Policies Boost Huaxi Bio's Biomanufacturing Innovation

On September 14th, the General Office of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) issued a notice to accelerate the layout and construction of pilot platforms in the manufacturing industry. Focusing on key areas urgently needed for national strategy and industrial development, the notice guides entities with the conditions to adopt corresponding construction models, development strategies, and measures according to local conditions, and to promote the construction of pilot platforms with a "one type, one policy" approach.

Previously, the MIIT and the National Development and Reform Commission jointly issued the "Implementation Opinions on the Innovation and Development of Pilot Manufacturing" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"), which clarifies the development goals and directions for the innovative development of pilot manufacturing in China. The "Opinions" propose that by 2025, China's pilot manufacturing development will have made positive progress, with basic full coverage of pilot capabilities in key industrial chains, and a significant enhancement in the levels of digitalization, networking, intelligence, high-end, and green development. The pilot service system will be continuously improved, with the construction of more than five pilot platforms at an internationally advanced level, further optimization of the pilot development ecosystem, the use of a batch of independently developed pilot software and hardware products, and a significant strengthening of the supporting role of pilot manufacturing.

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"Pilot" is a key link in promoting the transformation of scientific and technological achievements. The main function of the pilot platform is to meet the needs of innovative development in the manufacturing industry, gather various industrial resources, promote the transformation and application of scientific and technological achievements, and provide professional services and systematic solutions such as research and development transformation, performance process improvement, process amplification and maturation, product type testing, product performance testing, small batch trial production, instrument equipment sharing, and equipment application verification, playing a strategic supporting and leading role in industrial scientific and technological innovation.

Some industry insiders believe that the role of "pilot" is mainly reflected in three aspects: First, it verifies the innovation achievements of laboratory technology and processes, corrects technical parameters, and reduces the technical risks and production risks of transformation results; Second, it provides equipment selection suitable for industrial production, improving the matching degree of processes and equipment, and production efficiency; Third, through pilot testing, it further demonstrates the technical, safety, environmental, and commercial feasibility of the results.

In recent years, the continuous advancement of pilot manufacturing in China has promoted technological iteration, process improvement, and product innovation. However, the imperfect pilot service system and weak controllable capabilities have become increasingly prominent issues. The development of pilot industries that provide hardware, software, products, and services for the industrialization of scientific and technological achievements has lagged behind, failing to meet the practical needs of high-quality development.

Huaxi Bioactive is actively leading pilot innovation. How to fundamentally promote the innovative development of "pilot" in China's manufacturing industry? In this regard, the "Opinions" emphasize the significant importance and role of leading enterprises in China's pilot innovation development: Support leading enterprises to provide application scenarios and testing environments, build pilot platforms for independent products, drive product research and development design and verification testing, and work with upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain to jointly formulate pilot technical rules and standards, focusing on solving common pilot problems.

In fact, as the main body of the manufacturing industry, some leading domestic enterprises have long realized the importance of the "pilot" link and have taken the lead in "pilot" layout and innovative trials. For example, Huaxi Bioactive, a synthetic biology full industrial chain platform company, has fully completed the construction of its pilot achievement transformation center in Tianjin this June. It is reported that the center covers an area of 30,000 square meters and has 64 pilot production lines, making it the world's largest pilot achievement transformation platform. It can undertake pilot and small-scale commercial production of various bioactive material raw product pilots, optimizing the pilot link with the concepts of "modularization" and "drawer-style". The center not only serves Huaxi Bioactive internally but also opens to society in a "platform-based" model. The platform has various cooperation models and can provide a series of services to help transform scientific research achievements.

Huaxi Bioactive started the construction of the pilot achievement transformation center in 2018, and the pilot achievement transformation workshop for skincare products and food-grade products was put into production and use in 2021. In June 2024, the pharmaceutical-grade pilot achievement transformation workshop was completed and put into production, representing the full completion of the entire pilot achievement transformation center. After six years of development and billions of funds invested, Huaxi Bioactive has created the world's largest and most extensive pilot achievement transformation platform positioned in synthetic biology manufacturing. The platform covers the entire process from fermentation, purification to refinement, aiming to provide efficient and reliable process support and comprehensive solutions for the transformation of technological achievements.Zhao Yan, Chairman and President of Huaxi Bio, stated that investing in the construction of the world's largest pilot-scale transformation platform is a significant strategic move for the company. It is the core key to achieving industrial empowerment and bridging the gap between academia, research, and industry. This will also further enhance the pivotal value of Huaxi Bio in controlling the supply chain's intermediate links.

Huaxi Bio's pilot-scale transformation platform is not only committed to promoting the pilot-scale transformation of internal R&D outcomes but also adopts a "platform-based" model to open up to the entire society, providing pilot-scale transformation services for bio-manufacturing. This milestone progress will inject new vitality into the integration of industry, academia, and research in China, becoming a key force in breaking down barriers between technology and industry. It is also expected to promote the vigorous development of new quality productive forces represented by synthetic biology, laying a solid foundation for achieving the "dual carbon" goals.