China aims to build 20 pilot scale biomanufacturing platforms by 2027
This will potentially be decisive in the biomanufacturing race
China’s Science and Technology Daily newspaper (the official newspaper of China’s Ministry of Science and Technology) announced last month that China will develop more than 20 pilot scale ‘platforms’ (it was originally published on Xinhua, but publication on the Ministry’s newspaper gives it ministerial weight). What constitutes a ‘platform’ is unclear. I take it to mean scale up facilities. I think the term is intentionally vague, although the number is not.
The ST Daily article is translated (via ChatGPT - very lightly edited by me) at the bottom of this analysis. You can see that govt newspapers do not produce amazing prose.
A quick google search suggests it has not been announced in English, although I did find snippets of the 20 pilot-scale facilities announcement in other news items not solely focused on the facilities, such as this Xinhua report.
If this is successfully achieved, it consequential for three reasons:
This is further evidence that biomanufacturing has shot up the order of priority in China.
China’s government work report (the key govt document for ordering priorities) listed ONLY four technologies to increase funding in 2025: “biomanufacturing, quantum technology, embodied AI, and 6G technology” (translation of the document here, see pg 18). Biotechnology was listed first. That is intentional.
It will give Chinese biomanufacturers a huge advantage over other countries.
If these are indeed facilities, this will be the largest network of pilot facilities globally. Cutting edge Chinese startups will get the quickest scale up infrastructure globally.
It will compel foreign companies to move their R&D, pilot production and commercial production to China. Other alternatives will be less good.
Because of the global shortage of pilot facilities/platforms, non-Chinese cutting-edge startups may have no choice but to go to China to progress their product for speed, quality and price reasons.
The article is below in both English and Chinese. But first a few notes:
The responsibility is being put back on universities and lower level governments to do the work. The article “encourages” national laboratories to build these platforms. Chinese lower level governments and universities will take this as a directive to develop these facilities. It will be less orchestrated than BioMADE which has been organised centrally. This is a common approach to innovation in China.
There is an expectation of fee-for-service and “market-oriented” models. I’ll watch with interest to see if they can get the fee-for-service model to work (this has been hard for start-up infrastructure in bio, excl biopharma). To be fair, Chinese universities have become much better at tech transfer and I think there will be a plan to collectively reduce costs, such as making the equipment way more standardised. There has been great reluctance to build these kinds of facilities within universities in the West because uni bureaucracy kills efficiency and commercial orientation.
The article lists a wide range of products for these envisaged facilities. That suggests that the hard work of identifying what type product/feedstock/ecosystem/location is yet to be done. So we can expect a lot of jockeying and perhaps a timeline blowout or far fewer than 20 facilities eventuating.
There is an attempt to build an ecosystem in China. From basic research to standardised equipment to skills training, the Chinese govt is trying to set up a true bio-innovation ecosystem. The aforementioned national labs are seeing huge increases in funding right when many other parts of the world are reducing bio-research funding. For example, the national innovation centre for biomanufacturing in Shenzhen.
Article (English first Chinese second)
China aims to develop more than 20 biomanufacturing pilot capacity building platforms by 2027 (我国力争到2027年培育生物制造中试能力建设平台超20个)
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the National Development and Reform Commission recently issued a notice to launch the initiative for cultivating pilot-scale biomanufacturing capability platforms. The goal is to cultivate more than 20 such platforms by 2027, serve over 200 enterprises, and incubate more than 400 products.
A pilot-scale platform refers to a comprehensive support system that facilitates the transition of scientific research achievements from laboratory development to large-scale industrial production. According to an official from the Department of Consumer Goods Industry of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the focus of this initiative is on various fields within biomanufacturing, including the development of pilot platforms for key product areas such as food and additives, biopharmaceuticals, cosmetics, chemicals, energy, and enzyme preparations. This effort aims to drive collaborative innovation across the upstream and downstream segments of the industrial chain.
The notice specifies that the initiative will adhere to a step-by-step cultivation and classification approach. It encourages national laboratories and national-level scientific and technological innovation platforms to build pilot-scale biomanufacturing capability platforms. It also emphasizes market orientation and demand-driven development, encouraging platforms to operate on a market-based, fee-for-service model to achieve stable operations. Furthermore, it underscores the importance of standardization, reliability, and safety, with a focus on enhancing data security and biosafety capabilities of the platforms.
我国力争到2027年培育生物制造中试能力建设平台超20个
2025-06-12 17:38:14 来源: 新华网
新华社记者 周圆 张辛欣
工业和信息化部、国家发展改革委日前印发通知，部署开展生物制造中试能力建设平台培育工作。提出到2027年，力争培育生物制造中试能力建设平台20个以上，服务企业数量超过200家，孵化产品400个以上。
中试平台，是指在科研成果从实验室研发阶段向大规模产业化生产过渡过程中，提供中间试验的综合性支撑平台。工业和信息化部消费品工业司有关负责人介绍，此次培育的重点，聚焦生物制造各领域，培育食品及添加剂、生物制药、化妆品、化工、能源、酶制剂等重点产品领域的中试平台，带动产业链上下游协同创新发展。
通知提出，将坚持逐步培育、分类打造，鼓励国家级实验室、国家级科技创新平台打造中试能力建设平台。坚持市场主导、需求引导，鼓励中试平台按照市场化原则开展有偿服务并实现稳定运营。坚持规范引领、安全可靠，增强平台数据安全、生物安全保障能力。