The 7th "Maker China" Guangdong SME Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition and the 6th "Maker Guangdong" Competition, jointly organized by the Guangdong Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology, the Guangdong Provincial Department of Finance, and the Dongguan Municipal People's Government, officially launched in March 2022. After a process of project collection, preliminary rounds (including regional and thematic competitions), and semi-finals, the final held on September 1, 2022 has now concluded successfully. RECORNA Bio participated in the competition with project "Disease Treatment Based on RNA Editing Technology", and after several rounds of fierce competition, ultimately made it into the top 100 of this year's "Maker Guangdong" competition, earning the title of Excellence Award.
The "Maker Guangdong" competition is one of the highest-level provincial innovation and entrepreneurship events, organized by the Guangdong Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology together with the Provincial Department of Finance and the Dongguan Municipal People's Government. It has been successfully held for five seasons to date, and this year’s competition is the sixth. Themed "Maker Guangdong·Craftsmanship in South Guangdong," the competition aims to promote entrepreneurship, innovation, and transformation and upgrading of small and medium-sized micro-enterprises. It has attracted a record high of 3,976 projects participating in this year's competition. The contest consists of three stages: preliminary, semi-final, and final. The preliminary rounds include regional and thematic competitions. The thematic competitions cover eight fields: new-generation information technology (including new-generation digital information, software and information technology services), smart home appliances, new materials (including advanced and cutting-edge new materials), semiconductors and integrated circuits, smart manufacturing, robotics, biomedicine and health, and new energy. In addition, a special competition was set up for Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan enterprises in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. This year's competition is divided into two categories: the corporate group and the maker group. Each group will compete separately, with one first prize, two second prizes, and five third prizes awarded per group. There was a total of 34 entries in the top 50 (no distinction between groups) and 50 entries in the 51-100 ranking (no distinction between groups).
RECORNA Bio's contest project "Disease Treatment Based on RNA Editing Technology" is an independent entrepreneurial project led by founder Professor Rui Zhang and his research team, which utilizes the self-developed MIMIC RNA editing system based on irCLASH technology for innovative drug development. The nucleic acid drugs developed by the RECORNA Bio team include these innovative merits:
1. Technology Platform Innovation: The company's self- developed MIMIC RNA editing system recruits endogenous ADAR for RNA editing, achieving higher RNA editing efficiency than currently existing systems.
2. Product Structure Innovation: Using bioinformatics and artificial intelligence, drug molecule gRNA is designed to simulate the natural substrate sequences of ADAR, making better-structured nucleic acid drug products.
3. Product Process Innovation: Through the development of delivery technologies, the nucleic acid drugs developed by the company can effectively target specific organs and exert therapeutic effects in the body for several days to months.
4. Product Innovation: By RNA-targeted editing technology, the company is currently developing drugs for diseases that there are no effective conventional treatments currently, all of these targets are novel drug targets.
(Ms. Xin Rong, CEO of RECORNA Bio, at the competition defense session)
