Qiming Headlines | First Science2Startup China Symposium Successfully Held: Turning Great Science from Labs into Great Companies
S2S's mission is to build bridges between China's innovation ecosystem and the global biotech community.
Recently, the inaugural Science2Startup (S2S) China Symposium, co-hosted by leading global venture capital firm RA Capital and Qiming Venture Partners, was successfully held at Westlake University. The one-day event brought together approximately 130 participants from around the world, including academic researchers, early-stage entrepreneurs, investors from global and domestic firms, pharmaceutical company executives, and professional service providers. The symposium showcased academic and scientific research achievements from Chinese universities and research institutes, with discussions centered on China's increasingly vital role in global biopharmaceutical innovation.
The inaugural S2S China Symposium attracted enthusiastic applications from researchers and early-stage founders across China's therapeutic research ecosystem, receiving 43 project submissions from 11 institutions. Twenty-one semifinalist projects were scored by two mentor judges, with 10 outstanding biotech startup teams from 7 institutions ultimately selected to present at the symposium.
S2S was launched in 2018 by RA Capital and Atlas Venture in Boston, with the original mission of helping talented researchers outside the US East and West Coast biotech hubs gain more feedback and engagement from industry and investors. This year marked its first expansion to China, co-hosted by RA Capital and Qiming Venture Partners.
Kan Chen, Partner at Qiming Venture Partners and co-head of Healthcare Innovation, delivered the opening address. He noted that the finalist teams from Westlake University, Shenzhen Bay Laboratory, Shanghai Ruijin Hospital, University of Science and Technology of China, and Chinese Academy of Sciences demonstrated that world-class scientific achievements in China are increasingly ready for company formation; S2S's mission is to build bridges between Chinese innovation and the global biotech ecosystem.
Chen said: "The projects submitted for the inaugural S2S China impressed us with both their scientific quality and the founders' ambition. Chinese university labs and research institutions are producing world-class biology with growing potential to go global. We hope Science2Startup can help more good science leave the lab and become great companies."
Josh Resnick, Partner at RA Capital, delivered the welcome address and a keynote speech titled S2S China: Building an Academia-Led Innovation Ecosystem, tracing how academic discoveries from recombinant DNA and monoclonal antibodies to AAV gene therapy, mRNA, and CAR-T have evolved into full-fledged industries.
"These academic discoveries created technology platforms worth trillions of dollars, but turning them into industries requires sustained translation, collaboration, and patient capital," Resnick said. He pointed to persistent gaps in technology transfer, researcher incentives, early-stage capital investment cycles, and exit pathways, emphasizing S2S's role in identifying science with translational potential, guiding experimental design toward commercial relevance, connecting academia with industry and investors, and fostering professionally managed companies.
Westlake University Founding President Yigong Shi delivered a keynote titled Research and Translation in China: The Role of Westlake University, outlining China's biotech innovation landscape and the role of academic research in driving global innovation. He recalled that when he returned to China nearly two decades ago, many labs lacked even basic infrastructure.
"Today, China has become an innovation powerhouse. What drove this transformation is people: a large pool of diligent, quick-learning, and absorptive talent," Professor Shi said.
He also noted that Westlake University and Science2Startup were both founded in 2018. "Scientists at universities and companies are working hand in hand," he said. "That's precisely why we're bringing Science2Startup here."
Symposium sponsors Biocytogen and Goodwin Law Firm also presented, with Goodwin hosting an intellectual property strategy workshop.
The 10 finalist teams presented their research and startup projects at the symposium:
Interlock Therapeutics — Bobo Dang (Westlake University)
Novhan Bio — Zelin Zhang (Westlake University), Jian Ma (Harbin Medical University)
Miracle Bio — Yi Shi, Jun Ke
Daoyi Pharma — Chaolemeng Bao
NeurASO Therapeutics — Ke Zhang (Shenzhen Bay Laboratory), Fan Lai (Yunnan University)
HeaLux Global — Zhenyu Zhang (Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine)
Westlake Omics — Tiannan Guo (Westlake University)
iBIOME Biotechnology — Shu Zhu (University of Science and Technology of China), He Li
Kepler Biosciences — Justin Tan (Shenzhen Bay Laboratory)
Yiweilai Bio — An Zeng (Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences)
In an investor roundtable titled "Global Innovation: Challenges and Opportunities in Cross-Border Biotech Collaboration," Abigail Schmitz, Senior Manager of Corporate Development at RA Capital, moderated a discussion with Vyas Ramanan, Investment Partner at Third Rock Ventures; Zhaoying Xu, Managing Director at Lilly Ventures China; and Hu Li, Investment Partner at Eight Roads.
The panelists explored how cross-border collaboration can advance academic research toward patients, from identifying the most promising opportunities at the discovery and company-formation stages to structuring partnership arrangements among universities, founders, and investors that allow room for startups to grow. They also discussed how to assess whether a scientific discovery can mature into a globally competitive drug, what value international partners can provide before a company generates clinical data, and how founders should choose among fundraising, building companies alongside investment firms, and partnering with established companies for program development.
Xingdi Liu, Executive Director at Qiming Venture Partners, delivered the closing address, expressing optimism about innovation from Chinese universities and academic institutions: "Today's S2S China Symposium brought together representatives from research institutions, global and domestic investment firms, pharmaceutical companies, CROs, and legal service providers. This fully demonstrates the value of ecosystem collaboration — when all parties work together, they can accelerate the translation of cutting-edge science into preclinical assets, clinical candidates, and ultimately approved medicines that benefit patients."
Past Coverage
Qiming Headlines | S2S China Symposium Announces 2026 Finalists, 10 Standout Teams Set to Pitch Global Investors at Westlake University S2S China Announces 2026 Finalists, Ten Standout Teams Set to Pitch Global Investors at Westlake University
Qiming Venture Partners was founded in 2006. The firm currently manages 11 USD funds and 7 RMB funds, with total assets under management reaching $9.5 billion. Since its inception, Qiming Venture Partners has focused on investing in outstanding early- and growth-stage companies in Technology and Healthcare Innovation.
To date, Qiming Venture Partners has invested in over 580 high-growth innovative companies, with more than 210 listed on the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited, Shanghai Stock Exchange, and Shenzhen Stock Exchange, or exited through M&A and other means. Over 80 portfolio companies have become recognized unicorns or super-unicorns.
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