Life Sciences Building offers blueprint for innovation-driven social ecosystem

15 Apr 2026

Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) officially opened its Life Sciences Building on 31 March, providing additional space and state-of-the-art facilities for frontier research at the University’s Centres of Excellence (COEs).

Spanning two towers in Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP), the site serves as a strategic anchor for advancing the University’s vision of a collaborative ecosystem integrating industry, academia, research, government, and society.

“The Life Sciences Building is a highlight in the transformation and upgrading of XJTLU’s campus spaces,” said Executive President of XJTLU, Professor Youmin Xi. “We’re striving to make our campus an innovative, open community – one rooted in education, dedicated to lifelong learning, and deeply engaged with society.”

With 50,000 square metres of research space, the new building will accommodate XJTLU’s five COEs – the NextGen PharmaX Proof-of-Concept Centre, Post-Quantum Migration Interdisciplinary Laboratory, Advanced Materials Research Centre, Advanced Semiconductor Research Centre, and Low-Altitude Innovation Research Institute – as well as a range of University-level projects.

An industry-education integration zone covering 15,000 square metres also recreates authentic industrial environments that allow students to utilise digital intelligence to analyse and address real-world challenges.

“Conducting high-impact research in areas where humanity confronts critical challenges is central to XJTLU’s mission,” said Professor Xi. “Truly transformative innovations rarely follow a blueprint; they arise organically from practice.”

North and south towers of XJTLU’s Life Sciences Building

Professor Youmin Xi, XJTLU’s Executive President

Strategic upgrade

XJTLU began construction of the high‑end benchmark research complex in early 2023 after being granted more than 1 hectare of land by the Suzhou government.

The project was originally conceived to house the Wisdom Lake Academy of Pharmacy, a flagship initiative co-founded in 2020 by the University and SIP that aimed to nurture a world-class innovation ecosystem for biomedicine.

However, in 2025, with artificial intelligence transforming education and the launch of XJTLU’s COEs, the University leadership decided to adjust the academic structure by integrating the Academy with the School of Science to form the new Academy of Life and Natural Sciences.

After that, the twin towers project was officially named the Life Sciences Building, with its functional role upgraded and redefined.

XJTLU plans to further upgrade its SIP campus to build a smart community for all ages to interact and co-create, as well as offering childhood education consultation, mental health support, and other public services through a Future Education Service Centre.

The University will also expand its COEs to strengthen the links among fundamental research, cutting-edge exploration, and industrial application, while establishing a full‑service innovation and entrepreneurship platform to support students, faculty, and the wider community in idea validation, prototyping, and project incubation.

“The Life Sciences Building and the innovative model it embodies represent not only fresh exploration by XJTLU but also a flagship project that will lead the University’s transition from its 3.0 industrial innovation ecosystem to its 4.0 model to foster a learning and innovation-driven social ecosystem,” said Professor Xi.

“As we enter the era of AI and digitalisation, the lines between education and society, and between education and industry, have blurred,” he added. “We aim to situate our physical spaces within people’s daily lives, creating a networked, interconnected, integrated ecosystem where the campus and society thrive side by side.”