Innovation with full-cycle support: what int’l media delegates learned about Hangzhou biotech

“Why do so many technology companies choose to grow in Hangzhou?” Media professionals and content creators from Indonesia, Azerbaijan, France, Morocco, Mexico, and beyond have been exploring how technology can serve the greater good in Hangzhou. At Transfar Innocity · Overseas Returnees Town, they discovered another answer.Over the past 40 years, Transfar has grown into a diversified company with businesses spanning a wide range of industries. When developing industrial parks, Transfar aims to go beyond the traditional model by providing end-to-end support for resident companies, from incubation and acceleration to R&D, manufacturing, and headquarters development.

Jhoni Marcos,the Indonesian RTV News Operations Director, carefully captured every corner of the tech town's exhibition hall with his camera. Here, biotechnology and artificial intelligence are deeply integrated, with cutting-edge innovations such as novel drug development, gene therapy, and synthetic biology on display. Meanwhile, industry investment funds provide startups with the support they need to turn laboratory breakthroughs into market-ready products.

The Mexican influencer Andrea Moreno was drawn to Textile Digital Smart Dyeing from Huanyu Technology. Natural pigments extracted through biotechnology eased her concerns about allergic reactions to industrial dyes. At the Jiuxi Health exhibition area, healthy aging and longevity became a popular topic of discussion. The shift from simply treating illness to an integrated approach of prevention, treatment, wellness, and research offered a refreshing new perspective. When Guncha Atajanova, the Turkmenistani influencer learned that China’s independently developed orthopedic surgical robots can not only help doctors perform more precise minimally invasive surgeries but also reduce medical costs, she immediately recorded a video and said: “Making surgical robots affordable and accessible to ordinary people means advanced healthcare can benefit more people. That is the true meaning of technology.”

At Santo Therapeutics, the media group met with founder Dr. Zhou Lu for a discussion on “taking Chinese pharmaceuticals global.” From aligning R&D standards with international practices and navigating different regulatory approval processes across markets, to exploring how AI is driving biomanufacturing and why chose Hangzhou as the place to start the business, questions kept coming one after another, and Zhou Lu answered each one patiently. When asked why chose to establish the company at Transfar Innocity · Overseas Returnees Town in Hangzhou, Zhou Lu said, “This place ensures that entrepreneurs don’t have to build everything on their own.” As an entrepreneur himself, Ossama Abbad, the Moroccan influencer, was especially interested in the journey from research and ideas to real-world products. He had seen many scientific breakthroughs remain confined to academic papers, never making it to the market. But here, he witnessed a different model, one where startups are backed by a strong support system that gives innovation a real chance to grow.

Technology for Good

The Heart and Depth of Hangzhou's Innovation

On June 5, along the banks of the Qiantang River, the media group gathered once again with Hangzhou's technology companies. The "Gateway to Opportunities: China's Industry Stories" sharing session brought the journey of discovery to its climax. From discussions on Hangzhou’s “Six Little Dragons” tech companies and their practices of using technology for good, to creating an environment where young innovators can thrive, and exploring how technological development is influencing the world, the session showcased the human-centered spirit behind innovation through vivid real-world examples.

Liang Yingjie, Director of the Science and Innovation News Center at City Express, has been following and reporting on Hangzhou’s technology companies and entrepreneurs for years. He raised a question: Why did the “Six Little Dragons” emerge in Hangzhou? Behind this, is China’s comprehensive supply chain system and the growing potential unleashed by its large pool of skilled engineers. In addition, Hangzhou has ranked first in China for net inflow of young talent for many years, with countless young people creating across various fields and using new technologies to empower the real economy.

Professor Yin Li, Director of the Hearing and Speech Research Institute at Nurotron and an expert in audiology and otolaryngology, introduced Nurotron’s independently developed cochlear implant system. The system features high data transmission rates, minimally invasive implantation procedures, tone and speech algorithms, and noise reduction technologies, while also offering a more affordable and accessible option for users. Nurotron has also partnered with charitable organizations to donate cochlear implants and hearing assistance devices, providing free support and treatment to more than 1,500 people with hearing loss.

Scan Technology’s world-leading 3D digital technology shows that with just a scanner, a printer, and an idea, ordinary people can also experience the warm of technology. Through contactless, light-free scanning combined with SLS 3D printing technology, teenagers with scoliosis can receive lightweight, aesthetically designed, and highly customized orthopedic braces, freeing them from the discomfort of traditional plaster casts. With the support of 3D digital technology, precious cultural relics such as the Sanxingdui sacred tree, Yungang Grottoes sculptures, Lufeng dinosaur fossils from Yunnan, and painted wooden coffins from Egypt have not only been transformed into highly detailed digital 3D models, but also preserved as permanent digital archives, allowing thousands of years of civilization to achieve a form of “digital immortality.”

In cities and mountainous areas, day and night, within Antwork Technology’s low-altitude logistics ecosystem, drones are always standing by, ready to take off in all weather conditions and around the clock, creating an aerial lifeline. They transport pathology samples between hospitals for emergency patients when roads are congested, take off at any time to deliver urgent blood supplies for surgeries at the middle of the night, and regularly collect health monitoring samples from scattered medical sites in remote mountain area.

Dr. Zhou Lu, founder of Santo Therapeutics, introduced the company’s gene therapy drug ST002, which is specifically developed for the treatment of Neurofibromatosis Type 2 (NF2). The fifth-generation lentiviral vector can precisely deliver a functional NF2 gene into tumor cells. Once inside the cells, the normal gene begins to express itself, ultimately triggering the death of cancer cells and helping shrink the tumor. Zhou Lu said, “Cancer can be cured. We must have confidence! Our goal is to make technology serve people, and to save lives.”

Media group also express their own thoughts. Applications, human-centered care, social accessibility, and win-win cooperation. These were the keywords they used to summarize what they discovered. The tears Esmira shed as she walked with the exoskeleton, the footage Jhoni recorded throughout the journey, and the endless questions from the young creators became the most authentic reflection of this exploration: Hangzhou’s technology for good showed a group of visitors from afar the confidence and determination to make the world a better place.

Initiated by the Hangzhou International Communication Center (HZICC), the second phase of the "Gateway to Opportunities, China's Industry Stories" international communication program has gone through a month-long global recruitment campaign. From June 3 to 5, the final delegation brought together overseas media professionals and influencers from countries including Indonesia, Azerbaijan, Morocco, Mexico, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, and other countries. They embarked on a journey to explore what is “Tech for Good” in Hangzhou.

Source: Hangzhoufeel