As soon as I see the stars, I start to dream.
On March 17, Zhejiang University Education Foundation and Fanxing Public Welfare Fund signed a donation agreement to establish the “Starry Science Fund of Zhejiang University Shanghai Institute for Advanced Study” (hereinafter referred to as “Fairy Science Fund”) to promote Zhejiang University’s development in biology, medical care, agriculture, Fundamental research and cutting-edge exploration are carried out in cross-directions in multiple fields such as food
It is reported that the donor Fanxing Charity Fund was initiated and donated by the founder of Pinduoduo, Zhejiang University alumnus Huang Zheng and the founding team of Pinduoduo. It is committed to making social contributions in the fields of life sciences, agricultural technology, food safety and medical health, with a focus on Exploration of cutting-edge technology and basic scientific research.
On the same day, Huang Zheng issued a letter to shareholders for 2021, announcing that the board of directors has approved his resignation as chairman of Pinduoduo. At the same time, he promised that the stocks under his personal name will continue to be locked in the next three years and not sold. Huang Zheng said that after resigning, he will focus on the fields of food science and life sciences, and explore new space for Pinduoduo’s high-speed, high-quality and in-depth development in the next ten years. He gave an example and looked forward to the field of scientific research that he will be committed to for a long time-through the method of controlling the cultivation process of agricultural products, exploring the effective control of the content of potentially harmful heavy metals such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and at the same time, the possible and beneficial traces of them. The elements carry out controllable standardization promotion and so on.
As early as July 2020, 40-year-old Huang Zheng announced his resignation as CEO of Pinduoduo in a letter to all employees. At the same time, he said that he would donate approximately 2.37% of the company’s shares along with the founding team as promised at the time of the IPO. The establishment of the “Fanxing Charity Fund” aims to promote social responsibility construction and scientific research. The charity fund is an irrevocable charity fund managed by an independent trustee to ensure that all assets of the charity fund are used for public welfare purposes.
According to relevant sources, the name “Fanxing Charity Fund” is derived from Vincent Van Gogh’s words, “I don’t know what is certain in the world, but I only know that as long as I see the stars, I will Start dreaming.” This was also the inspiration for Huang Zheng when he looked up and saw the stars in the night sky on a certain summer night.
It is understood that as the first phase of funding, Fanxing Charity Fund will donate 100 million US dollars to the Zhejiang University Education Foundation in the next 3-5 years for “computing + biomedicine”, “computing + agricultural food” and “advanced computing”. Scientific research projects in an innovative laboratory. This donation is the largest donation of Fanxing Charity Fund since its establishment. The first batch of projects include “Research on real-time graph inference engine for ultra-large-scale time series related data”, “Closed-loop regulation of brain cognitive impairment”, “Tumor immune neoantigen design and application” and “Cell culture artificial fish meat research”, etc.
On the same day, the Stars Science Foundation announced the establishment of a board of directors and an academic committee. The chairman of the council is Wu Zhaohui, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and president of Zhejiang University, and the vice chairman is Rong Lili, secretary general of Fanxing Charity Fund. The academic committee is composed of domestic and foreign authoritative experts in related fields. The director of the first academic committee is Professor Chen Chun, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. The expert members include Professor Ning Guang, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Professor Wu Zhaohui, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Professor Wan Jianmin, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and Nuo Professor Michael Levitt, winner of the Bell Prize in Chemistry, and Professor Raoul Bino, Strategic Advisor to the Board of Directors of Wageningen University and Research Center in the Netherlands.
In the context of the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, in June 2020, the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government and Zhejiang University will jointly build a new research and development institution, Zhejiang University Shanghai Institute for Advanced Study (“Higher Research Institute”). In accordance with the goal positioning of “a pioneer in breaking through key core technologies, a platform for gathering first-class talents, a benchmark for serving and radiating regional development, and a model for deepening system and mechanism innovation”, the Advanced Research Institute is committed to breakthroughs in basic frontiers and key core technologies, and builds a set of “computing +” A major science and technology innovation platform that integrates a global talent introduction highland, an interdisciplinary research paradigm innovation engine, and the Yangtze River Delta innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem.
Zhou Ruhong, dean of the Shanghai Institute for Advanced Study of Zhejiang University and an adjunct professor in the Department of Chemistry at Columbia University, said that science is a bridge to the beautiful vision of mankind. The establishment of the Fanxing Science Fund this time is the practice of Zhejiang University and Fanxing Public Welfare Fund dedicated to cutting-edge technological innovation, and it is also a good example of keeping upright innovation and exploring the future in the context of the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta.