Source: Official WeChat Account: Tongxiang Release
“Within six months of landing here, we have rapidly completed the development of two prototype products: a fully automated single-cell micro-nano manipulation system and a 3D real-time fluorescence microscopy imaging system. Tongxiang is truly our ‘city of patrons’!”
At No. 120 Qiuhe Road, Wutong Street, a young “new face” has arrived—Sinboda Technology (Zhejiang) Co., Ltd. This company not only possesses advanced core technologies, but what is even more impressive is that its founding team is a group of Ph.Ds from the University of Cambridge.
A Cambridge Ph.D. Team: Why Did They Choose Tongxiang?
“Tongxiang is a great place for innovation and entrepreneurship!” Last year, Sinboda’s founder and CEO, Dr. Xiaohua Chen, led the Cambridge Ph.D. team back to China to start their business, focusing primarily on the R&D of life science instruments such as single-molecule detection platforms and medical and health devices.
Faced with such a high-level talent team, Tongxiang was quick to extend an olive branch: “Just bring your technology and talent—we’ll take care of the rest.”
From the very beginning of its cooperation with Tongxiang, Dr. Chen felt the city’s enthusiasm and sincerity for innovation and entrepreneurship:
In August last year, Sinboda was officially registered in Tongxiang, and its development got on the right track;
For laboratory construction requiring upgraded fire safety standards, government departments including emergency response and fire services provided coordinated assistance, handling the procedures on the company’s behalf;
Favorable talent policies followed closely, and well-equipped office spaces and talent apartments gave the company a true sense of home in Tongxiang;
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And so, this Cambridge Ph.D. team was “kept” by Tongxiang. In just half a year, Sinboda exceeded its targets for prototype testing and platform development, and its key instruments have even entered the medical device registration process ahead of schedule, with mass production and sales expected next year.
A daring and visionary tech startup has lifted the curtain on Tongxiang’s innovation landscape, revealing much about the city’s bold ambition.
Over the years, Tongxiang has established major research facilities such as Wuzhen Laboratomatchry and the “Wuzhen Light” Supercomputing Center. Teams of high-level talent have gathered here, becoming the leading force in the city’s emerging industrial development. Among Tongxiang’s permanent population of over 1 million, the total talent pool has exceeded 210,000.
This year, the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China made new arrangements for innovation, explicitly calling to “promote the integrated reform of education, science and technology, and talent institutional mechanisms, improve the new national system, and enhance the overall efficiency of the national innovation system.”
“Wuzhen Light” Supercomputing Center
Phoenix Lake Science and Technology City (conceptual rendering)
You can’t find new land with an old map. As the innovation landscape is rapidly reshaped, the gears of the city’s destiny begin to turn quietly. Tongxiang is pooling its full strength to transform its advantages in education, science, and talent into drivers of innovative development, striving for the “critical leap” toward high-quality growth.
On September 19, Municipal Party Secretary Yu Huiyou made a special visit to Sinboda Technology (Zhejiang) Co., Ltd. to conduct a special research on the integration of education, science and technology, and talent. Municipal leaders Xu Dong and Yao Fuqiang accompanied the visit.
At Sinboda, Secretary Yu Huiyou toured the company’s product exhibition hall and research laboratories, gaining detailed insights into talent aggregation, technological innovation, and the translation of research outcomes. He then chaired a research symposium and listened to relevant work reports.
Secretary Yu Huiyou emphasized that Tongxiang should thoroughly plan and implement a detailed roadmap for deepening the integrated reform of education, science and technology, and talent institutional mechanisms. He stressed the need to strengthen overall coordination, accelerate the streamlining of institutional structures and division of responsibilities, and enhance the overall efficiency of scientific and technological innovation. He called for learning from the experiences and practices of advanced regions, adapting them to Tongxiang’s context, optimizing work strategies, and further strengthening innovation capacity building. He also urged the city to focus on leveraging its distinctive advantages—such as being the permanent host of the World Internet Conference—and to make full use of innovative platforms like new R&D institutions to accelerate scientific and technological innovation and the translation of outcomes. He further emphasized the importance of systematically planning a number of sound projects that lay a solid foundation, deliver long-term benefits, and build momentum for sustained development, ensuring that high-quality projects support high-quality growth. Finally, he called for the rapid establishment of a one-stop integrated talent service portal to further stimulate the innovation and entrepreneurial vitality of talented individuals.