(Yicai) Dec. 4 -- Shanghai’s Fudan University set up the Fudan Science and Technology Innovation Fund of Funds yesterday, with an initial fundraising of over CNY500 million (USD68.7 million), to provide strong financial support for the commercialization of the prestigious university’s scientific research.

"The Fudan Science and Technology Innovation Fund will be one of Fudan University's strategies to break the bottleneck restricting the turning of significant sci-tech achievements into commercially viable projects,” Sun Pengjun, chairman of the fund, told Yicai in a media interview. “It will become an important starting point for the school to build a high-level sci-tech innovation ecosystem."

This fund, launched by Fudan University, local state-owned enterprises and market institutions, is expected to complete a second fundraising round next year which will hike the fund’s size to CNY1 billion.

Sci-tech master funds, which aim to support innovative firms and projects, are usually financed by the government or large institutions and operate in a market-oriented manner. Such funds do not invest in specific projects directly, but rather guide private capital to invest in sci-tech projects through investments in sub-funds.

“We need to promote the commercialization of more original and disruptive sci-tech achievements,” Sun said. “Therefore, when choosing suitable investors, we will look closely at the sci-tech strengths of the projects they are interested in, which stages the projects are at, and their ability to drive the projects forward.”

The Fudan Science and Technology Innovation Fund will focus on innovative research in key sci-tech fields that the school is known for, including biomedicine, integrated circuits, artificial intelligence and new energy materials, Sun said. It will also provide support to early-stage projects, including at the proof of concept, experimental and pilot test phases.

"Scientists are an important part of the commercialization of sci-tech research, but scientists alone cannot do everything. Different types of resources need to work together. Institutions that are able to gather these resources will be the focus of this fund,” Sun said.

Many investors and businesses have started to reach out to Fudan’s sci-tech research teams, Sun said. The fund will play a guiding role, allowing related sub-funds to become long-term capital that can discover and invest in high-growth projects with good prospects.

"What we have to do is to attract a number of skilled professionals and companies to participate, so as to realize the successful commercialization of a wide range ofseveral sci-tech research, and not just a few isolated cases," Sun said.

On the same day that the master fund was formed, a Fudan fund for science and technology innovation investment sub-fund was also launched. This CNY1 billion fund will support the commercialization of Fudan University's sci-tech achievements as well as innovation and startup projects by alumni. It will focus on investing in and incubating projects that make tech breakthroughs in areas where Western countries have imposed embargos, as well as projects in cutting-edge tech.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor