In recent years, Shanghai has continuously intensified policy and financial support for bio-manufacturing enterprises, accelerating the industry's advancement toward high-end, intelligent, and green development. In the latest list of Shanghai's “Specialized, Refined, Distinctive, and Innovative” enterprise cultivation and Zhangjiang National Independent Innovation Demonstration Zone special development fund support, Shanghai Sipeng Technology Co., Ltd. was successfully selected for its outstanding innovation capabilities in synthetic biology and negative carbon manufacturing.
Leveraging core technologies such as carbon dioxide bioconversion, Sipeng Technology is dedicated to overcoming raw material dependency and high-cost constraints. It is emerging as a key innovation driver in Shanghai's efforts to strengthen the resilience of its biomanufacturing industrial chain and enhance the competitiveness of green technologies.
The Special Program for Cultivating “Specialized, Refined, Distinctive, and Innovative” Enterprises aims to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) characterized by specialization, refinement, distinctiveness, and innovation. Such enterprises typically focus on niche markets, possess strong innovation capabilities, hold high market shares, and master key core technologies, serving as vital pillars of economic resilience.
Through this initiative, Shanghai is guiding innovative enterprises like Sipeng Technology to accelerate transformation and upgrading while enhancing core competitiveness. As a leading player in the biomanufacturing sector, Sipeng Technology is leveraging its specialized technical expertise and innovation capabilities in synthetic biology to evolve into an internationally competitive innovation entity, perfectly embodying the essence of “Specialized, Refined, Distinctive, and Innovative” enterprises.
The Zhangjiang National Independent Innovation Demonstration Zone serves as the core platform for Shanghai's science and technology innovation hub. This special program prioritizes supporting innovation entities within the zone to tackle technological challenges, establish R&D platforms, and accelerate the commercialization and industrialization of research outcomes.
The initiative provides world-class innovation ecosystems and industrialization environments for high-tech biomedicine enterprises like Sipeng Technology within the Zhangjiang Demonstration Zone. It facilitates the high concentration and efficient allocation of key elements—talent, technology, capital, and information—accelerating Sipeng Technology's innovation journey from “laboratory” to “production line.” For Sipeng Technology, this translates to easier access to top-tier scientific resources, greater policy benefits, and reduced innovation costs. Consequently, the company can more rapidly achieve industrialization and large-scale application of its core technologies—such as the one-step synthesis of PLA from carbon dioxide—ultimately contributing to Shanghai's development of a globally competitive biomedical industry cluster.
From top-level design to dedicated funding support, from innovation platform development to tiered enterprise cultivation, Shanghai has established a comprehensive policy support system for biomedicine manufacturing enterprises.
Driven by this systematic policy framework, Shanghai is accelerating the development of a globally influential high-end biomedicine manufacturing cluster, nurturing an increasing number of innovative leaders like Sipeng Technology. These enterprises not only achieve breakthroughs in key technological fields but also drive multiple scientific achievements toward industrialization, showcasing Shanghai's innovative vitality and cluster advantages in the biomedicine manufacturing sector.
Sipeng Technology, founded in 2022, is the world's only company to achieve direct utilization of carbon dioxide for one-step synthesis of polylactic acid (PLA) within cells. This technology innovatively resolves the challenges of competing with humans for food and land in existing bio-based material manufacturing, significantly reducing production costs. It holds promise for comprehensively addressing multiple issues including plastic pollution elimination, non-food-based bio-manufacturing feedstocks, and carbon neutrality. It stands as one of China's rare negative-carbon green production technologies with fully independent intellectual property rights.
The company has launched multiple bio-based products into the market and is progressively integrating into the supply chains of renowned domestic and international brands: In collaboration with Angel Yeast, it jointly introduced the bio-based butanediol “biowatol,” which demonstrates outstanding application performance in cosmetics. The “Cold Crystal” series of bio-based materials has been adopted by renowned stationery brands like Shanghai Hero Group and Japan's Platinum, with its “Wildflowers in the Field” line winning Shanghai's cultural and creative awards. The “Jade Dew” series bio-based materials are used in packaging for prominent cosmetics brands, while the “ZeRoll” series of fresh-keeping films has reached markets in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
Concurrently, the Carbon Negative Synthetic Biology project spearheaded by the company's founder received nearly 100 million RMB in funding from the Singaporean government. The company's “Creation and Application of an Intelligent Design System for High-Value Cell Factories” project secured support from Shanghai's 2025 Key Technology R&D Program.
Looking ahead, as Shanghai continues to refine its innovation ecosystem and industrial support framework, pioneering companies like Sipeng Technology will maintain their technological leadership. They will play a vital role in establishing Shanghai as a globally influential biomanufacturing hub, collectively advancing toward a greener, more sustainable future.
