(Yicai) March 20 – Central China's Wuhan has initiated a CNY1 billion (USD145 million) mother fund to support the industrialization of high-level laboratory achievements led by academicians from either the Chinese Academy of Sciences or the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

Jiangcheng Industrial Investment Fund Wuhan, a subsidiary of Wuhan Financial Holdings Group, yesterday established Jiangcheng Academician Mother Fund, a 15-year fund focusing on the commercialization of academicians' research results, providing early-stage direct investment and guiding private capital to participate.

Jiangcheng Academician Mother Fund, operating as a special vehicle under Jiangcheng Industrial Investment Fund Wuhan, will offer full-chain capital support covering proof of concept, laboratory testing, pilot production, and industrial landing to science and technology projects led by Wuhan-based academicians.

The fund aims to closely integrate scientists' insights into cutting-edge technologies with capital resource allocation and industrial integration capabilities, as well as build an ecosystem that combines academicians' expertise, industrial development, and capital, boosting the growth of hard-tech industries, Ding Zhen, general manager of Wuhan Financial, said at the launch ceremony yesterday.

China's overall commercialization rate of sci-tech achievements is about 30 percent to 40 percent, but the figure for those from universities and research institutes is only around 20 percent, Ma Ding, academician at the CAE, said at the ceremony. The new fund will hopefully help more academic teams turn their technological breakthroughs into tangible industrial projects, he added.

With a scale of CNY12 billion (USD1.7 billion), Jiangcheng Industrial Investment Fund Wuhan is a state-owned semiconductor industry fund of funds set up by the Wuhan government in 2024 by integrating fiscal and state-owned assets.

Wuhan is home to 91 academicians from the CAS and the CAE, ranking fourth in China after Beijing, Shanghai, and Nanjing. These academicians lead the city's scientific research, high-end technology development, and industrial upgrading.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione