The Office of the Administrative Committee for Westlake University Town was officially established in Xihu district, Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province, on June 23.

The university town, also known as the Yungu zone, occupies an area of 17.17 square kilometers, which extends eastward to the Hangzhou Belt Expressway and reaches the borderline of Xihu district in the other three directions.

The newly established office will be in charge of infrastructure construction and key projects, breeding industries, and recruiting investors in the university town. Digital economy, health, and intelligent manufacturing have been designated by the office as the three main industries in the town. The office also plans to construct a science park surrounding Westlake University and a biomedicine industrial park.

The Hangzhou municipal government decided to build the main campus of Westlake University in the Yungu zone in November 2016. On Jan 20, 2020, the Xihu district government and Westlake University signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement that stipulates the establishment of the Westlake University Industrial Investment Fund, which is valued at 3 billion yuan ($464 million), and the Xihu District Direct Investment Fund, which is valued at one billion yuan. The two funds are tasked with facilitating the industrialization of the university's research findings.

Westlake University is China's first private non-profit research-oriented university and aspires to become one of the world's top research institutes. The university consists of the School of Life Sciences, the School of Science, and the School of Engineering. Its president is Former Tsinghua University Vice-President Shi Yigong, and its honorary chair is Nobel laureate physicist Chen-Ning Yang.

The Yungu campus of the university is expected to house 300 independent laboratories when it becomes operational by the end of this year.

An aerial view of the under-construction Yungu campus of Westlake University on June 24. [Photo/IC]