, but the key lies in making technology commercialization a sustained endeavor. Several “new trump cards” unveiled at this Fair may hold the answer.
First is the physical National University Regional Technology Transfer and Commercialization Center (Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area), which has secured over 800,000 square meters of space in the Greater Bay Area as its operational base.
Second is the online China University Scientific and Technological Achievements Trading Platform, functioning like an “ever-open tech Taobao”.
The substantive launch of these two online-offline platforms has built a “two-way expressway” connecting science, technology, and industry.
Technology commercialization requires financial support, and the Fair has also turned on the “financial faucet”. The “10-Billion-Yuan Fund for University Technology Commercialization” investment and financing platform was officially launched, with a focus on “investing early, investing small, investing long-term, and investing in hard technology”. Covering strategic emerging industries such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence, biomedicine, and new energy, the fund aims to incubate a number of high-tech enterprises within five years.
More notably, there is an innovative “grant-into-equity” support mechanism: projects conducting technology commercialization at the Regional Center will receive initial grants. If commercialization succeeds, the grants will be converted into equity, allowing the research teams to share in the profits. If the project fails, it can be deemed as completed research after evaluation, without being treated as a “bad debt”.
This series of measures has relaxed constraints and empowered technology commercialization, not only “giving projects a head start” but also “putting researchers at ease”, significantly reducing the concerns of researchers who are “unwilling” or “afraid” to engage in technology transfer.
Furthermore, cities like Guangzhou and Shenzhen offer various supporting grants and subsidies for sectors such as biomedicine and high-end scientific instruments, forming a synergy of policies to encourage innovation and tolerate failure.
Guangdong’s courage to experiment comes from its inherent strengths.
From taking the lead in recognizing “technology as a commodity” decades ago to exploring the “grant-into-equity” model today, the gene of institutional innovation has been consistently embedded in Guangdong’s development.
Here, high-level strategic vision, top-tier intellectual resources, and an extensive industrial network resonate in harmony. The seeds of wisdom from universities have found fertile soil—one with essential nutrients (industrial demand), flowing water (financial support), and a favorable climate (innovation mechanisms).
The 2025 University Scientific and Technological Achievements Fair has come to an end, but the accelerated commercialization of university research achievements has only just begun. What Guangdong is exploring is how to continuously transform science and technology—the primary productive force—into the primary driving force for future development.
