Xie Honghua: Facilitating scientific innovation as tech manager

Xie Honghua, bringing 16 years of experience in enterprise research management, moved from his previous position to serve as a technology manager at the Grand Union of Innovation (GUi), where he is now focusing on developing new approaches to turn scientific achievements into market-ready products.

Xie's career began in 2010, and his interest in GUi's Technology Manager Office was sparked after a meeting with the Hefei municipal science and technology bureau in August.

The model developed by GUi excited Xie as it moves away from the traditional "lone ranger" approach. Instead, GUi connects diverse talents — research scientists, businesses, and service providers — forming a comprehensive, collaborative ecosystem.

As Xie aptly describes it, a technology manager acts as a scout, engineer, and catalyst, driving the entire technology commercialization process.

The role of a scout is to actively identify commercially viable technologies at universities and research institutions. The engineer, meanwhile, assists in removing obstacles for the team. The catalyst's role is to quickly connect the right resources — whether it be talent, equipment, facilities, or funding policies — to enable technological breakthroughs.

With over a decade of experience in the new energy vehicle (NEV) and electronics industries, Xie suggests using AI and big data to analyze academic papers and patent data, helping to evaluate the market value of technologies.

Building on the strengths of the Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center's Institute of Dataspace, Xie is leading the development of a big data-powered mental health screening and assessment system, a secure data platform for the NEV sector, and an industrial brain platform.

Xie believes that a key duty of a tech manager is to preserve the value of technology, ensuring it transitions smoothly from research to market while adhering to ethical principles.

At GUi, the innovative shift from a "point-to-point" service to a "point-to-system" model enables him to add value at a much broader level.

Xie is passionate about playing his part in contributing to scientific innovation and driving the development of high-quality tech companies.

Xie participates in an AI industry innovation seminar. [Photo/GUi]

Xie joins a project coordination meeting with the GUi team. [Photo/GUi]