Photo: Qu Dacheng, Vice Mayor of Chaoyang District, delivers remarks at the Global Investment Cooperation Trends Forum Innovation and Technology.

The Global Investment Cooperation Trends Forum  Innovation and Technology was successfully held on Thursday at the CP Center in Beijing's Chaoyang District. As a parallel event to the 2025 Beijing CBD Forum, the forum convened leading global innovators, investors, embassy officials, and top think tanks to explore emerging trends in global investment.

Qu Dacheng, Vice Mayor of Chaoyang District, Rani Jarkas, Chairman of Cedrus Group, and Wang Wen, Dean of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China, delivered keynote addresses.

Vice Mayor Qu highlighted Chaoyang's robust economic performance, noting that in 2024 the district ranked among Beijing's leaders in GDP and budget revenue, with key economic indicators continuing to show strong growth in the first quarter of 2025. 

He underscored Chaoyang's strategic focus on becoming a pilot zone for integrating new productivity in the capital, fostering deep integration between emerging technologies and traditional industries, and developing premium industrial spaces to nurture cutting-edge tech projects.

Bettina Ernst, Vice President of Swiss Biotech Association, praised China's openness in clinical research, describing it as a vital platform for global innovative drug development. She emphasized the crucial role of Investigator-Initiated Trials (IIT) in accelerating drug risk assessment and optimizing R&D pathways. 

Ernst highlighted the promising application of mRNA technology in women's health, especially in treating stress urinary incontinence following natural childbirth—a condition affecting roughly one-third of women worldwide. 

She expressed hope for closer collaboration with Chinese researchers, medical professionals, and industry partners to promote global adoption of such therapies.

Photo: Rani Jarkas, Chairman of Cedrus Group, speaks at the Global Investment Cooperation Trends Forum Innovation and Technology.

Rani Jarkas outlined Cedrus Group's global investment strategy in life sciences, leveraging Chaoyang's favorable business environment and innovation ecosystem. 

Since early 2025, Cedrus has established joint ventures with multiple European, particularly Swiss, biotech companies, holding controlling stakes in these Chaoyang-based entities to facilitate local development of innovative technologies. 

Jarkas emphasized that these companies operate as bona fide Chinese entities, employing local talent and contributing to tax revenues, while utilizing Chaoyang as a gateway to China's vast market. 

He lauded the district's internationally competitive regulatory framework, investment facilitation, and efficient government-business engagement, which inspire confidence among global innovators.

Xiong Juan, Founder and CEO of Leyun Biotechnology, introduced the company's proprietary plant-based patented compounds RECO18 and AOS18, developed to enhance male and female reproductive health by improving egg and sperm quality and quantity. These products have undergone clinical trials in over 20 top-tier hospitals across 14 provinces and achieved significant market success. 

Xiong emphasized the technology's dual value in addressing urgent domestic needs and its strong potential for international expansion. Leyun is actively pursuing growth in Europe and Southeast Asia, aiming to globalize China's fertility health innovations.

The forum also hosted two focused seminars on "Global Investment Flows in Key Sectors" and "Cross-border Collaboration in Biotech Breakthroughs," discussing geopolitical challenges in investment, regulatory adaptation for emerging technologies, and new pathways for international biomedical cooperation. Experts concurred that future global advances in technology and healthcare will depend on Sino-foreign joint innovation, open institutional frameworks, and effective localization.

The event showcased Chaoyang District's strides in advancing international cooperation, optimizing the business environment, and driving innovation-led development, offering a pragmatic platform for Chinese and foreign tech enterprises to deepen collaboration and achieve mutual growth.