Redwood China's Singular Focus in the Long Season of Scientific Exploration

Yesterday (October 27th), the 2024 World Laureates Association Forum came to a close. The highly anticipated World Laureates Association (WLA) Prize, with a single award of 10 million yuan, was ultimately awarded to two top scientists:

Jon Kleinberg, the Tisch University Professor of Computer Science and Information Science at Cornell University, received the "Intelligent Science or Mathematics Prize" in recognition of his pioneering contributions at the intersection of computer science and social sciences.

The "Life Science or Medicine Prize" was awarded to Jeremy Nathans, the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the discovery of genes, regulation, and plasticity of human color vision.

These two scientists are the third cohort of awardees for the WLA Prize, and this also marks the third year of the WLA Prize's perpetual conduct.

Looking back to 2021, at the 4th World Laureates Forum, Neil Shen, the founding and executive partner of Sequoia China, announced this "permanent public welfare investment in human technology" — Sequoia China's exclusive donation of 500 million yuan to the "World Laureates Association Award." He stated that this was both "a matter of interest and a matter of responsibility."

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Undoubtedly, this is a difficult but correct endeavor.

When a new entity cannot find a reference, questions about its rationality will persist: Why does Sequoia China want to do this? Why persist in doing it? What impact will this "persistence" have?

The Long Seasons

In this year's award speech, Randy Schekman, the chair of the "Life Science or Medicine Prize" selection committee, provided a historically profound description of the work of the awardee Jeremy Nathans:

Three hundred years ago, Newton discovered that sunlight, when refracted through a prism, produced a spectrum composed of various colors of light, with each refraction angle corresponding to a different wavelength of color. A century later, British physician Thomas Young proposed the hypothesis that the human eye has at least three different receptors capable of identifying the three primary colors. It wasn't until the 1960s that color receptors were located in the cone cells of the retina. By the 1980s, Jeremy Nathans had discovered the molecular basis of trichromatic vision, mapping the amino acid sequence of opsins and elucidating the molecular basis of color blindness. In collaboration with James Lupski, Nathans identified the pathogenic gene for Stargardt disease, which is the most common early-onset hereditary macular degeneration.From the naked-eye observation of sunlight refraction forming the "seven colors of light" to the discovery of the fatal gene for "vision black holes" in age-related macular degeneration, humanity has traversed three centuries, and perhaps the journey to an ultimate cure is still a long one. The relay of scientists across generations, and even dozens of generations, culminates in a "Eureka moment" of truth revelation through a combination of diligence and luck, which is the "long season" unique to science.

Under such developmental logic, the progress of scientific endeavors and the achievements of scientists are inseparable from the support of the public and the generational inheritance of the scientific spirit. Nathaniel stated at this forum: "To some extent, the public is the investor of scientific research; it is their confidence in scientific progress and in scientists that makes everything possible." Therefore, he chose to donate his multi-million-dollar prize to charitable causes, becoming the first scientist to publicly declare that he would donate the entire prize money since the establishment of the award.

This is not his first donation. Jeremy Nathans's father is Daniel Nathans, the 1978 Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine. In 2017, he auctioned his father's Nobel Prize medal and donated all the proceeds to the Hamilton Smith Award, thereby increasing public support and attention to young scientists. He said: "Hamilton Smith generously provided the enzyme samples needed for my father's research without seeking anything in return. This pure and cooperative academic atmosphere is worth remembering."

Nathans's experience will not be an isolated case. Perhaps if we unroll the scroll of the history of scientific development, we will find that no scientific discovery and implementation have been accomplished by a single individual alone. This long-standing "mentorship" formed in tacit understanding ensures the continuous deepening and development of scientific exploration and also presents the best manifestation of the light of human spirit.

Not seeking a return is the greatest return.

As a "star" scientist, Nathans's choice is a form of "return," but it can also be seen as an investment. While he actively gives back to the public and young scholars, he is also "betting" on them, with the aim of promoting the scientific spirit and inspiring more talented scientists to follow in succession, propelling scientific research forward.

From this perspective, Sequoia China's sponsorship of the top science awards is an institutionalized Nathans.

Neil Shen has clearly explained why he chose to sponsor this science award: Sequoia China's development has benefited from the industrial opportunities brought about by global advancements in basic scientific research, and promoting technological innovation worldwide has become one of Sequoia China's most important missions.

Therefore, analyzing Sequoia China's donation solely from a "return" perspective is only half correct; by actively engaging and taking the initiative to "carry the sedan chair" for technological innovation, Sequoia has set a new challenge for itself.

Sequoia China uses this science award as a fulcrum, investing substantial financial resources into basic science to leverage and realize a greater vision. It is precisely this "investment" that currently has no visible return that may bring unimaginable "returns" in the more distant future, and of course, the entire human society will benefit from it.Elon Musk once made an enlightening statement about the development of technology, arguing that in the absence of external forces, technology itself is "constantly degenerating." For instance, after the United States landed on the moon in 1969, there has been no further motivation to return to the moon or venture further into space for over half a century; the Egyptians, who once built the pyramids, are no longer able to recreate the miracles of their time thousands of years later. Therefore, technology "either progresses or regresses," and the driving force for progress primarily comes from the proactive actions of scientists, entrepreneurs, the public, and governments, among other societal sectors.

A New Paradigm for VC Social Responsibility

Investment institutions, by leveraging funds and resources to tilt towards technology fields with broad prospects, have accelerated the pace of scientific research, enabling the faster realization and transformation of technological achievements, and attracting more scientific researchers to engage in these fields. In a sense, the act of turning such a "flywheel" is itself a manifestation of VCs fulfilling their social responsibilities.

Of course, as one of China's top-tier VCs, Sequoia China's vision extends beyond this. By personally getting involved in the establishment and operation of a long-term scientific award, Sequoia China further "front-loads" this responsibility, creating a larger platform in a more direct manner, setting a new standard for VCs to fulfill their social responsibilities.

Sequoia China's judgment on the current state of scientific development is that an increasing number of significant breakthroughs are coming from interdisciplinary and cross-field research. Jon Kleinberg, who received the "Intelligent Science or Mathematics Award" this year, works across various fields including computer science, mathematics, economics, and sociology.

Therefore, the top science award established with funding from Sequoia China has differentiated itself from traditional scientific awards in terms of direction. A key feature is "encouraging disruptive results in interdisciplinary fields, by exploring alternative paths and even overtaking on the inside, to drive more social forces and scientists to explore new methodologies."

Moreover, as a vehicle that garners attention from a broader audience, the science award also serves as a "translator" and "bridge" between scientists and the public, helping scientists and supporters establish better communication channels, avoiding the need to repeatedly explain the value of scientific work and allowing the spirit of science to be better promoted.

Sequoia China's support for the top science award, although only in its third year, has already shown its profound value. Looking at Sequoia's approach from a future perspective, starting with the end in mind, one might see this leading VC feeling its way across a larger river. It is beneficial to take a long-term view; now, not only Sequoia but also a large group of new-generation Chinese entrepreneurs represented by Zhang Yiming, Huang Zheng, and Chen Tianqiao, are crossing the river together.