Straits Forum | Taiwanese Youth Tells: Six Years Rooted in the Mainland - From Starting a Business to Ringing the Bell at HKEX

XIAMEN, China, July 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- This is a news report by Hong Kong Ta Kung Wen Wei Media Group Limited:

The 18th Straits Forum was held on June 13 in Xiamen, Fujian, China. At the forum, three Taiwanese youths from different fields shared their wonderful stories of working and living in the mainland. "Our success benefits from the mainland's very complete innovation system, abundant data resources, high-quality talent pool, active capital market, and comprehensive policy support." Chris Lai, co-founder, chairman and CEO of Metis TechBio Co., Ltd., shared how, after graduating with a PhD from MIT, he returned to the mainland and received full support from the governments of Hangzhou and Beijing in terms of funding, talent, and industrial chains. By integrating artificial intelligence with biomedicine, after six years of hard work, Metis TechBio Co., Ltd. successfully rang the bell at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in May this year, becoming the world's first AI-driven drug delivery listed company.

The germ of scientific research aspiration gives rise to entrepreneurial ideas

Chris Lai's connection with gene editing and biomedicine began in high school. After graduating from university, he went abroad to pursue a doctoral degree. Upon graduation in 2017, at a café in Massachusetts, he discussed the development prospects of AI in manufacturing with his now-partner, Professor Hongmin Chen, a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering. At that time, the new nano-drug developed by the other team had just been successfully launched. Right there, they sketched out their entrepreneurial blueprint on a napkin: to build a professional laboratory in the pharmaceutical field, relying on AI technology to achieve precise nano-delivery of drugs, repair diseased cells, and explore anti-aging directions for cells.

Rooting in the mainland for entrepreneurship, deepening technology to achieve breakthroughs

But limited by the technology level at the time, and with the industry generally taking a wait-and-see attitude, this plan did not officially materialize until 2019. "That year, our project won the second prize in the Hangzhou Maker Competition and received RMB 10 million in funding support." In Hangzhou, the local government provided concierge-style services, assisting with company registration, site selection, providing talent apartments and various subsidies, and proactively connecting industry resources to fully support the technology team's development. It took less than three months to complete the renovation of the experimental site, helping to quickly build an experimental platform. "These made us determined to root our entrepreneurship in the mainland."

The entrepreneurial journey was full of challenges. In the early stages, various AI-developed drug carriers failed repeatedly in animal experiments, putting tremendous pressure on the team. Fortunately, Hangzhou continued to connect various R&D resources, supporting Chris Lai's team to experiment repeatedly and iterate continuously. Over three years, Chris Lai's team built a globally leading dry-wet experimental data platform and a tens-of-millions-level industry knowledge base.

"With AI technology, we dramatically reduced costs and improved efficiency, compressing the clinical R&D cycle for nano-materials from several years to several months, completely disrupting the traditional industry model." With policy support and multiple rounds of financing, in just a few years, Chris Lai's company grew into an industry unicorn. The nucleic acid drug design platform project led by Chris Lai was also selected as a national key biomedical technology breakthrough project.

Mainland's AI leads globally, young people become the main force

Chris Lai remarked that starting a business in the mainland is vastly different from doing so overseas. "In the U.S. pharmaceutical industry, young scientists like me, though technology leaders, can usually only work at the technical level and are unlikely to be involved in company management; the industry ceiling is very low. But in China, it's completely different. This is an era of young people. Entrepreneurs born after 1985, 1990, or even 2000 have become the main force, achieving various breakthroughs in deep AI application development, which deeply moves me." Chris Lai said that China has already taken the lead globally in artificial intelligence, and AI is now transforming every industry and has become an innovation booster in biomedicine.

Chris Lai introduced that the team has set up a new R&D center in Beijing's Zhongguancun, bringing together top talents from Peking University, Tsinghua University, the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, and others, with a well-established medical investment system and industry guidance funds. "Within just a few months after settling in, the local authorities helped us connect with international pharmaceutical companies, vaccine enterprises, and clinical hospitals, empowering our hard-tech breakthroughs along the entire chain." Today, Chris Lai's AI nano-drug delivery platform can precisely deliver drugs to multiple organs such as the liver, lungs, heart, and gastrointestinal tract, like building a dedicated "drug rocket" inside the body, opening up a brand-new technological track.

The mainland has sincerity, policies, and warmth

On May 13 this year, Metis TechBio Co., Ltd. was listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, becoming the world's first AI drug delivery listed company. Chris Lai also became the first Taiwanese youth to take a hard-tech enterprise from zero to IPO in mainland China. Looking back, the partners who studied with Chris Lai at the time are now starting businesses in different cities. The small team of six people has now incubated four listed and pre-listed companies.

"As a beneficiary of cross-strait integrated development, I want to say to Taiwanese youth: the mainland has sincerity, policies, and warmth for Taiwanese youth. As long as you are willing to come, stay down-to-earth, and combine your expertise with the industrial advantages here, you will surely find your own stage." Chris Lai encouraged Taiwanese youth, saying that artificial intelligence is a young cause and also a cause for young people. This is a critical stage for building a strong country and achieving national rejuvenation. He hopes that young people on both sides of the strait will join hands, transform technological creativity into tangible products, and realize personal value in the journey of national rejuvenation.

source: Hong Kong Ta Kung Wen Wei Media Group Limited