China is a hotbed for research and innovation today. As a result, we see in almost any Tier 1, 2 or 3 city incubators, research parks and other clusters to support the growth of the new industries in China. SEIML collaborates with the University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC) and the various industry clusters in Ningbo. This is just one of the many events having taken place in that city.

SEIML focuses on the two industrial sectors of Life Sciences and, also, Technology, two areas of great importance in China’s economy today. There are, of course, many large and established firms in these two sectors. But our role is to find the new start-ups that will become tomorrow’s success stories. This is a challenge; many who start a business won’t survive beyond the first year. Of the starters, some will get first round funding but not progress beyond that point. Probability theory tells us that to find a company that will be successful in the long-term, one must engage with a very large number of start-ups in the beginning. As a result, we make ourselves very busy by engaging with incubators, research parks and other clusters of start-ups in many cities. We have started our focus in Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang but will expand that geography as time and resources progress.

As someone who has spent time both in industry and academia, I am also keen to work with institutions of higher education (HE) like universities and colleges to support ‘the connect’ between HE institutions and industry. I think this should be an important goal for society. Thus, we always look forward to attending events of UNNC in Ningbo, which also has many industrial clusters for start-ups both in technology and bio-med.

John D. Evans, CFA

Founder of SEIML

14 September 2018