校友风采 | 千万级融资背后，他看到了技术落地的另一面
Date：29/10/2026
Article：Wang Chuxi
Photo：From the interviewee
Chang Long is a graduate of the Class of 2023 in Mechanical Engineering at ZJUI. From his undergraduate studies at ZJUI to graduate research in intelligent manufacturing at Tsinghua University, he has continued to explore the intersection of technology and industry.
With more than ten granted patents to his name, Chang has never let engineering stay confined to the classroom. He co-founded a medtech startup, helped raise over RMB 10 million in venture funding, and secured a master distribution agreement. Today, as an investment professional at an investment firm, he continues to pursue the same question that has guided his path: How does a technology that works in the lab become a product that can be built at scale, shipped reliably, and actually adopted by the market?
His interest in turning technology into real-world applications took root during his undergraduate years at ZJUI. Courses paired classroom learning with hands-on projects, allowing him to put theory into practice through engineering analysis, design, and manufacturing. ZJUI also encouraged students to engage in research from their early years, and its well-equipped laboratories provided the resources to make this possible. Chang joined research projects early in his undergraduate career, honing his research skills through direct experience.
Along the way, he saw professors turn their lab research into real products, sparking his curiosity about what it takes to bring a technology from the lab into practical use. Under the guidance of ZJUI Associate Professor Hu Huan, Chang's first research project focused on a novel conductive hydrogel material. After more than a year of work, he and his teammates used 3D printing to create a custom glove that used conductive hydrogel for its joints, enabling a robotic hand to mirror the user's hand movements. The team saw potential applications for the robotic hand in demonstration-based training and medical settings. "Of course you want to see the thing you built actually exist out there in the world," he said. "And if it solves a genuine problem? That's the part that stays with you."
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In his final year, Chang applied for an internship at a securities research center to develop a more systematic approach to industry analysis, focusing on the shipbuilding sector. During the internship, he examined how China's dual-carbon policies were affecting shipbuilding orders and independently produced an in-depth industry report in Chinese of nearly 30,000 characters.
The topic was a natural fit for his mechanical engineering background, but it also made him realize that technical knowledge alone wasn't enough to assess a technology's industrial potential. "Knowing the technology lets you see one critical link in the value chain," he said. "But understanding the industry means connecting decisions up and down the value chain and seeing how they influence one another."
"Validating a solution in the lab is only the first step," Chang said. In 2023, Chang began his master's studies in intelligent manufacturing at Tsinghua University and joined a medical device startup, helping bring several product lines from R&D to production and delivery.
While leading R&D across multiple product lines, he worked with his team to build proof-of-concept prototypes, conduct product trials, and assess their performance, while also screening suppliers and selecting raw materials. Through this work, he learned to consider not only technical performance, but also manufacturing feasibility, supply chain stability, regulatory requirements, and clinical needs.
"Even a small adjustment to the device's weight could affect costs, delivery timelines, and how doctors actually used it," he said.
Getting teams aligned was often harder than the engineering itself. With limited experience in bringing products to market, Chang worked between engineers, manufacturers, and sales teams, learning as he went and helping ensure the products were delivered.
In March 2025, the medtech company Chang was part of secured over RMB 10 million in Series A funding, supported by the team's R&D and commercialization efforts. Over the following year, the company's products were trialed at more than 300 hospitals nationwide, with over 100 devices installed and more than 10,000 clinical cases recorded.
That experience changed how he thinks. Where he used to ask only whether a technology could work, he now considers manufacturing constraints, coordination costs, and delivery risks from the outset.
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"What I really want to understand is what it takes to turn a technical edge into a product you can build and deliver over and over again." Engineering knowledge, industry research, and hands-on startup experience eventually led Chang to a career in industrial investment. He's now working at an investment firm, putting that cross-disciplinary background to work in investment research and due diligence.
After joining the firm, Chang began applying the research methods he had developed earlier to evaluate investment opportunities. Working across several emerging interdisciplinary fields, he identified key applications for core technologies and assessed customer needs, producing a series of in-depth industry reports to support project evaluations. When evaluating a project, Chang considers it from three perspectives: those of a business operator, an investor, and an industry analyst. His engineering background helps him assess the technology, his securities research experience helps him understand the market, and his startup experience gives him a grounded sense of the practical challenges of commercialization.
From exploring new technologies in ZJUI’s laboratories to bringing medical devices into real-world use and now pursuing a career in industrial investment, Changlong has continued to explore one central question: How can promising technologies move beyond the lab and create meaningful value? Looking back, he sees ZJUI as the starting point of this journey. Its rigorous engineering education gave him a solid technical foundation, while early exposure to research and abundant hands-on opportunities encouraged him to think beyond technical solutions and consider their practical impact. The engineering mindset, problem-solving skills, and spirit of exploration he developed at ZJUI have continued to guide him as he ventures into new fields. Today, that same curiosity drives him forward, as he hopes to bridge technology and industry and help more innovations find their way from the laboratory into the real world.
