On the afternoon of 24 July, overcoming the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, the Centre’s first seminar and project roadshow-- the 2020 CUNJC Seminar on International Innovation and Scientific and Technological Achievement Transformation and Biomedical Healthcare and Medicine Project Roadshow, was successfully held. Nearly 40 Chinese and foreign guests from Nanjing and Jiangbei New Area, Cambridge University, domestic universities, and well-known investment institutions attended the event either remotely or on site, discussing the topics of international innovation and achievement transformation in the context of the new era.

The event is guided by Nanjing Jiangbei New Area Management Committee, Nanjing Science and Technology Bureau, and hosted by Jiangbei New Area Science and Technology Innovation Bureau, Central Business District Construction and Management Office of Jiangbei New Area and the Cambridge University - Nanjing Centre of Technology and Innovation. Chen chanmei, member of the Jiangbei New Area Party Working Committee and deputy director of the Jiangbei New Area Management Committee, attended the event and delivered a speech. Teng Hongqing, deputy director of the Central Business District Construction and Management Office of Jiangbei New Area, chaired the seminar.

At the beginning of the seminar, Chen chanmei praised the development of the Centre and congratulated the successful holding of the event. She pointed out that the Centre is a model of the Jiangbei New Area for gathering high-end innovation resources from around the world. She hopes that relying on the Centre, the University of Cambridge's rich innovation experience and leading innovation transformation capabilities will be used to comprehensively improve the level of science and technology innovation and transformation efficiency in the Jiangbei New Area, thereby building a modern industrial system led by technological innovation.

Professor Daping Chu, the Academic Director and CEO of the Centre, expressed gratitude to the guests for their support to the development of the Centre. He pointed out that the Centre will be guided by applied research, aim at the industrialization of results, deeply embed in the global innovation collaboration network with an open attitude, and establish a world-class scientific research transformation platform.

As a highlight of the event, the specific research project cases are shown to explore the relevant paths of technology transfer and achievement transformation in the context of internationalization. Two research teams from the University of Cambridge respectively showed the guests the two biomedicine projects that the Centre is working on. Among them, the project "Multi-modality and Hybrid 3-D Ultrasound/Photoacoustic Imaging System" is led by professor Richard Prager, the head of the engineering department of the University of Cambridge, and the project "DropBioApp Engineering droplet-based microfluidic platform for biological applications " is led by Chris Abel, the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for research and the professor of biochemistry of the University of Cambridge.

As the experts of the project roadshow, Professor Zhao Xiangwei, Deputy Dean and Professor of the School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering of Southeast University, Zhao Yuanqi, the Legal Representative of Jiangsu Shengshi Jincai Investment Management Co., Ltd., and Chen Su, Deputy Dean of the School of Chemical Engineering of Nanjing Tech University, made detailed inquiries on the roadshow projects from the perspectives of the project’s academic value, application value, project progress and expected results, and local cooperation, and the project team members responded immediately on the spot. The guests at the event expressed that this roadshow form allows roadshow projects to absorb more valuable opinions and reach the real market earlier, which is conducive to enhancing the industrial application potential of roadshow projects.

If scientific research project cases are the entry point, international innovation and achievement transformation are the goals of this event. The roundtable session was chaired by Professor Zhao Xiangwei, Deputy Dean of the School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering of Southeast University, Professor Chris Abell, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research of the University of Cambridge, Professor Richard Prager, Head of the Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, and Professor Daping Chu, the CEO and Academic Director of the Centre are as online guests, Professor Chen Su, Deputy Dean of the School of Chemical Engineering of Nanjing Tech University, Professor Tu Juan, Dean of Department of Sound Science and Engineering, School of Physics of Nanjing University, Shi Haining, the Legal Representative of Guochuang Zhongding (Shanghai) Equity Investment Management Co., LTD., Zhao Yuanqi, the Legal Representative of Jiangsu Shengshi Jincai Investment Management Co., Ltd., and Zhou Hai, Representative of the Executive Affairs Partner of Nanjing Jingyong Medical and Health Venture Investment Fund Partnership, are as an on-site guests, discussed on how to promote transnational scientific research and development and industrial application.

The guests of the roundtable session exchanged views from sub-topics such as the cooperation model of international scientific research projects under the COVID-19 epidemic, the connecting of original research and industrial applications, the sustainable development of the project, the establishment of the ecological system for achievement transformation, and the successful experience of the University of Cambridge's intellectual property commercialization.

Focusing on the market-oriented motive of original scientific research projects, Shi Haining believes that there are four indispensable driving factors: capital, talents, technology, and policies. “The two roadshow projects shared today fully demonstrate the high starting point and international cooperation level of Jiangbei New Area in the achievement transformation. With the support of the New Area’s guidance fund and generous policy support, the biomedical industry in Jiangbei New Area is taking off”.

Talking about the successful experience of the University of Cambridge in the commercialization of intellectual property rights and the role played by the Centre in the process of technology transfer and transformation, Professor Chris Abell shared that through the establishment of the Cambridge Enterprise, a specialized institution, the University of Cambridge provides related services such as company establishment, technology patent application, and fund support for scientists and researchers interested in commercialization. In the process of commercialization, "the University and Cambridge enterprise act as assistant role to support researchers to establish companies and achieve commercialization,” forming a good atmosphere that encourages commercial use. Nearly 5,000 knowledge-intensive companies have gathered around the University of Cambridge. Professor Abell hopes to share the experience of achievement transformation with China through the Nanjing Centre.

"It is a great honor to participate in the operation of the Centre as a scientist and researcher. Thank you for China's support for the development of the Centre and push the cooperation between the two sides to the current new stage", said Chris Abell. The "DropBioApp Engineering droplet-based microfluidic platform for biological applications" shared by Professor Abell is his first research project in the Asia-Pacific region. Today’s roadshow is also the first time that Professor Abell conducts an in-depth academic and achievement transformation exchange with China.

In the context of globalization, various innovative elements including technology, talents, markets, industries, capital, users, etc., are actively flowing internationally. It is necessary to have a broad mind and an open attitude, and coordinate superior resources at home and abroad to create a sustainable International technological innovation cooperation model. This seminar and project roadshow are precisely the upholding and practice of this concept, gathering multiple resources from the research end, the enterprise end and the investment end, shortening the distance between "laboratory products" and market-oriented products, and winning unanimous recognition of guests from all walks of life.

In fact, due to the time difference and geographical barriers, as the link between the University of Cambridge and China, the Centre’s daily work has always been a combination of remote online and on-site communication. Since 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has further magnified the necessity and value of this working mechanism. On the one hand, the use of various online and offline collaboration tools, transcending time and space barriers, allows people from the two places to gather together in a virtual space. On the other hand, partners from universities and industry conduct freehand experiments in the Centre. Under the interaction of work forms, the promotion efficiency of the Centre's international research projects is guaranteed.

Starting with the first seminar and project roadshow, the Centre will promote the normalization and systematization of remote seminars and project roadshows in the future, enhance the frequency and efficiency of international high-quality academic exchanges, and promote international scientific research and development innovative cooperation, connect the key nodes in the chain from original scientific research to the achievement transformation, and empower the upgrading of local industrial systems.