HURUN RESEARCH INSTITUTE RELEASES THE HURUN INNOVATORS ·YANGTZE RIVER DELTA TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER MANAGERS 2025

(22 September 2025, Shanghai) The Hurun Research Institute released the Hurun Innovators ·Yangtze River Delta Technology Transfer Managers 2025, made up of two lists: 5 Leading Technology Transfer Managers and 10 Outstanding Technology Managers. This is the fifth list since 2018 that Hurun Research has put out on Technology Transfer Managers.

This is a brief translation from the original Chinese-language press release, which can be found on www.hurun.net.

Technology transfer managers are resource integrators that promote technological innovation and cross-border industries. Hurun Innovators interprets the role and value of technology transfer managers.

Last year, Hurun Research expanded the list from Shanghai to cover the whole of the Yangtze River Delta, ie including Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui. This was a reflection of the increased regional coordination and development. After the release of last year’s list, it received widespread attention from the industry.

This year’s list continues to focus on the Yangtze River Delta region. The Hurun Innovators ·Yangtze River Delta Technology Transfer Managers 2025 is jointly supported by the National Eastern Tech-Transfer Center, Shanghai Technology Market Association, National Tech-Transfer Training Base (Eastern Center), National Tech-Transfer Training Base (Jiangsu)，Zhejiang Science & Technology Evaluation and Transfer Center and  Anhui Innovation Hall Service and Management Center. The Hurun Research Institute is responsible for research and the compilation of the list.

China's science and technology service industry has entered a stage of high-quality development. According to data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, in 2024, the turnover of technology contracts nationwide was CNY6.8tn, up 11.2% year-on-year. This indicator has maintained double-digit growth for eight consecutive years.

Chairman and Chief Researcher of Hurun, Rupert Hoogewerf, said:

“The Hurun Technology Transfer Managers help universities, hospitals and research centers bring some of their technological innovations to market. This is good for the economy as a whole and good for the fast development of specific ‘hot’ industries.”

“This year, we tweaked the research methodology, adding six minor criteria, including knowledge achievements, the proportion of high-value projects signed worth CNY10mn or more, revenues generated from projects in 2024, publications and media communication.”

“The idea behind this Hurun Technology Transfer Managers list is to encourage and support the winners, give full play to their leadership in the field of technology transfer, promote the high-quality development of the Yangtze River Delta and beyond.”

“The 15 people from this year’s Hurun Technology Transfer Managers list are highly educated, with all but one having done a masters. They have an average of eight years’ work experience in the industry and between them, they have generated CNY4.5bn of technology transfers, including 78 high-value projects of CNY10mn.”

“The Hurun Technology Transfer Managers last year converted a total of 327 technical projects worth more than CNY1.1bn, of which three were worth more than CNY50mn. These projects went on to raise a further CNY1.4bn of financing, showing the value these technology transfer managers have generated.”

“Some insights into the winners. Yan Hao assisted the transformation and upgrading of Huayang Group, an A-share listed company with a market value of CNY17bn. Xiong Shenzhan oversaw technology transfers to the tune of CNY476mn, the highest of all Hurun winners this year. Xiong has also been unanimously praised across multiple criteria by our expert jury. Xiong came up with a ‘zero-risk 100% empowerment plan’ tailored for scientific research teams, balancing the goals of motivating scientific researchers, whilst at the same time protecting university rights and interests.”

“The industries that attracted most technology transfers for our winners were Healthcare, Chemicals, Robotics and New Materials. According to the Hurun Global Unicorn List 2025, in the healthcare industry, China has 18 unicorns, accounting for some 20% of the world; in the robotics field, China has 10 unicorns, accounting for more than half of the world; in the new materials field, China has 5 unicorns, that is, all 5 in the world; in the chemical field, China has 1 unicorn, that is, the only one in the world.”

“In the past five years, a total of 55 technology transfer managers have made the list, of which 3 have been on the list twice and 6 have been on the list three times. Using the list as a fulcrum, we continue to develop industry benchmarks, deepen evaluation standards, strengthen regional coordinated development, leverage the attention of society and various innovation entities to technology transfer talents, promote the efficient flow of innovation resources, and help Shanghai and East China build a ‘Highlands of Transformation of Scientific and Technological Achievements’ that can ultimately serve the country’s development strategy of new quality productivity. It is hoped that this list can help enterprises, investors, universities, hospitals and other innovative entities find outstanding technology transfer managers and their institutions, and can also set an example for new technology transfer practitioners.”

Hurun Innovators · Yangtze River Delta Top 5 Leading Technology Transfer Managers 2025

Hurun Innovators · Yangtze River Delta Top 10 Outstanding Technology Managers 2025

Methodology

The Hurun Innovators ·Yangtze River Delta Technology Transfer Managers 2025 is supported by the National Eastern Tech-Transfer Center, Shanghai Technology Market Association, National Tech-Transfer Training Base (Eastern Center),  National Tech-Transfer Training Base (Jiangsu)，Zhejiang Science & Technology Evaluation and Transfer Center and  Anhui Innovation Hall Service and Management Center. The Hurun Research Institute is responsible for research and list compilation. Technology transfer managers engaged in technology transfer in the Yangtze River Delta region, those with rich practical experience and outstanding achievements, can apply independently.

Hurun Research Institute uses the “three-dimensional ability evaluation model” to conduct a comprehensive evaluation.

1) Our evaluation was first split into three core criteria of ‘hard data, ‘industry leadership’ and ‘impact’. We have 15 secondary criteria, including professional qualifications, knowledge achievements such as personal academic papers and monographs, historical cumulative technology transfer performance and the proportion of high-value projects, and the number of completed projects in the field of personal technology transfer in 2024, transaction amount, amount received, financing amount of project and service derivative companies, highest-amount projects, awards and honors, media communication, public speeches;

2) We came up with a list of finalists, which we then took to our expert review team, who added bonus points after a qualitative evaluation of the applicant’s cases.

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Established in the United Kingdom in 1999, Hurun is a research and media group, promoting entrepreneurship through its lists and research. Widely regarded as an opinion-leader in the world of business, Hurun generated 8 billion views on the Hurun brand in 2024, mainly in China and India, and recently expanding to the UK, US, Canada and Australia.

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Hurun has grown to become the world’s largest list compiler for start-ups, ranking over 3000 start-ups across the world through its annual Hurun Global Unicorns Index (startups with a valuation of US$1bn+), and two Hurun Future Unicorn Indexes: Gazelles, most likely to ‘go unicorn’ within three years, and Cheetahs, most likely to ‘go unicorn’ within five years.

The Hurun Pioneering Young Startups and Entrepreneurs series focuses on startups set up within the last ten years and founders aged 45 or under.

The Hurun U^th series includes the Under25s, Under30s, Under35s and Under40s awards, representing the cream of each generation of young entrepreneurs who have founded businesses with a social impact and worth US$1m, US$10m, US$50m and US$100m respectively.

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