Roche Accelerator wins 2021 Award for Innovation in Social Governance

Roche Accelerator was honored on Wednesday with the 2021 Award for Innovation in Social Governance, an accolade organized by Shanghai Daily under the guidance of the Information Office of Shanghai Municipality and Shanghai United Media Group.

This award honors enterprises for outstanding contributions to economic growth and social governance through innovative practice in line with Shanghai's ambition to build a "science and technology innovation center with global influence."

It also encourages multinational companies to explore new solutions to jointly bolster community development.

The Swiss healthcare giant's Roche Accelerator stood out to win the award from among 500 Chinese and foreign multinational corporations.

With an investment of nearly 300 million yuan (US$47.3 million), the accelerator was officially launched in 2021 with the support of government and strategic partners. As Roche's first in-house accelerator worldwide, it aims to stimulate healthcare innovation in China and empower the local ecosystem.

It focuses on pharma, diagnostics, and personalized healthcare, including artificial intelligence (AI), digital solutions, and other frontier medical fields.

Led by Roche R&D, it leverages the firm's full-spectrum resources, ranging from early research and development to commercialization. It also works with partners to provide promising innovative startups with space, technology guidance, funding and operational support to reduce research risk, and foster scientific achievement.

The Roche Accelerator building in the core area of Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park in Pudong New Area will be inaugurated in 2022. The 5,000-square-meter structure designed in line with Roche standards and concepts will provide state-of-the-art laboratory facilities, office areas, and collaboration space for startups in pharma, diagnostics, and personalized healthcare.

By the end of 2021, five local startups had stood out from more than 150 applicants and become members of Roche Accelerator. The company entered into early R&D partnerships with several of them.

"We are very glad that Roche Accelerator has been recognized and honored for innovation practice," said Dr. Tang Qiusong, head of Roche Accelerator.

"In the future, we hope we can empower more startups, accelerate the transformation of more innovation and collaboration via the accelerator, and work with our strategic partners to advance the healthcare industry in China."

Roche Group has developed a close bond with China over more than 90 years and continually delivers on its long-term commitment to the country by providing patients with first-class differentiated medicines and diagnostic solutions.

Roche R&D Center (China) Ltd was established in Shanghai in 2004, the company's first research initiative in an emerging market and the first fully-owned multinational pharmaceutical R&D center in Shanghai.

In 2019, it invested an additional 863 million yuan to upgrade it to Roche Innovation Center Shanghai. The Roche Accelerator is another key initiative that showcases Roche's unswerving efforts to drive local innovation.

"China plays a key role in Roche's global strategy, and Roche is committed to further building the Roche Innovation Center Shanghai into an autonomous unit for research and early development," said Dr. Shen Hong, head of Roche Innovation Center Shanghai.

"Leveraging external cooperation to drive pharma R&D is one of the core strategies of Roche Innovation Center Shanghai. Thanks to incubation by Roche Accelerator, we hope to build a globally influential R&D and innovation platform, empower startups to accelerate their transformation from scientific research to new drugs, and enable R&D in China to benefit patients in China and around the world," Shen added.