BEIJING -- Bayer, the German healthcare and agribusiness giant, opened its first innovation center in China on Saturday.

As a key component of Bayer's "in China, for Global" strategy, the Bayer E-Town Open Innovation Center in Beijing will incubate local innovative biopharma companies, support the globalization of China-developed drugs, and partner with leading academic and clinical research institutions.

"The opening of the Bayer E-Town Open Innovation Center is a real milestone for us in our long-term commitment to China innovation. We have long regarded China as a resilient innovation engine and part of our global strategy. And the center will serve both as a bridge to global R&D, and as a local accelerator for the innovation scene that we can find in Beijing and Greater China," Anastasia Hager, senior vice president of R&D and head of drug discovery sciences, Bayer Pharmaceuticals.

For Hager, China is becoming increasingly stronger through the connectivity of academia, startups, and hospitals, as well as in data science and AI innovation. Such strengths enable Bayer to have more effective clinical trials and to bring medicines to patients faster.

Hager also noted the Chinese government's strong commitment through the plan to stabilize foreign investment and the new free trade zone measures that permit foreign involvement in gene therapy and cell therapy R&D, which foster opportunities to innovate together.

Speaking of her first-ever trip to China, Hager said what she has seen is "very encouraging and inspiring." "There's true commitment, and pragmatism as well."

"The fact that China is continuing this high-level opening-up is actually fostering a dynamic and nourishing ecosystem. And this is something that we are really optimistic about. It makes us believe that strengthening our community here and scouting partners to work with is the right thing to do," she said, adding that China is emerging as one of the key forces in the global pharmaceutical world.

"This is why we think that if we really want to drive scientific breakthrough as a global pharmaceutical company, we need to have a strong presence in China as well," she said.