Noteworthy signals from China's SDL ecosystem — policy, funding, talent, new labs, and milestones.
DP Technology unveils a solid-state-electrolyte intelligent R&D platform
DP Technology (深势科技) launched an intelligent R&D 'large apparatus' for solid-state electrolytes at the 2026 World Power Battery Conference — an SDL-class commercial platform for battery materials.
CatESO makes enzyme turnover a differentiable design objective (JACS)
SUAT Shenzhen and CAS Hangzhou publish CatESO in JACS, turning enzyme catalytic activity from a post-hoc score into a gradient-optimizable objective for protein design.
Abiochem, the AI-biomanufacturing platform, files for IPO tutoring
Abiochem (弈柯莱生物) — intelligent design, enzyme engineering and cell-foundry platforms for scaled biomanufacturing — registers for IPO tutoring with CICC after SDIC Juli's ¥450M strategic investment: an AI-biomanufacturing platform heading to public markets.
Guangdong opens its 2027 AI special-programme call
Guangdong's 2027 key-area AI R&D special programme opens for applications.
Shanghai innovation vouchers now cover proof-of-concept services
Shanghai adds proof-of-concept services to its innovation-voucher scheme — public money now reaches the validation stage where lab capability meets start-ups.
Qingpu-Fudan Institute of Future Technologies inaugurated
Unveiled already operating — "no scientist tuning parameters at a screen, no technician shuttling between instruments" — a new autonomous-experimentation vehicle linking Fudan's basic research to industry in the Yangtze Delta integration zone.
Guangdong drafts a High-End Scientific Instruments special programme
Guangdong opens consultation on a 2027 key-area R&D special programme dedicated to high-end scientific instruments — provincial funding aimed at domestic instrument development.
NSFC's 'major non-consensus projects' instrument rolls out across four departments
NSFC's Information, Engineering & Materials, Chemistry and Life Sciences departments simultaneously solicit proposals for the new 'major non-consensus projects' instrument — institutionalized funding for high-risk, against-the-mainstream science.
Liaoning's unmanned smart water-quality laboratories enter operation
The provincial hydrology bureau's unmanned smart water-quality lab (built with the national engineering research center for water-pollution monitoring) enters round-the-clock automated operation — the unmanned-laboratory pattern diffusing from research into routine government monitoring.
Beijing's 18 measures put autonomous labs front and center
Beijing issues 18 measures accelerating AI-for-Science, explicitly funding autonomous laboratories, science foundation models and scientific data — 'AI scientists on duty, 24-hour unmanned labs.'. Official document: Beijing Implementation Plan for AI-Empowered Scientific Research (2026–2028).
The 2026 Autonomous Laboratory Conference convenes in Beijing
Autonomous laboratories enter official discourse as next-generation research infrastructure: academicians headline the main forum on AI-empowered research, with full coverage on the Beijing municipal government portal.
SAIS unveils Golab, an intelligent R&D factory for matter science
The Shanghai Academy of AI for Science (SAIS) launched Golab, integrating AI computation, automated experiments, data backflow and model self-evolution into one pipeline — a dry-wet closed loop moving research from human-driven to intelligence-driven.
AI ⇄ Energy mutual-empowerment action plan
NDRC, the National Energy Administration, MIIT and the National Data Administration issue an action plan for two-way AI–energy empowerment — the policy frame closest to autonomous energy-materials labs.
Trial measures institutionalize ethics review for AI R&D
Ten ministries issue trial measures institutionalizing ethics review for AI research — the governance layer autonomous-experimentation projects will operate under.
Beijing's first synbio high-throughput screening platform opens in Changping
The Changping accelerator built by Changfa Development with Danaher and the CAS Institute of Process Engineering opens the city's first high-throughput strain-construction and screening platform — months of manual experiments compressed to a day of automation.
Four agencies push 'science & technology insurance'
MOST and three financial regulators issue measures to develop sci-tech insurance — risk instruments for major research facilities and R&D activity.
15th Five-Year import-tax exemption for research equipment renewed
The 15th Five-Year import-duty exemption list and rules for research and teaching equipment are out — the cost baseline for every Chinese lab importing instruments.
National assessment rules for open sharing of research infrastructure
MOST issues implementation rules making open-sharing performance of major research facilities and large instruments a formally assessed metric — China's RI-sharing governance, codified.
Eight ministries launch 'AI + Manufacturing'
Eight ministries issue the AI + Manufacturing special-action plan — the industrial anchor of China's AI+X policy wave.