What is the bioeconomy? As small as a seed and a dose of vaccine, as large as a power plant or an industrial park, they may all belong to the category of bio-economy.

A few days ago, the "14th Five-Year Plan" Bioeconomic Development Plan (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan") was officially issued. This is my country's first five-year bioeconomy plan. What benefits will the "Plan" bring to the development of bio-economy? What are the expectations of the company? The reporter conducted an interview.

Why is the bioeconomy important?

Important content of my country's science and technology economic strategy in the coming period

"Planning" makes it clear that the bioeconomy is driven by the development and progress of life science and biotechnology, and the protection, development and utilization of biological resources is the driving force. Foundation, extensive and deep integration of medicine, health, agriculture, forestry, energy, environmental protection, materials and other industries.

“Biotechnology is one of the most important innovative technology clusters in the 21st century. It has become an effective force to promote future development and is of great significance in promoting the high-quality development of society and people's livelihood." said Xu Hang, deputy director of the Science and Technology Promotion and Development Bureau of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

As one of the countries with the most abundant biological resources and the broadest life and health consumption market in the world, my country has a complete range of biological industries and systems. It has favorable conditions to accelerate the development of bio-economy. Especially since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, my country has made remarkable achievements in the innovation and development of bio-economy.

Technological breakthroughs continue to emerge. Looking at the "point", artemisinin has achieved the "zero breakthrough" of the Nobel Prize in the field of natural science in my country; looking at the "face", my country ranks second in the world in the number of innovative drugs under research, in genetic testing, super rice, synthetic starch, vaccines Comparative advantages have been formed in other fields.

Industrial innovation continues to be active. In recent years, the field of biology has become a hot spot for investment, with biological companies accounting for 1/3 of the companies listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board. During the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, the R&D investment of pharmaceutical companies above designated size increased by about 8% annually. The volume of biological manufacturing has been further expanded, and modern biological fermentation products account for more than 70% of the global share.

The regional agglomeration effect is obvious. The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle have become my country's bioeconomy innovation highlands. About 80% of the listed companies in the country, 90% of the national first-class new drugs, and 85% of the specially approved products for innovative medical devices come from these regions.

my country's bio-economic development also faces many challenges. For example, the original innovation capability is still relatively weak, the accumulation of basic life science theories, underlying key common technologies, high-end instruments and reagents, and biological information resources is insufficient, the technological innovation system is still imperfect, and there are still relatively few companies with international competitiveness.

Xu Tao, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, emphasized that the "14th Five-Year Plan" period is a period of accelerated evolution of biotechnology, rapid growth of life and health needs, and biological industry. An important period of opportunity for rapid development. Only by successfully grasping this major opportunity period, speeding up the resolution of key core technologies that restrict the development of bio-economy, and better mastering the basic theories and original methods in the field of life sciences, can China continuously improve the quality and efficiency of industrial development and accelerate the realization of China's bio-economy From big to strong and high-quality development.

The introduction of the Plan comes at the right time. "The "Plan" takes bioeconomy as an important part of my country's science and technology and economic strategy for a period of time in the future, provides new solutions to major challenges such as life and health, climate change, resource and energy security, and food security, and contributes to building a higher level of healthy China. , Beautiful China, and Safe China,” said Wang Xiang, deputy director of the High-Tech Department of the National Development and Reform Commission.

Which areas deserve attention?

Focus on cultivating and expanding the four pillar industries of health care, bio-agriculture, bio-energy and bio-environmental protection, and bio-information span>

The proportion of economic added value in GDP has steadily increased, the number of enterprises with annual operating income of more than 10 billion yuan has increased significantly, biological The scale of the total economic volume has reached a new level... The "Planning" sets clear goals for the development of the bio-economy during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period.

However, the bioeconomy involves a wide range of industries and covers many industrial fields. To achieve the goal, it is necessary to highlight the key points. To this end, the "Planning" clearly regards meeting the new needs of the people for "medicine", "food", "beauty" and "safety" as the key areas for the future development of the bio-economy, and proposes to cultivate and strengthen medical and health care, bio-agriculture, bio-energy and bio-environmental protection, and bio-economy. Four pillar industries of information.

The health industry has received the most attention. The "Planning" proposes to develop biomedicine oriented to people's life and health in line with the new trend from "treatment-centered" to "health-centered". Focus on medicines, vaccines, advanced diagnosis and treatment technologies and equipment, biomedical materials, etc., improve original innovation capabilities, and enhance the supply chain guarantee level of high-end biomedical products and equipment.

"Next, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will work with relevant departments to implement the pharmaceutical pilot enterprise cultivation project, combining with the consistency evaluation of generic drugs and purchasing with quantity The implementation of such policies will support large enterprises to implement innovation and transformation, and form a group of large pharmaceutical companies with a high degree of internationalization and global development." said Zhou Jian, deputy director of the Consumer Goods Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Agricultural industry is related to people's jobs. The "Planning" proposes to develop biological agriculture oriented to agricultural modernization in line with the new trend from "solving food and clothing" to "diversifying nutrition". Focus on biological breeding, biological fertilizers, biological feed, biological pesticides, etc., launch a new generation of agricultural biological products, and improve the industrial system for the protection, development and utilization of germplasm resources. Among them, the "Planning" makes it clear that it will explore and develop new foods such as "artificial protein", realize the iterative upgrading of the food industry, and reduce the pressure on environmental resources brought about by the traditional breeding industry.

Currently, the advantages of biological agriculture have begun to emerge. In Jining City, Shandong, the use of bio-compound fertilizer "Bacteria is more abundant" for corn planting not only increases yield by 7.31% compared with traditional chemical fertilizers, but also improves soil quality. In Heyuan City, Guangdong, Sinochem Bio-Organic Fertilizer was applied to chickpea peach. Compared with ordinary fertilizers, the fruit set rate increased by 15%, the average weight gain of the fruit during the mature picking period was 14%, and the drought resistance and waterlogging tolerance of the crops were also improved simultaneously.

The bioenergy and bioenvironmental protection industries have great potential. The "Planning" makes it clear that in line with the new trend of "pursuing production capacity and efficiency" to "adhering to ecological priority", it will develop green and low-carbon biomass replacement applications.

For example, develop high-performance bio-environmental protection materials and biological preparations to help environmental protection and pollution control; develop new biomass energy technology research and development Promote the transformation of fossil energy to green and low-carbon renewable energy, and accelerate the research and development and equipment manufacturing of key technologies such as bio-natural gas, cellulosic ethanol, and algal bio-fuel.

The bioinformatics industry has a bright future. The "Planning" requires that for major diseases such as cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, tumors, respiratory diseases, diabetes and other major diseases, the development of intelligent auxiliary decision-making knowledge models and algorithms to assist in the research and development of personalized new drugs; the use of 5G, blockchain, Internet of Things and other cutting-edge technologies to achieve Full life cycle management of drugs and vaccines from production to use; deepen the application of health big data in medical research, education and training, clinical diagnosis and treatment, product development, industry governance, and medical insurance payment.

How to achieve better development?

"Insist on risk control" is one of the important principles

Biosecurity is related to people's life and health and long-term stability of the country. To develop the bio-economy, "adhering to the control of risks" is one of the important principles.

On the one hand, the "Plan" clearly states that the construction of a biosafety system should be accelerated. Improve the construction of the basic security system, such as improving the biosecurity governance mechanism of party committee leadership, government responsibility, social coordination, public participation, and legal protection, intensive construction of biosecurity infrastructure, and enhancement of biosecurity scientific research and production support capabilities. Improve the efficiency of emergency material reserve, production and scheduling, and improve various epidemic monitoring, early warning and prevention systems.

On the other hand, the Plan proposes to actively promote the protection and utilization of biological resources. Improve the biological resources supervision system, carry out a comprehensive census of biological resources, and build biological resource databases and digital "libraries". Standardize the safe sharing of biological resources, establish a national biological resource sharing system, promote the controlled sharing and safe exchange of biological resources, and realize the unified exchange and sharing of biological data resources in my country.

Keep the bottom line of safety and actively innovate supervision in order to create a good environment for the innovation and development of biotechnology. In this regard, the "Plan" proposes to build a number of bio-economy pilot zones, and pilot reform measures in key links in the bio-economy field such as technological innovation, access and supervision.

Shanghai Pudong New Area has been explored accordingly. In the development and production of CAR-T cell therapy products, some raw materials and preparations need to be imported, and the storage temperature needs to be maintained at minus 196 degrees Celsius.

How to ensure safety and speed up customs clearance? In 2020, Shanghai Pudong New Area innovatively launched a "white list" system for pilot enterprises of special items imported into China. Enterprises selected into the "white list" can estimate the demand for biological products in advance, submit an import application once, and approve it once, without the need to apply batch by batch.

The front end is released, and follow-up supervision must follow. In Pudong New Area, multiple departments are involved in risk control through a joint supervision platform. After an enterprise submits an application for consumption, the Commerce Commission, Customs and other departments will jointly conduct a centralized assessment and issue a customs clearance certificate. The customs then released the port, and the establishment of diplomatic relations and the public security department conducted real-time supervision on the road. The health and health commission carried out on-site biosafety laboratory supervision on the enterprise, and the ecological environment bureau was responsible for the consumption of imported special items after laboratory consumption and medical waste. manage.

Since the pilot was launched, the "whitelist" system has achieved good results, and the speed of enterprise research and development has been significantly improved. In 2021, the number of innovative drugs and innovative medical devices approved for listing in my country will be the highest in the past five years; the operating income of sub-sectors such as biological drug manufacturing, genetically engineered drugs and vaccine manufacturing will increase by 113.8% year-on-year, and the profit will be the largest in the total profit of the pharmaceutical industry. The proportion reached 41.7%.

The development of bio-economy requires financial support. The "Plan" clarifies that in order to support the development of the bio-economy, my country will make overall use of all levels and types of relevant financial funds to support the development of the bio-economy, increase support for bio-related technological innovation and product services; continue to develop the first (set) of major technologies The first pilot of the insurance compensation mechanism for equipment and new materials; encourage local governments to establish and improve the fiscal subsidy policy for biomass energy.

"Next, relevant local and national departments will speed up the formulation of supporting policies, jointly promote the development and growth of the bio-economy, and ensure that the "Planning" "Goals and overall strategic tasks have been implemented." Wang Xiang said.