Xiamen State-owned Enterprises and CAS Jointly Build Xiamen-CAS Collaborative Innovation Platform

According to the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Fujian Province, the news was released on 2 November 2026.

State-owned enterprise executives based in Xiamen raised technical challenges including copper alloy thermal solutions for AI chip liquid cooling systems and the efficient utilisation of low-grade iron ore, with researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences offering targeted technical responses.

The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Xiamen Municipality led senior representatives from C&D Group, Xiangyu Group, Huoju Group, Xiamen Information Group and Xiamen State-owned Capital Investment Corporation to Beijing recently. The group signed a framework cooperation agreement with the Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Guoke Technology Innovation Investment Co., Ltd., the CAS technology transfer platform, to launch the Xiamen SASAC-Guoke Collaborative Innovation Platform, also known as the Xiamen-CAS Collaborative Innovation Platform.

Xiamen issued the Action Plan for Promoting High-quality Development of State-owned Enterprises in early September, listing deeper integration of scientific and industrial innovation as its top priority. While continuing to tap resources from local universities such as Xiamen University and the Jiageng Innovation Laboratory, Xiamen’s state-owned regulators have pushed municipal enterprises to connect with national strategic research forces represented by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Most municipal state-owned enterprises in Xiamen grew from trade and supply chain businesses. Industrial upgrading has generated new technical demands across extended industrial chains. C&D Group has set up an industrial research institute, a technology subsidiary and a life sciences firm, expanding downstream copper foil and copper plate processing projects based on existing copper smelting capacity. The firm focuses on Xiamen’s core industrial framework, nurturing three emerging sectors including new energy and new materials, biomedicine and artificial intelligence.

Xiangyu Group is shifting its manufacturing operations to high-value deep processing. It plans to expand aluminium product applications into aerospace sectors and scale up synthetic biology and bio-fermentation technologies for biomanufacturing, and is establishing the Xiangyu Innovation Research Institute. Xiamen Information Group plans to upgrade copper-based new materials with academic support from CAS, and carry out joint research on data and models under the national trusted data space pilot programme.

The municipal SASAC collected all technical requirements from multiple enterprises into a unified demand list before the Beijing visit, replacing scattered individual outreach with coordinated matchmaking. Researchers at the Institute of Process Engineering matched their technical supply list against the consolidated corporate demand list to deliver precise cooperation proposals. At the Institute of Automation, enterprise teams put forward AI research requirements, while the institute aimed to translate academic research into real industrial scenarios. The Institute of Biophysics held matching discussions on life science research, covering molecular biology and clinical application projects with broad industrial cooperation potential.

Past collaboration has laid a solid foundation. Huoju Group partnered with the Institute of Process Engineering to develop automotive activated carbon canisters in 2024. The project has entered the pilot testing phase, and the two parties are preparing to set up a joint venture for industrialisation. Guoke Technology Innovation Investment Co., Ltd. and the Institute of Urban Environment have jointly hosted life science matchmaking events in Xiamen this year, inviting CAS researchers to pitch projects eligible for the city’s Double Hundred Programme.

The newly launched collaborative innovation platform serves as a channel to translate CAS research outcomes into industrial projects in Xiamen. Under the signed agreement, the three parties will focus on Xiamen’s industrial demands, link CAS research resources and support state-owned enterprise upgrading. Municipal state-owned enterprises will lead the setup of industrial centres to align corporate industrial requirements with academic technological supply.

Municipal enterprises have mapped out 234 application scenarios covering artificial intelligence, smart cities and smart logistics, which will act as test beds for new technologies. Xiamen State-owned Capital Investment Corporation will leverage investment funds to back early-stage CAS innovation projects and form an industrial research think tank with Guoke Technology Innovation Investment Co., Ltd., forming a complete chain linking laboratory research, capital investment and industrial roll-out.

Xiamen’s SASAC focuses on industrial research topics, centring pilot testing and real-scene application with market-oriented investment mechanisms to drive two-way integration of scientific and industrial innovation. The city has pioneered the implementation of an R&D reserve fund system for state-owned enterprises across the national state-owned asset system. The authority will implement the Opinions on Promoting Deep Integration of Scientific and Technological Innovation and Industrial Innovation issued by the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council, to accelerate the commercialisation of research results and the landing of high-quality innovation projects in Xiamen.

Xiamen’s state-owned enterprises have evolved from trade and supply chain operators to organisations that submit targeted research requests and build dedicated platforms to absorb academic innovation. The firms continue to deepen research partnerships with the Chinese Academy of Sciences while pursuing industrial upgrading.