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The National Innovation Center is located in the Guangming Yinxing Synthetic Biology Industrial Park.

Concept diagram of the "multi-connected bioreactor" in the National Innovation Center laboratory.

Concept diagram of the biological fermentation tank in the National Innovation Center laboratory.

Aerial view of the National Innovation Center.

On July 14, the National Biomanufacturing Industry Innovation Center (hereinafter referred to as the "National Innovation Center") started construction in Guangming, Shenzhen, marking the official establishment of my country's first national industrial innovation platform in the field of biomanufacturing in Shenzhen.

Biomanufacturing is one of the strategic commanding heights of the new round of global scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, and is a strategic emerging industry that my country focuses on developing. The National Innovation Center integrates advantageous innovation resources, strengthens the collaborative research of key common technologies, builds an industrial collaborative innovation ecosystem, and promotes the transformation of a number of demonstration results in the fields of medical health, green and low-carbon, and bio-agriculture, pressing the "accelerator" for the development of the biomanufacturing industry.

　Industry Collaborative Innovation

Focus on the "1-10" stage of biomanufacturing: pilot, scale-up and scale-up

As an important representative of new productivity, the biomanufacturing industry is gradually becoming one of the new engines leading economic development. The characteristic of biomanufacturing that "everything can be made" is expected to bring about new industrial changes, and will realize the customized design and large-scale manufacturing of new products in the fields of medicine, industry, agriculture, etc. However, the current development of the biomanufacturing industry also faces problems such as weak original innovation capabilities and insufficient support for key common technologies.

Liu Chenli, deputy director of the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and director of the National Innovation Center, believes that with the accelerated evolution of biotechnology and the rapid growth of life and health needs, an important opportunity period for the rapid development of the bioindustry has arrived. The construction of the National Innovation Center not only conforms to the trend of global biological cutting-edge technology changes, but also closely fits the urgent needs of the national science and technology innovation strategy and industrial transformation and upgrading. It will create a new engine and press the "accelerator" for the development of the biomanufacturing industry.

In July 2023, the National Biomanufacturing Industry Innovation Center was approved by the National Development and Reform Commission. On July 14, 2024, the National Innovation Center officially started construction in Guangming, Shenzhen. As the first national-level industrial innovation platform in my country's biomanufacturing field, the National Innovation Center is led by the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and jointly built by central enterprises, local state-owned enterprises and leading private enterprises. It will serve the country's major strategies, strengthen the collaborative research of key common technologies, build an industrial collaborative innovation ecosystem, and support the creation of a highland of innovation for the biomanufacturing industry.

It is reported that the National Innovation Center will actively play a leading role, integrate upstream and downstream innovation resources, and promote the rapid expansion and strengthening of the biomanufacturing industry in Shenzhen. The co-construction units of the National Innovation Center include the State Development and Investment Group Co., Ltd., China Merchants Investment Development Co., Ltd., Shenzhen Investment Group Co., Ltd., Shenzhen Guangming Science City Industrial Development Group Co., Ltd., Huaxi Biotechnology Co., Ltd., Shenzhen Langkun Environmental Group Co., Ltd., Guangdong Guangxin Innovation Research Institute Co., Ltd., Anhui Huaheng Biotechnology Co., Ltd. and other upstream and downstream advantageous units in the industrial chain.

"We will focus on the country's major strategic industrial needs, focus on the '1-10' small-scale, pilot-scale and scale-up stages of biomanufacturing, and explore transforming the original linear transformation model from laboratory to enterprise into a 'non-linear interactive' model to promote the high-quality development of my country's biomanufacturing industry." Liu Chenli said.

　　Build six platforms

Improve capabilities in analysis and design, construction and assembly, verification and testing

The National Innovation Center is located in the Guangming Yinxing Synthetic Biology Industrial Park. The project will upgrade and renovate the original buildings and purchase key core equipment to greatly enhance the capabilities of analysis and design, construction and assembly, verification and testing, and deep learning.

Specifically, the National Innovation Center will build six major technical platforms, including an automated biomanufacturing platform, a cross-scale biological multimodal verification platform, a high-throughput production process development platform, a pilot scale-up and GMP platform, a large-scale vector preparation and quality control platform, and a bioinformatics computing support platform. These will provide a foundation for accelerating breakthroughs in cutting-edge technology bottlenecks in the industry, promote the transformation of a number of exemplary results in the fields of medical health, green and low-carbon, and bio-agriculture, and create a biomanufacturing industry cluster with leading key technologies, a complete industrial chain, and outstanding competitive advantages.

For example, the automated biomanufacturing platform will introduce the concept of intelligent manufacturing, based on information architecture, robotic platform and high-throughput equipment, to achieve the capabilities of intelligent design, large-scale construction, high-throughput phenotypic screening, high-throughput biological sample preparation, target screening and standardized testing of "chassis cells". Combining methods such as bioinformatics, mathematical models, big data and machine learning, the experimental schemes are autonomously generated and closed-loop optimized in a data-driven manner to achieve flexible integration and customization of automated biomanufacturing.

The cross-scale biological multimodal verification platform establishes the ability to normalize and standardize animal model evaluation by implementing high-throughput analysis technology that applies AI to high-resolution biological imaging, provides support for the screening and selection of key intervention targets, and forms a full-chain disease model preparation and intervention target screening system. At the same time, it tests bioactive molecules and materials, providing upstream core technologies for the development of disease drugs.

The pilot scale-up and GMP platform focuses on high-throughput optimization, quantitative customization, GMP scale production and treatment, and drug clinical trial platform development. It realizes the ability to provide full-chain services from small-scale trials, pilot tests, clinical applications to GMP production, and meets the research and development needs of the pharmaceutical industry at different stages.

The large-scale vector preparation and quality control platform focuses on achieving the large-scale, standardized, engineered production and quality control capabilities of various vectors. Breakthroughs in a series of common core technologies solve the problems of expanded reproduction and quality control of vector preparations, engineering production processes of bionic drug vectors, and large-scale preparation of viral vectors.

　　Linkage Advantage Resources

From original breakthroughs to upstream and downstream collaboration in industrial development

As the core engine of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Shenzhen has actively built a full-process innovation ecosystem of "basic research + technological breakthroughs + industrialization of results + science and technology finance + talent support", and has a good development foundation in the field of biomanufacturing. The construction of the National Innovation Center will be based in the Bay Area and radiate across the country, effectively promoting the original innovation capabilities and industrial competitiveness of the biomanufacturing industry.

It is worth mentioning that Guangming Science City, the construction site of the National Innovation Center, is the first launch area of ​​the comprehensive national science center in the Greater Bay Area. Relying on the Science City's advantageous "scientific research density" and "innovation concentration", Guangming has accelerated the birth of new quality productivity through the deep integration of science and industry, and has taken the lead in the development of synthetic biology. Synthetic biology is a frontier field of biotechnology innovation and bioeconomic development, and has huge application potential in many fields such as food, agriculture, medicine, medical beauty, and chemical industry. The "biomanufacturing" targeted by the National Innovation Center is inseparable from synthetic biology, and synthetic biology will become an important driver.

Guangming Science City is accelerating the gathering of advantageous resources for the development of synthetic biology and promoting the deep integration of the innovation chain, industrial chain, capital chain and talent chain. The construction of the National Innovation Center will be linked with major scientific and technological infrastructure for synthetic biology research, Shenzhen Engineering Biology Industry Innovation Center, Shenzhen University of Technology Synthetic Biology College and other industry-science-education platforms also located in Guangming Science City, to achieve upstream and downstream collaboration from original breakthroughs to industrial development, accelerate the formation of an innovative ecological chain for the entire process of synthetic biology manufacturing industry, and support Shenzhen in building a bio-industry innovation highland with global competitiveness and influence.

Written by: Nandu reporter Wang Muguang

Image source: Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences