China-UK cooperation aims at global life science ecosystem
Updated 22:46, 20-Sep-2019
Hu Nan, Liu Bo
01:37

At the opening ceremony of Wuxi International Life Science Innovation Campus (I·Campus), the first batch of 10 companies signed to join the campus. I·Campus will promote international communication and accelerate the incubation and implementation processes of global innovations in China.

I·Campus is located in Wuxi National High-tech District and has 300,000 square meter R&D area, in the east China city of Wuxi. It aims to create an innovation incubation platform that integrates R&D, incubation, demonstrations, and commercial launching, covering the whole life cycle. It is also dedicating itself to provide Chinese patients with innovative complete disease management solutions through global innovation intelligence. 

I·Campus expects to attract more than 50 innovation companies in three years and become the most influential international innovation campus along the Belt and Road, attracting domestic and overseas talent and resources in cutting-edge technology to build an international life sciences industry cluster. 

The campus invited top experts from local governments, enterprises, universities, research institutions, and medical institutions both at home and abroad to form an advisory committee, providing authoritative counsel for I·Campus and its resident companies.

CGTN Photo

CGTN Photo

The batch of 10 resident companies come from different countries and regions around the world which focus on early diagnosis of cancer, oncogene test, AI diagnosis and other innovation hot spots in the industry, carrying out various explorations in cutting-edge sciences. 

These companies include Japanese medical equipment company Omron, Chinese mainland's clinical trial company Tigermed, British early cancer screening company Abcodia, British medical device company ClearSky, Hong Kong's oncogene test company Sanomics, Russian natural linguistic analysis company Semantic Hub, and Indian healthcare AI company Tricog. 

These companies' businesses involve pharmacy, diagnosis, equipment, and digitization areas, covering different stages in the complete disease management. They will form a strong synergy with AstraZeneca's transformation from a traditional pharmaceutical company to an innovation platform company which provides complete disease management solutions.

I·Campus has signed a cooperation agreement with Russian Skolkovo Innovation Center, and has also become strategic partners with UK BioIndustry Association, Chinese Hong Kong Innovation Medical Society, the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), and other industry associations.

This March at the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference, world's top pharmaceutical and medical company AstraZeneca announced plans to co-build Wuxi International Life Science Innovation Campus with the city's municipal government and Wuxi National High-tech District. 

After 26 years of market experience in China, the British company AstraZeneca has given strategic support and advice concerning campus planning, introduction of domestic and overseas companies, as well as building and sharing the global resource network.

According to Wang Lei, Executive Vice President, China and International President at Astrazeneca, the I·Campus will import innovative companies from developed and emerging economies and help them succeed in China. 

The UK Minister of Business and Industry praised the cooperation and potential opportunities between China and the UK, saying that life science cooperation is welcomed in the UK, including patient data and clinical trials.