Promote high-quality development of bioeconomy

Chen Guoqiang

Professor, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University

Since entering the 21st century, the basic frontier research of life science has been continuously active, and the wave of biotechnology revolution has swept the globe and accelerated its integration into economic and social development. The "Fourteenth Five Year Plan" and the outline of the long-term goals for 2035 clearly put forward: "accelerate the development of biomedicine, biological breeding, biological materials, bioenergy and other industries, and make the bioeconomy bigger and stronger". In May this year, China's first five-year plan for bioeconomy, the "Fourteenth Five Year Plan" for bioeconomy development (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"), was issued. Accelerating the development of biotechnology and bio industry is of great significance for promoting high-quality economic development and improving people's well-being.
As one of the countries with the richest biological resources and the widest consumer market for life and health in the world, China has complete categories and systems of biological industries, which are favorable for accelerating the development of biological economy. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), China has made great achievements in the development of bioeconomy, the scale of industry has continued to grow rapidly, and an industrial system with complete categories and functions has initially taken shape. A number of biological industry clusters have become new engines leading regional development. The current and future period is an important opportunity period for the accelerated evolution of biotechnology, the rapid growth of life and health needs, and the rapid development of the biological industry. Only by accelerating the solution of the key core technologies that restrict the development of bioeconomy, and better mastering the basic theories and original methods in the field of life sciences, can we continuously improve the quality and efficiency of industrial development, and promote China's bioeconomy to accelerate its transformation from big to strong and high-quality development.
The bioeconomy covers a wide range of industries. To achieve the goal, it needs to highlight the key points. The Plan clearly proposes to promote the development of medical health, bio agriculture, bio energy and bio environmental protection, and bio information industry. These key development areas reflect the development and transformation trend of life science and biotechnology. Promoting priority development in key areas can better meet the people's higher level needs in health care, food consumption, green low-carbon, biosafety and other aspects. For example, as a green production mode that uses biological functions to process and synthesize substances, biological manufacturing is expected to change the world industrial manufacturing pattern in energy, chemical industry, medicine and other fields. At present, it is urgent to develop bio manufacturing technology that can save energy and water and can be continuously produced, realize the substitution of chemical raw materials and processes by biotechnology, and make high-performance bio environmental materials more green and low-carbon. Adhere to the principle of giving priority to ecology, promote the deep integration of chemical, pharmaceutical, material, light industry and other important industrial products manufacturing with biotechnology, and transform to a green, low-carbon, non-toxic, low toxic, sustainable development model, which will effectively help environmental protection and pollution control.
Innovation plays an increasingly important role in the development of bioeconomy. To accelerate the improvement of biotechnology innovation capability, on the one hand, we should continue to strengthen the original and leading basic research, fight hard against key core technologies, focus on supplementing the development weaknesses of underlying technologies, key components, common basic technologies and materials, basic software and hardware, and promote research institutions and relevant enterprises to strengthen supply and demand coordination, and improve the overall efficiency of the innovation chain; On the other hand, it is necessary to focus on cultivating and strengthening innovative subjects with strong competitiveness. In high-end scientific research instruments, medical equipment, new drug discovery, biological manufacturing and other fields, it is necessary to support influential user units to lead the establishment of production and use consortia, cooperate with manufacturers to carry out biological product technology innovation and demonstration verification, and build a virtuous circle development mechanism of "application demonstration feedback improvement level improvement radiation promotion".
Biosafety is related to people's life and health, as well as the long-term stability of the country. To develop bioeconomy, one of the important principles is to "adhere to risk control". Constantly enhancing the capacity of biological resources protection and comprehensive development and utilization, and providing basic guarantee for the development of medicine, agriculture, energy, environmental protection and other fields by strengthening the protection of biological resources, improving the development and utilization system of biological resources, standardizing the safe sharing of biological resources, etc. Only by keeping the safety bottom line and protecting and utilizing biological resources well can we create a better environment for promoting the high-quality development of the bioeconomy.
To vigorously develop bioeconomy is an inevitable choice to adapt to the trend of accelerated evolution of global biotechnology and achieve self-reliance of high-level science and technology. We will vigorously consolidate the innovation foundation of the bioeconomy, cultivate and strengthen the pillar industries of the bioeconomy, actively promote the protection and utilization of biological resources, accelerate the construction of the biosafety guarantee system, and strive to optimize the policy environment in the biological field. We will certainly accelerate the development of biotechnology and the bioeconomy, and make the bioeconomy a strong driving force for China's high-quality economic development.