Merck Guangdong Innovation Center Officially Opens to Drive Innovation in the Greater Bay Area

On November 15, 2019, Merck announced that its Guangdong Innovation Center, located on Guangzhou International Bio Island, would officially commence operations. The Merck Guangdong Innovation Center aims to collaborate with partners in the innovation ecosystem—including local government industrial parks, incubators, academic institutions, and investment firms—to jointly advance innovative technologies and continuously accelerate Merck’s development in the Greater Bay Area.

Merck places great emphasis on maintaining close ties with its partners in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA). At the GBA Innovation Forum, an opening forum held that day, Merck China Innovation Center signed strategic cooperation agreements with two key GBA-based partners from the industry-academia-research-government-investment sectors: the Guangzhou China-Israel Biopharma Incubation Base and the Shenzhen Rosman International Institute for Translational Medicine.

Merck will establish a strategic partnership with the counterparty based on the terms of the agreement, leveraging its advantages in industrial development, resources, and innovation to engage in comprehensive strategic cooperation across project innovation, industry incubation and acceleration, and project investment within the three core sectors of pharmaceuticals and healthcare, life sciences, and performance materials, as well as related cross-industry fields. By establishing a win-win mechanism and strengthening innovative collaboration, both parties will jointly support the development and cooperation of the life and health ecosystem in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

At the opening ceremony, Mr. Gao Bo An, President of Merck China, stated, “The Greater Bay Area is one of Merck’s most important strategic regions in China. Merck’s three business sectors align closely with the plans outlined in China’s ‘Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area,’ which promotes advancements in new materials, biotechnology, and healthcare. We are highly confident that, by working hand in hand with local governments, startups, academic institutions, and industry partners, we can foster the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area while continuing to support China’s transition toward an innovation-driven economy.”

In the search for and incubation acceleration of innovative technologies, Merck has engaged in multiple close collaborations with the innovation ecosystem of the Greater Bay Area. For instance, in 2018, it assisted the government in hosting the Shenzhen Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition – Anti-Cancer Technology Specialized Contest. In November 2018, Merck further signed an agreement with the Guangzhou Development District to establish the Guangdong Innovation Center.

Leveraging its unique industrial background, strong academic research foundation, and passion for innovation, Merck has attracted multiple startups from the Greater Bay Area through its accelerator program. In the first and second cohorts, participating companies included Jizhan Technology from Shenzhen, which specializes in flexible stretchable packaging technology; SPES Tech from Hong Kong, focused on biomaterials research; Moon Biotech from Guangzhou, developing microbiome-based therapies; and Xingyao Technology from Shenzhen, primarily engaged in AI-enabled drug discovery and healthcare solutions. Through the accelerator, these Greater Bay Area enterprises not only receive funding and internal resource support from Merck Group but also have the opportunity to strengthen global R&D collaboration and explore international markets via Merck’s headquarters in Germany.

Meanwhile, Merck has been actively seeking opportunities to collaborate with established enterprises in the Greater Bay Area. In the healthcare sector, Merck formally entered into a strategic partnership with KingMed Diagnostics, also located on Guangzhou International Bio Island, in July 2019, focusing on precision testing and precision treatment of colorectal cancer in China. Additionally, Merck’s Healthcare business in China maintains long-term strategic collaborations with Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Holdings Limited and China Resources Guangdong Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.

Sun Zhengjie, Vice President and Managing Director of China Innovation Center, Merck

At the opening ceremony, Ms. Sun Zhengjie, Vice President and Managing Director of Merck’s China Innovation Center, stated, “In the vibrant entrepreneurial environment of the Greater Bay Area, we aim to leverage the Innovation Center to collaborate with startups, academic institutions, and industry professionals on joint projects. Our goal is to spark creative ideas, achieve win-win innovation, accelerate the transition of sci-tech initiatives from inception to industrialization, and jointly build an innovative ecosystem.”

The inauguration of Merck’s Guangdong Innovation Center complements its Shanghai counterpart, with both hubs jointly accelerating Merck’s business growth in China. The RMB 100 million seed fund, announced at the opening ceremony of the Shanghai Innovation Center last month, will also benefit startups and local innovators in the Greater Bay Area. The seed fund will support innovative projects aligned with Merck’s relevant business areas, focusing on Merck’s three core business sectors and other emerging technology directions.

More than 200 government, academic, and corporate representatives attended the opening ceremony of the Merck Guangdong Innovation Center today. At the Greater Bay Area Innovation Forum held in the afternoon, ten experts from within and outside the industry were invited to serve as mentors for the Merck Innovation Center.

Merck has an 86-year history of development in China, with its first branch in the country, Merck Chemical Co., Ltd., established in Shanghai in 1933.

China is one of Merck’s most strategically important countries globally and has become a global innovation hub for the company. In recent years, Merck has invested €170 million in its Healthcare and Life Science businesses in Nantong, €80 million in its Performance Materials business in Shanghai, and €35 million additionally in Shanghai. Furthermore, Merck has established a Global Medical R&D Center in Beijing, as well as a Performance Materials R&D Center and Life Science laboratories in Shanghai.

Every day, Merck China’s 3,900 employees are dedicated to delivering high-quality and innovative products and services that positively impact people’s lives.

Merck is a leading science and technology company focused on three core areas: Healthcare, Life Science, and Performance Materials. Approximately 57,000 employees worldwide work at Merck to drive technological progress and improve people’s lives, with offerings ranging from biopharmaceutical therapies for cancer and multiple sclerosis, to cutting-edge systems for scientific research and production, to liquid crystal materials for smartphones and flat-screen TVs. In 2018, Merck generated total sales of €14.8 billion across 66 countries.

Scientific exploration and a responsible corporate spirit have always been the keys to Merck’s technological progress, as well as the secret to its enduring vitality since 1668. As the founders of the company, the Merck family still holds the majority of Merck’s shares. We are known as “Merck” globally, with the exception of the United States and Canada. In these two countries, Merck’s three business sectors—Healthcare, Life Science, and Performance Materials—are operated under the names “EMD Serono,” “MilliporeSigma,” and “EMD Performance Materials,” respectively.