On November 8th, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province held a conference on the high-quality development of the synthetic biology industry and released the "Three Year Action Plan for the High Quality Development of the Synthetic Biology Industry in Hangzhou (2024-2026)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Three Year Action Plan"). According to the "Three Year Action Plan", Hangzhou aims to implement five major actions, including breakthroughs in core technology, upgrading of platform capabilities, cultivation of enterprise tiers, strengthening of industrial clusters, and optimization of industrial ecology. The goal is to achieve a total output value of 40 billion yuan in the city's synthetic biomanufacturing industry by 2026.

According to incomplete statistics, Hangzhou currently has more than 260 synthetic biology related enterprises, with a production value of over 25 billion yuan by 2023.

Shen Kaibo, Deputy Secretary General of Hangzhou Municipal Government, stated that with the release of the "Three Year Action Plan", Hangzhou has further clarified the goals and main directions for developing the synthetic biology industry, and will accelerate the construction of an industrial ecology that is leading in basic research and development, active in scientific and technological innovation transformation, and thriving in industrial entities.

Synthetic biotechnology is a technology for the targeted design, modification, and even creation of non natural functional biomolecules and "artificial life" in biological molecules and organisms. Hangzhou is building five major industrial ecosystems including intelligent IoT and biopharmaceuticals, and the synthetic biology industry is regarded as an important driving force for building the biopharmaceutical industry ecosystem.

According to the "Three Year Action Plan", Hangzhou will implement a hierarchical cultivation action for synthetic biology enterprises, enhance the scale of leading enterprises, promote the development of high growth enterprises, and cultivate the growth of start-up enterprises. By 2026, it will cultivate 10 enterprises with a value of over 1 billion yuan, more than 20 specialized and innovative "little giant" enterprises, and more than 100 provincial specialized and innovative small and medium-sized enterprises.

At the meeting, cooperation agreements were signed with relevant regions in Hangzhou for projects such as the Global R&D Center of Weibolai Biology, the Health Food Headquarters of Huaxi Biology, and the R&D and Pilot Base of Lingji Biosynthetic Biology.

Yu Dayu, co-founder and deputy general manager of Hangzhou Weibolai Biotechnology Co., Ltd., introduced that niacinamide is one of the raw materials for whitening and skincare cosmetics. The company has developed a new process for preparing nicotinamide through synthetic biology technology. Compared to chemical methods, this process greatly reduces the content of niacin in the finished product. The cosmetic products produced from this can effectively reduce the incidence of facial allergies.

This type of product was launched in 2021 and has now been used by more than 300 customers, "said Yu Dayu. During the initial opinion collection process, some of the suggestions and plans put forward by the company were adopted in the" Three Year Action Plan, "and he felt very honored.

The reporter learned from the Hangzhou Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology that around synthetic biology, Hangzhou has initially formed a "one heart, two cores, and multiple" industrial spatial layout, with Xihu District as the innovation source center, Qiantang District and Xiaoshan District as the manufacturing core carrier areas, and Yuhang District, Linping District, Gongshu District and other areas as the diversified collaborative development zones.

At present, Hangzhou has innovation platforms such as Hangzhou International Science and Technology Innovation Center of Zhejiang University, Synthetic Biology and Biological Intelligence Center of West Lake University, and Synthetic Biology Center of Chinese Academy of Sciences Hangzhou Institute of Medicine, forming a group of synthetic biotechnology innovation teams led by academicians, and making many landmark achievements in gene editing, biochip and other fields.

How can Hangzhou seize the "golden race track" of synthetic biology industry in the context of ecological layout in multiple domestic regions? The answer is to focus on cutting-edge breakthroughs and ensure effective integration between the science and technology innovation end and the industry end.

According to the "Three Year Action Plan", Hangzhou will fully leverage its advantages in scientific research resources, integrate multiple forces such as universities, research institutes, and leading enterprises, increase research and development efforts in key core technologies, promote the accelerated transformation of more scientific and technological achievements into real productivity, and strive to build more than 5 national level platforms and more than 10 provincial-level platforms by 2026.

At the meeting, Xiaoshan District, Xihu District, Qiantang District, and Gongshu District of Hangzhou respectively signed strategic cooperation and co construction agreements with multiple academician teams. The Xiaoshan Economic and Technological Development Zone Management Committee has signed a contract with investment institutions for the construction of the Hangzhou Synthetic Biology Industry Fund.

Utilizing carbon dioxide in the air to synthesize amino acids and organic acids is a technology that turns waste into treasure. In recent years, at Westlake University, the team led by German Academy of Engineering academician Zeng Anping has been committed to pushing this technology from basic research to application.

The high-value utilization of waste resources, even the use of carbon dioxide in the air to synthesize raw materials for food and medicine, is an important direction in biomanufacturing, "Dr. Liu Jianming from the Center for Synthetic Biology and Intelligent Manufacturing at Xihu University told reporters. The" Three Year Action Plan "is very timely and helps to gather resources, talents, and capital, which is particularly important for research teams in the field of synthetic biology to tackle key technologies and effectively transform achievements.

Shen Kaibo stated that Hangzhou will fully leverage the role of the Biomedical Industry Ecological Circle Office in coordinating economic, technological, market, regulatory and other departments around the full cycle of enterprises and the entire industry chain, providing value-added services such as policies, talents, finance, and scientific and technological innovation to safeguard the development of the synthetic biology industry.