The Legacy of 'Old Mai': IDG/McGovern Brain Science Institutes and the Golden Decade of Neuroscience

A lot happened in 2011.

That year, braised chicken with rice made its debut at a price of under 10 yuan, roughly equivalent to one Bitcoin. Steve Jobs passed away due to illness, and the iPhone completed its aesthetic evolution from “round” to “square.” That same year, Wang Xing embarked on his third entrepreneurial venture by founding Meituan, while Zhang Yi outlined the product prototype for Toutiao on a napkin.

Many events had yet to unfold in 2011.

Three years ago, Opdivo and Keytruda were approved by the U.S. FDA for marketing, ushering in an era of head-to-head PD-1 competition. Four years ago, internet healthcare was included in the Government Work Report for the first time, prompting enthusiastic acclaim from the industry; Bi Jingquan began to lead the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA), marking the inaugural year of innovative drugs. Seven years ago, China began implementing the priority review and approval program for innovative medical devices. Nine years ago, the Ministry of Science and Technology convened the first central expert meeting on the China Brain Project, elevating brain science to a national strategic priority.

Looking back from the vantage point of 2024 at the industrial transformations of the past decade, everything appears to have unfolded with a logical coherence, as if connecting the dots. However, had we stood at that earlier juncture attempting to pierce through the layered mists of the future, it is safe to say that no one could have maintained such composure.

In 2011,Mr. McGovern, Founder and Chairman of IDG Group, affectionately known as “Lao Mai” in China, it has successively signed cooperation agreements with Tsinghua University, Peking University, and Beijing Normal University to jointly establish the IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research. To date, IDG has donated more than RMB 200 million to these three institutes.

Lao Mai has entrusted his steadfast conviction and belief in frontier basic science to time.

If one were to select a specific year as the inaugural year of China’s brain science development, there would likely be no consensus.

However, what is certain about Tsinghua University is that “prior to the establishment of the Tsinghua-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research in 2011, Tsinghua had conducted virtually no neuroscience research.”Academician Shi Songhai, a newly elected member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dean of the School of Life Sciences at Tsinghua University, and Director of the Tsinghua-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, recalled:。

Attracting overseas talent to return to China was one of the primary objectives of this donation. Through the concerted efforts of the Board of Directors and the university, numerous overseas scholars, represented by Shi Songhai, have returned to China to spearhead discipline development. Leveraging Tsinghua University’s robust foundation in engineering, they established research platforms focused on biomedicine, brain-computer interfaces, deep brain stimulation, neuromorphic computing, and chip development within just a few years.From its initial two Drosophila laboratories, the Institute has now grown to encompass more than 20 independent laboratories and over 10 related engineering laboratories, with 23 full-time Principal Investigators (PIs) and more than 300 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.。

In 2019,Professor Gao Xiaorong’s Team, School of Medicine, Tsinghua UniversityUsing a brain-computer interface to assist an ALS patient who has been ill for 12 years in achieving thought-controlled machine communication through a typing system.

In 2022,Academician Li Luming, a newly elected member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, President of Tsinghua University, and affectionately referred to by students as “Large Language Model (LLM)”A neural stimulator capable of real-time Bluetooth transmission has been developed, marking China’s first fully implantable brain-computer interface (BCI) for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and the world’s first fully implantable BCI based on motor information derived from local field potentials in deep brain nuclei.

2023,Professor Hong Bo's Team, School of Medicine, Tsinghua UniversityReleased the post-implantation status of the first patient in the clinical trial for its semi-invasive brain-computer interface, NEO, achieving a novel balance between signal bandwidth and invasiveness to compete with top-tier global products.

Tsinghua’s engineering ecosystem has fast-tracked brain science.

andBasic Brain Function, Cognition, and Brain Diseases as the Main Research FocusPeking University, which carries out interdisciplinary cross-cutting research, has integrated multidisciplinary teams and multiple clinical centers within its system across successive levels—molecular, cellular, circuit, and network—thereby establishing a genuine platform for interdisciplinary research.

As of now, the IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research at Peking University has a total of 34 principal investigators (PIs), including 15 from the School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, 10 from the School of Life Sciences, 1 from the School of Physics, 5 from the Health Science Center, 1 from the College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, and 2 from the School of Future Technology.

Among these, the invention of GPCR (G protein-coupled receptor) probes holds a pivotal position in the global field of brain science. Based on this technological pathway,Professor Li Yulong’s Team at the School of Life Sciences, Peking UniversityWe have successively completed the “Development of Novel Genetically Encoded Fluorescent Probes for Neurotransmitters” and the “Development of a Universal Grafting Strategy for a Fluorescent Probe Toolkit for Neuropeptides.” These two achievements were respectively selected as one of the “Top Ten Advances in Life Sciences in China” in 2018 and 2023, with the latter published in Science in late 2023.

Beijing Normal University, leveraging its strengths in psychology, promotes research in neuroscience, particularly in developmental neuroscience, therebyPsychological Development in Children and Adolescents, Brain Development, Learning and Brain Plasticity, and Brain Dysfunction in Children and Adolescentsetc. as the research objectives.

Beijing Normal University’s IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research comprises 18 principal investigators (PIs) and operates seven major research platforms: the Magnetic Resonance Imaging Center, the Electroencephalography Experimental Platform, the Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Experimental Platform, the Brain Function Modulation Experimental Platform, the Behavioral Data Acquisition Experimental Platform, the Laboratory Animal Platform, and the High-Performance Computing Platform for Neuroimaging Data. These resources facilitate interdisciplinary research spanning psychology, education, cognitive neuroscience, molecular genetics, neurophysiology, neuroimaging, and computational neuroscience.

China’s brain science has rapidly narrowed the gap with the leading levels in Europe and the United States, ushering in a golden age; unfortunately, Old Mai only witnessed the first act.

In late March 2014, McGovern passed away at Stanford Hospital in California due to illness at the age of 76. After accompanying “Old Mac” on more than a hundred trips to China, Hugo Shong went to the United States to stay with him during his final journey.

“Because you are the guy who'd bet your youth on China’s future”

“When IDG Group co-invested $20 million with the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission in 1993 to establish one of China’s earliest venture capital firms, and then received nearly blank performance reports from the IDG China team for seven consecutive years, this was what Old Mai presented to Victor Xiong Xiaoge, then Assistant for Asian Operations, and his team.”Trust。

In 1991, Hugo Shong, who was preparing to leave McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, secured an opportunity for a candid conversation with Pat McGovern at the urging of his close friend and future partner, Quan Zhou. The offer terms for the position of Asia Business Assistant were straightforward and direct: “I have one requirement—I want to report directly to you.” Pat McGovern readily agreed. This marked the beginning of the journey for Hugo Shong, now Chairman of IDG Capital.Freedom。

No need to recount the subsequent chapters. As a founding elder, an industry titan, and a pioneer, there is no need for self-validation.IDG holds extraordinary significance for venture capital, for China’s development, and for the global economy.

The trust and freedom bestowed by Old Mai, whether in business or scientific research, are not unrelated to his childhood upbringing.

According to Old Mai’s older sister, during his school years, Old Mai often overslept and arrived late because he stayed up late reading at night. He also frequently fell off his bicycle on the way home from school, ending up with bruises and cuts, because his basket, seat, and even under his arms were packed with books. With only one hand on the handlebars and a face full of injuries, it was hard to say whether Old Mai was a good student or a bad one.

During this period, Old Mai stumbled upon a newly published copy of Giant Brains: Or Machines That Think in a corner of the library. In the book, author Edmund Berkeley described the limitless possibilities of machines and the amplification of brain functions. At that moment, a small gear began to turn in Old Mai’s mind, eventually being amplified with an astonishing transmission ratio over the ensuing decades.

The stories in the book ignited Old Ma’s curiosity about computers, the brain, and artificial intelligence. With a nearly unbeatable mechanical design for a game console AI that he created in high school, Old Ma earned a scholarship to MIT. After graduation, he dove headfirst into the publishing business, launching the weekly magazine Computerworld. Over the following five decades, he led IDG in launching more than 300 magazines and newspapers, over 460 affiliated websites, and more than 200 mobile applications.

“Even though I had already become the helmsman of an international publishing empire at that time, I believe that deep down, Old Mai still retained a childlike curiosity for knowledge in uncharted territories.”It is precisely this curiosity that enables him to naturally extend ample trust and freedom to the outside world.。

This trust and freedom also extended to the donation to the IDG McGovern Institute for Brain Research.

Since the establishment of the three research institutes, IDG has maintained the appropriate boundaries expected of a donor. The funds are not intended for investment purposes but are entirely dedicated to talent acquisition and academic exchanges. Apart from providing necessary operational support, IDG does not interfere with the institutes’ own scientific research. The Peking University IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, which has always kept a low profile, held its only public ceremony since its founding on March 19 at the Lui Che Woo Building to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Mr. McGovern’s passing.

Old Mai truly understands what basic scientific research requires.

McGovern arrived in China at a very early stage. In 1980, he established one of the first joint ventures in China, and in 1992, he founded IDG Capital, which was among the country’s earliest venture capital firms. He has received official recognition from the Chinese government for his outstanding contributions to China’s IT and venture capital sectors. Throughout his life, he visited China more than 130 times, spending a total of six months of his life solely on flights along this route.

As a successful businessman, he built his own publishing empire across the globe, leaving behind immense cash wealth. As an ordinary individual with a passion for brain science, he used his donations to drive breakthroughs at the frontiers of an entire discipline.

So, what exactly did Old Mai leave behind?

It is forward-looking, open-minded, and focused.

It represents a forward-looking exploration into uncharted territories, enabling Chinese scholars to rapidly amplify their advantages when critical opportunities arise, stand as equals on the global stage, and no longer remain subject to external constraints.

It is the open attitude toward interdisciplinary integration that has created an environment enabling researchers from diverse backgrounds and disciplines to maintain harmony while preserving their distinct perspectives, thereby advancing rigorous scientific research through collaboration and intellectual exchange.

It is the steadfast commitment to fundamental scientific research that shields scientists from distractions and constraints, empowering them to launch repeated assaults on humanity’s ultimate frontiers.

As we stand at the threshold of the next decade, let us occasionally pause to reaffirm our original commitment to basic scientific research amidst reflections on the pioneers who came before us.