Chinese Scientists Organize to Put Technology Ventures on the Map

As drug companies downsize and research grants in big universities dry up, Chinese scientists in the United States are taking a more aggressive stance toward their own professional and economic development. Chris Pak As though taking the cue from President Bill Clinton and Premier Jiang Zemin, whose open TV debate a few months ago shocked and surprised many Chinese and Americans, Asian scientists in the United States are going after a base of political power. A few are adopting roles ranging from international diplomat to investment liaison to entrepreneur, forming close alliances with receptive members of Congress who want to broaden scientific and business ties with East Asia. Still others are carving out coalitions, international scientific networks, and new spheres of biotech/infotech influence, something like setting up miniature Silicon Valleys throughout the country. The avowed goal is to help fellow Asian scientists in the United States succeed as scientists and business people, bringing economic benefits back to the homeland--China, Taiwan, and other parts of East Asia. Still others want closer involvement with their American roots. "We're promoting Chinese scientists to become entrepreneurs because not many have had success starting their own companies in this country, especially in biotech," said Chris Pak, an immunochemist and founder of Molecular Targeting Technology Inc. (MTTI), in Malvern, Pa., a start-up specializing in diagnostic imaging scans for cardiac disease and cancer. Pak, a former research scientist with Centocor Inc., also in Malvern, who holds six patents for discoveries in diagnostic imaging, suggests that Asian scientists have been underrepresented in the investment pool for science and now want their fair share. "It's difficult to raise capital when you start a new company, and biotech is capital-intensive and risky," says Pak. However, "if the technology has potential and the timing is just right, it's natural to bring Chinese scientists and investors together. I want to give these scientists hope." Pak, a brilliant organizer, is soft-spoken and completely focused. In the last few years he has founded two East Coast organizations devoted to helping Chinese scientists bring their biotech concepts to the marketplace. Pak is president of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Monte Jade Science and Technology Association, a national group, composed of more than 1,000 members, that actively promotes Chinese scientific and business interests in seven chapters around the country. With fellow scientists and businessmen Frank Lee, Nehemiah Cherng, and Nelson Lou, Pak also cofounded the Chinese Entrepreneurs Association (CEA), a new East Coast coalition promoting training and investment opportunity for Chinese biotech/drug development ventures. Pak describes CEA as distinctly different from Monte Jade in that it stresses "Christian ethics, entrepreneurship, service, and teamwork" to uphold Chinese scientists to high standards of business practice. The Smart Region Diplomat MULTIPLE ROLES: Da Hsuan Feng, a professor of physics at Drexel University and a nuclear astrophysicist, has made a leap to international diplomacy, community activism, even public relations. Pak isn't alone. The growing coalition of diplomatic, if not politically active, scientists include Da Hsuan Feng, a distinguished M. Russell Wehr professor of physics at Drexel University. Feng, a nuclear astrophysicist, has made a leap to international diplomacy, community activism, even public relations as a general manager at Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC). SAIC, best known as the owner of Bellcore, is also the systems integrator for U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon's (R-Pa.) much publicized HUBS computing project. HUBS--an acronym for Hospitals, Universities, Businesses, Schools--now has $7 million in Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Department of Education (DOE) money to build middleware and network infrastructure linking diverse institutions and groups of professionals (e.g., teachers, doctors, business people, students) in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. Feng is at the centerpiece of the project. "I believe there is a lack of [information] infrastructure in this region, but it's not a question of technology alone, it's a human question," Feng says. When he attended a Weldon keynote speech in 1995 about creating a high-tech society in the four states, Feng was galvanized. "The meeting changed my life," he recalls. "I'd done successful nuclear research for 22 years but wondered how I could finally have an impact on larger numbers of people. I realized that despite the numbers of universities and pharmaceutical companies and hospitals in this region, information technology was very low [on the priority scale]. In fact, there's no supercomputing center anywhere closer to Drexel than Pittsburgh or Cornell! So now, we need infrastructure and middleware to let vastly different [computer] systems communicate ... to let people collaborate easily. In short, people need better access to information technology to make business decisions, to conduct teacher and student training. ... We'd really [like] to make this region a 'Smart Society,'" Feng explains. Since 1995, Feng has been an active emissary for both Weldon and HUBS, writing hundreds of press releases and white papers, attending Washington and international conferences to formulate high-tech policies. Taiwan, Singapore, and China are high on the agenda--both Weldon and Feng share a vision of collaborating with Asian intellectuals and business people to create a large-scale supercomputing network for the four states, possibly with links to major Asian cities, part of a commercial information "hub" in cyberspace. "The vision is to make 'Four States' an attractive place so that ventures will want to move here," Feng says. In the Philadelphia/New Jersey area, where biotech industries are beginning to flourish, both Feng and Pak are working closely to bring Asian investors here. Taiwan is a major trump card; the exceptionally affluent country has weathered the Asian economic meltdown with virtually no foreign debt and is eager to invest in technology ventures worldwide. "In Taiwan, biotech is weak," acknowledged Clark Su, secretary general of the Taipei Venture Capital Association (TVCA), who visited East Coast biotech firms for a fact-finding mission. "Unlike infotech and semiconductors, we don't have a lot of experience in biotech, so we're here to look and learn about everything," Su notes. "Eventually we'd like to invest and have some technology transfer back to Taiwan." Su is particularly interested in the Pennsylvania/New Jersey/Delaware region, the U.S. pharmaceutical hub, which is now shaping up as a miniature Silicon Valley of biotech, with lots of drug and technology start-ups such as Pak's MTTI. Chinese talent in the region is rich--postdocs, researchers, and physicians come to the area for training and career advancement. "Philadelphia is waking up to the realities of biotech," asserts Lou, Pak's friend and cofounder of the Chinese Entrepreneurs Association. Lou is also a president of China Partners, a Hartford, Conn., financial liaison that helps organize and obtain funding for Chinese-led companies established on American soil. "In the past, you'd go north to Massachusetts, [Massachusetts Institute of Technology], or Yale to find biotech ventures, or to the Bay Area," Lou observes. "Now there's a high concentration of talent in areas surrounding Philadelphia and the mid-Atlantic states. At the same time, many good scientists are starving for capital. You could say there are 'too many' biotech companies out there. However, in the next three to five years, we'll see $1 [billion] to $1.6 billion invested in biotech ventures in the U.S. from the government of Taiwan. That's going to have a cascading effect." Last May, in fact, Lou and Pak cohosted an unprecedented meeting between 22 Taiwanese venture capitalists, led by Su, and 20 U.S. biotech firms, the majority led by Chinese scientists. Some of the richest venture capital companies in Taiwan came to a hotel suite in Malvern, Pa., to learn about nonviral gene therapies, transdermal insulin patches, new glucose thermometers, and developments in bioinformatics--all part of the Chinese entrepreneurial arsenal. Though no deals were cut immediately, Pak says that a number of candidate companies are in serious negotiations with the Taiwanese. "This is only a first step in a long process--we're excited they came all this way from Taiwan to Malvern and paid for the trip themselves," he notes. Pak himself has gone to Taiwan numerous times to help arrange the trip. "We believe they'll invest in certain area companies once they've done their due diligence," he says. Pak himself is exhilarated by his own company's progress; MTTI is a recipient of the 1997 Ben Franklin Emerging Business "Most Innovative Product" Award for its lead diagnostic reagent, AMISCAN. "We've announced a deal with Draximage (a former Merck-Frosst company); they'll help us manufacture our product and do controlled studies. But the Taiwan trip is a lateral approach ... to help my company and all the other biotech companies in the process," Pak explains. RESEARCHER AND MENTOR: Ziwei Huang, a native Cantonese and director of the peptide chemistry laboratory at Thomas Jefferson University's Kimmel Cancer Institute, is working in the field of computer-aided drug design, especially for diseases related to immune response. Meanwhile, quiet but effective diplomacy is drawing the Chinese science community together on both sides of the Pacific Rim. For example, Ziwei Huang, a native Cantonese and director of the peptide chemistry laboratory at Thomas Jefferson University's Kimmel Cancer Institute, is working in the field of computer-aided drug design, especially for diseases related to immune response. The 33-year-old Huang, a Kimmel Award recipient in cancer research, actively nurtures postdoctoral Chinese talent in his laboratory (one of his postdocs recently returned to Beijing to set up his own laboratory) and participates in Asian scientific conferences to broaden knowledge. It's not missionary zeal, he says. "I don't see these close ties as a political process. But many people share the view that it's important to increase understanding, both scientific and cultural ... between scientists in the U.S., Taiwan, China, and other parts the world. That makes sense to me." Though Huang himself is still ensconced in the world of academic research, he acknowledges that many Chinese scientists are choosing the entrepreneurial route and need further help. "It's part of a big trend," he said. "The scientists are going out of the pharmaceutical companies and actively collaborating to [create] new biotech companies and products," he notes. "Even scientists within the university are looking for alternate sources of funding. It's not going to be easy [to start these companies], and people lack money. But I see a lot of interest in biotech--and the Asian pharmaceutical marketplace." Huang foresees an era of intense collaborations. "Chinese and Taiwanese scientists are catching up in biotech research by working together and with the rest of the world," he says. Adds SAIC's Feng: "I don't want to be evangelical about what I do ... but we are searching for commonalties to draw communities together. People have to decide how they want to pursue a creative life." Arielle Emmett is a freelance science writer based in Wallingford, Pa.

Chinese Scientists Organize to Put Technology Ventures on the Map

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