On the afternoon of 12th April, the “CUNJC’s Salon on Innovation and Entrepreneurship” was successfully held. The three-hour salon featured on a sharing session to interpret in deep the integration of innovative ecology on international level and six high-quality project roadshows centered around AI and Information Technology.

The salon was hosted by CUNJC, co-held by Cambridge Enterprise, the institution in charge of commercialisation of intellectual properties in the Cambridge University, and the School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship of Shandong University(SIE), and supported by Cambridge University Shanghai Alumni Association, Cambridge Shenzhen Alumni Association, Oxbridge Jiangsu and Zhejiang Alumni Association, Oxbridge Shanghai Alumni Association and Oxbridge Beijing Alumni Association. Daping Chu, Academic Director and CEO of CUNJC and Tenured Professor of University of Cambridge  and relevant leaders from Nanjing Jiangbei New Area Industrial Technology Research and Innovation Park attended the Salon.

At the beginning of the Salon, Professor Daping Chu expressed his appreciation to attended guests on behalf of CUNJC. As the supporting platform for the University of Cambridge’s comprehensive development in China, CUNJC has shouldered important missions of facilitating the high-level international exchanges on science and technology cooperation and promoting the mobility of innovative elements between both sides. "Oriented by applied research, and driven by result commericialisation, CUNJC is embedded in the complete value chain from scientific and technological innovation to result transfer and commercialisation”, Prof Chu stressed,. “we will consolidate the foundation for applied research, proactively deepen the Institute-University-Research (IUR) integration, fuel the transfer and commercialisation of high-quality applied projects, and further facilitate the creation of open innovation ecosystem via multiple measures as salons".

How can Cambridge, with an area of less than 3500km² and a permanent resident population of just over a hundred thousand, become a hub for innovation in Europe and even globally? During the process of international expansion, how can multinational corporations effectively integrate into the global innovation landscape and establish deep connections with leading-edge innovation resources?

During the salon, Lin Zhuocun, GM of TusPark UK, delivered a keynote presentation titled " Practice of TusPark UK’s Integration into the Cambridge Innovation Eco-system", focusing on dissecting the "Cambridge Phenomenon" and its key components. He shared TusPark UK's practical experiences over the past few years.

The "Cambridge Phenomenon" refers to the remarkable economic growth experienced in the life sciences and high-tech industries in the Cambridgeshire since the 1970s, driven by collaborative efforts among universities, businesses, and local government to promote technological innovation. Data shows that as of April 2023, the region boasts over 5,000 knowledge-intensive enterprises, provides over 72,000 jobs, enjoys an annual patent application rate of 258 per 100,000 residents, and has nurtured 23 unicorn companies with a valuation of over $1 billion . This region is recognised as the "Silicon Fen" of Europe.

Lin analysed that:" The key elements behind the success of the innovation ecosystem in the Cambridgeshire include the knowledge engine and think tanks driven by local university, high-tech talents supplied by universities and enterprises, innovation carriers constituted by the infrastructure of the innovation ecosystem, the mobility provided by venture capital institutions, and the support of innovation eco-community.

In his view, innovation eco-community (Networking) is the KEY to the vitality of the Cambridge ecosystem. Through active networking, the aforementioned resources such as knowledge systems, talent systems, financial systems, and spatial carriers are integrated. Entrepreneurs can find suitable partners, and innovative ideas can be connected, exchanged, and shared, which thereby significantly enhance the overall efficiency of the ecosystem.

"Maintaining an innovative ecosystem requires the introduction of external 'freshwater', and embedding into the global innovation network also requires deep-rooted localisation and to be members of the local eco-community," as Lin Zhuo Cun explained. Aligned with this philosophy, TusHoldings collaborated with Cambridge’s Trinity College to build and renovate the Cambridge Science Park. Embracing the integrated innovation model combining "technology park & technology incubation & equity investment," TusPark Cambridge was established and set up the first shared biolab in the Cambridge Science Park. Its early-stage venture capital fund, Cambridge Technology Capital (CTC), has invested in numerous local projects, successfully integrated into the local innovation network.

Since the emergence of ChatGPT in 2022, new technologies such as generative models, large models, and intelligent agents have continued to shooting up, ushering the AI race into a new stage. The initiative of "AI plus" was included in the government work report for the first time, and the empowerment of industrial digitisation with the next generation of AI turned to be a hot topic at the moment.

The Tenth Roadshow of the CUNJC on International Technology, centered around AI and Information Technology, further ignited the innovative enthusiasm at the salon.

Representatives from six projects, including Windyword Intelligence, JiNMU Health, HOLOLICYO Medical, Voronoi Information Technology, Powersense, and JoltSynSor, showcased their projects' highlights from the perspectives of industrial research, technology, team, and market during the roadshow. They engaged in active Q&A and interactions with representatives from over ten investment institutions such as Sequoia Capital, CDH Investments, Leaguer Capital, Oriza Fofs, Winsoul Capital, Sky9 Capital, Nanjing Innovation Capital Group, and Nanjing Jiangbei New Area Sci-Tech Investment Group.

Diving into the blue ocean of open-source intelligence analysis, the roadshow project "Windyword Intelligence" empowers the intelligence analysis industry with secure and efficient large models. Their tested and launched product, "High-Performance Think Tank Agent," is dedicated to providing database and AI analysis capabilities for think tank researchers. Dr. Lu Siyuan, CEO of the team, acquired his PhD at Nanjing University. His core technical members are from the world's top ICAIS laboratory, specialising in natural language processing (NLP) text generation. The project previously won the first prize in the "Win in Nanjing" Entrepreneurship Competition, and gained the interestfrom capital sources such as MiraclePlus and Nanjing Innovation Capital Group.

To promote the innovation and development of traditional Chinese medicine, the roadshow project "JiNMU" Health is developing an intelligent health detection system in traditional Chinese medicine sphere. This system utilises the body's pulse wave to reflect its physical condition, based on the theory of "Qi and Blood Resonance" and the harmonics model of the twelve meridians in traditional Chinese medicine. Supported by the JiNMU Health cloud platform as a database, the project has developed a modernised traditional Chinese pulse diagnosis device. Users can conveniently take their pulse at home using the detection device and generate detailed health reports. The founder of the team and creator of the theoretical model, Dr. Wang Weigong, graduated from the Department of Biophysics at Johns Hopkins University in the United States, with nearly 40 years of research experience. The core members include PhD graduates from prestigious universities or institutions such as Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley.

Tackling the challenges of non-rigid product 3D’s scanning and precise measurement, the roadshow project "Voronoi Information Technology" has developed an advanced measurement framework encompassing point cloud cleaning, completion, 3D reconstruction, coordinate alignment, key point picking, and dimension measurement, with the basis of deep collaboration between academia and industry in the fields of 3D vision, computer graphics, and deep learning. This measurement framework utilises 3D machine vision technology and artificial intelligence algorithms to meet the high-precision dimension measurement needs in intelligent manufacturing. The team leader is Associate Professor Xin Shiqing from the Interdisciplinary Research Center of School of Computer Science at Shandong University. The engineering team consists of professionals from renowned domestic universities such as Wuhan University, Shandong University, and Northeastern University.

Driving the digitisation of surgical operation techniques, the roadshow project "HOLOLICYO Medical" collaborates with Huashan Hospital Affiliated with Fudan University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University to introduce an intelligent mixed reality navigation system for neurosurgical intracerebral hemorrhage. This system empowers doctors with a "perspective eye" to view lesions in 360° through multimodal holographic imaging and AI modeling. By combining mixed reality (MR) and artificial intelligence (AI), it creates a novel medical solution to enhance physicians' capabilities. The CEO of the team, Yuan Zhiyi, is a PhD candidate in Biomedical Engineering at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Professor Mao Ying, Dean of Huashan Hospital and Director of Neurosurgery Department, along with his team, serves as medical expert consultants.

To serve the entire lifecycle of electronic power systems, the roadshow project "Powersense" utilises an "AI & physical mechanism" approach to construct a universal model for power electronic systems. This enables the development of an intelligent software platform covering product design, testing, and operation, allowing for the efficient and precise depiction of the performance indicators and reliability characteristics of devices, modules, and systems. This significantly improves the product design, reduces costs and ensures the safe and smooth operation for main manufacturers, equipment manufacturers, original component manufacturers, and operators in multiple fields such as electrical vehicles, new energy power, energy storage equipment, and smart grid. The project has established a startup in the UK. The founder and CEO, Hu Borong, is a postdoctoral researcher in power electronics at the University of Cambridge. The co-founder and CTO, Wang Taiyi, is a PhD candidate in machine learning at the University of Cambridge.

Focusing on the humanoid robot industry chain, the roadshow project "JoltSynSor" specialises in developing AI intelligent sensors. It seamlessly integrates fiber optics mimicking the human nervous system into various front-end materials and utilises backend artificial intelligence algorithms for signal analysis. This enables accurate output of key force and temperature data, providing self-awareness to material structures and enabling robots and prosthetics to "sense". The team has strong ties to Cambridge. The CEO and co-founder Jiang Xu holds an MBA from the University of Cambridge, and the CTO and co-founder Song Geyang is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford. Dr. Brian Shei, the Chief Scientist, is an Associate Professor of Engineering Department at the University of Cambridge.

Scientific and technological innovation is the intrinsic driving force of industrial innovation, and industrial innovation is the fundamental pathway to realising the value of scientific and technological innovation. To drive industrial innovation through scientific and technological innovation and strengthen the deep integration of technological and industrial innovation, the CUNJC will continue to excel in building a favorable ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship, anchoring in applied innovation, and steadfastly advancing the commericialisation of scientific research.

For more information about the roadshow projects, please contact us:

startup@cunjc.org.cn