Recently, the R&D center for intelligent manufacturing of artificial crystals has been confirmed to be located in Shanghai Lingang, which will intelligently upgrade the production line of artificial crystal mold molding from Russia. Tong Jing Yuan Biotechnology (Shanghai) Co. signed a contract with a Russian company this year to transfer the latter's intellectual property to Shanghai, as well as to introduce its production equipment and standardized production processes. The required costs were paid in stages, amounting to a total of €20 million. "We could not have concluded this international cooperation without the specialized services provided by the National Center for Technology Transfer East," Tong Jing Yuan CEO Enhance Ye said.

The collaboration between Ye's enhanced team and the National Technology Transfer Eastern Center began in 2014. At that time, this team from a Guangdong biomedical company was interested in the domestic market for artificial crystals and wanted to introduce advanced production technologies from abroad. It is understood that artificial crystals are mainly used in cataract refractive surgery. The incidence of cataract in China's 60-89-year-old population is about 80%, and the incidence of cataract in people over 90 years old is as high as 90% or more, so the domestic market for artificial crystals is large. At present, the market share of imported products is as high as 90% or more, with prices ranging from 3000 to 20,000 yuan per piece.

Can we make use of the advanced international technology to let the people use cheap and quality domestic IOLs? The Eastern Center for National Technology Transfer, located in the Upper Bay Valley, began its global search. Yan Mingfeng, CEO of the center, said that as a national regional technology transfer platform, the Eastern Center is committed to building a hub for allocating global technology resources.In 2014-2016, the Eastern Center searched for more than 10 foreign companies, with a biomedical industry background, Ye enhanced the team to visit each of them, according to three criteria: the level of technology, the degree of mass production and production costs. Conduct an assessment.

At the end of 2016, Kirikeihara finally found its desired partner. It is based in Russia, exports its products to more than 50 countries, and is one of the three companies in the world that have mastered the technology of mold forming. According to Ye enhancing, there are two techniques for producing hydrophobic IOLs - freeze turning and mold forming, with the latter being much cheaper to produce. The Russian enterprise will be liquid oligomers into the mold, through the light polymerization, centrifugation, purification and other processes into solid polymer, and finally made into a piece of only 6 mm in diameter of the artificial crystal.

Injection of liquid oligomers into an artificial crystal mold

After locking in a partner, the Eastern Center organized a team of professionals to provide intellectual property, legal wind control and international business services for Tong Jing Yuan's negotiations with Russian companies. "Technology transfer is usually not done at one time, and our interests are protected at every stage through contract terms," Yan said. As a functional platform, the East Center gathers a number of technology transfer service providers that can provide specialized services to clients and subsidize transfer services through technology innovation vouchers issued by the Shanghai Science and Technology Commission.

This year, Chinese and Russian enterprises signed a technology transfer contract, Tong Jing Yuan will pay for the multiple stages of the development of artificial crystal production technology "in Shanghai". According to the plan, the domestic artificial crystal is expected to be on the market in four years, with an annual output of more than 1 million pieces and a price of 1,000-5,000 yuan per piece, much lower than the price of imported products.

Artificial Crystal Finished Product

Intelligent manufacturing era, the international leading technology also needs to be upgraded. Tong Jing Yuan has recently reached a cooperation intention with Shanghai Huatai CNC Technology Co. The latter has won the first prize of Shanghai Science and Technology Progress Award, will build an intelligent production of artificial crystals in Lingang "unmanned factory", so that the production line from Russia becomes more efficient and standardized.