Frost & Sullivan Fudan 2026 Most Potential Companies
Technological innovation is reshaping production methods, industrial structures, and social development patterns at an unprecedented pace. Against this backdrop, a number of companies with strategic vision and innovative spirit are breaking through industry constraints through advanced technologies and leading the future of industries through iterative evolution.
In 2026, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is advancing deeply. Strategic emerging industries such as integrated circuits, artificial intelligence, biomedicine, and advanced materials are continuing to develop. Future industries like embodied intelligence and commercial aerospace are accelerating development, pushing cutting-edge technologies from laboratories into broader industrial applications, laying a solid foundation for cultivating new productive forces and achieving leapfrog development of the real economy.
On September 18, the judging committee meeting for "Frost & Sullivan Fudan Most Potential Companies 2026" was held at Hyatt Regency Pudong in Shanghai. With the theme "Breaking Barriers - Making Hard Breakthroughs and Leading the Future," this evaluation focused on those industry pioneers who persist in innovation and dare to make breakthroughs, emphasizing independent innovation in hard technology and the practical implementation of industrialization. The event aimed to identify local scientific innovators with both technical breakthrough capabilities and industrial leadership.
Frost & Sullivan, the partner organization for this evaluation, was represented by Dr. Wang Xin, Global Partner of Frost & Sullivan, Co-Chair of Asia-Pacific Region, and Chairman of Frost & Sullivan China, who attended the meeting and participated in the evaluation of shortlisted companies. Frost & Sullivan has been a partner in this evaluation for the sixth consecutive year, working together with Ernst & Young and Fudan University School of Management to identify and empower future industry leaders in China's strategic emerging industries.
Shi Junjie, Managing Partner of Ernst & Young Greater China
Shi Junjie, Managing Partner of Ernst & Young Greater China, said in his speech at the award ceremony that this is a transformative era. Just as the theme this year stated, the value of hard technology breakthroughs and AI capabilities goes beyond code development; it extends to product design and industrial implementation. New industries such as embodied robots are also emerging continuously. Whether it is software, hardware, or various underlying hard technologies, they are evolving rapidly. Looking back over sixteen years, Ernst & Young has had the honor of working alongside more than 400 science and technology companies, witnessing their growth and milestones.
Dr. Wang Xin: Chinese innovation is moving from "single-point breakthroughs" to "systemic challenges"
Dr. Wang Xin, Global Vice President of SULLIVAN, Co-Chair of Asia-Pacific Region, Chairman of Frost & Sullivan China
Dr. Wang Xin said, "This year's evaluation made me more strongly realize that Chinese companies' innovation is moving from 'single-technical breakthroughs' to 'systemic capability building.' Whether it is domestic computing power, semiconductor equipment and materials, embodied intelligence, commercial aerospace, brain-computer interfaces, organ chips, and controlled nuclear fusion, outstanding entrepreneurs no longer limit innovation to the laboratory or concept validation level. Instead, they build a complete system around core technologies, real scenarios, business cycles, and global delivery capabilities. Potential is not short-term popularity, but the sustainable growth ability to overcome cycles after deepening technology, stabilizing products, and expanding the market."
Dr. Wang Xin pointed out that good technology does not necessarily automatically turn into a good market. Companies also need clear customer value, replicable business models, stable supply chains, sound organizational capabilities, and a sense of compliance and strategic determination for the global market. For growing companies, future competition is not just technical competition, but a comprehensive competition involving technology, scenarios, data, capital, talent, and ecosystem.
"The value of growing companies needs to be verified by technology, market, capital, and time. Frost & Sullivan hopes to continue being a long-term companion and professional enabler on the path of corporate growth. Relying on our global research network, industry database, capital market experience, and industrial ecosystem resources, we help companies understand the market, find the right position, verify value, connect with partners, and support them to enter the capital market and the global stage with professional, independent, and credible research results. We look forward to accompanying more Chinese companies through key stages from 0 to 1, from 1 to N, and from being leading domestically to competing globally."
"Just as the little lotus begins to show its tip, a dragonfly appears on it." Dr. Wang Xin used this poem to encourage Chinese innovative companies. He said that Frost & Sullivan wishes to be the "dragonfly" that pollinates the "little lotus," providing professional support to shortlisted companies during the growth stage when they need attention, endorsement, and resource connection, helping them gain wider understanding and recognition from customers, partners, the capital market, and the public.
"Future industries are not abstract concepts, but are composed of companies that dare to break boundaries, real scenarios that are repeatedly refined, and key technologies that are independently controllable. We hope that Chinese innovative companies will always start from real needs, base themselves on core technologies, adhere to long-termism, use a global perspective and compliance capabilities as wings, and maintain resilience, openness, and responsibility in the world's industrial transformation. Only innovators can progress, only innovators can grow, and only innovators can win. We look forward to seeing today's most potential explorers become the backbone of China's high-quality economic development and Chinese-style modernization tomorrow."
Dr. Wang Xin, Global Vice President of SULLIVAN, Co-Chair of Asia-Pacific Region, Chairman of Frost & Sullivan China
He Zhaofeng, Co-Chair of the Most Potential Companies Project, Head of Listing Services, Ernst & Young Greater China
He Zhaofeng, Co-Chair of the Most Potential Companies Project, Head of Listing Services, Ernst & Young Greater China, said, "Based on the current industrial landscape, this year's evaluation focused on local science and technology forces that stick to long-term innovation and dare to make technical breakthroughs. They respond to industry pain points with hard technology, break through technical barriers; continuously refine products and expand scenario boundaries through iterative evolution; and build the resilience of enterprises to overcome cycles based on sustainable development. When the innovation gene is rooted in the industrial soil, these companies are using practical work and innovation to continuously explore in the wave of technological transformation, promoting the growth of emerging industries and accelerating the transition of future industries from concepts to reality."
Lv Changjiang, Professor at Fudan University, Doctoral Supervisor, Deputy Dean of Fudan University School of Management
This year, a total of 30 companies won the "Most Potential Companies Award," 13 companies received the "Most Potential Seed Companies Award," and one company won the newly established OPC Individual Company Special Award. These awards covered multiple sectors of pillar industries and future industries, outlining a new competitive landscape and innovation ecosystem in China's science and technology market.
Since its launch in 2011, the "Most Potential Companies Evaluation" has always focused on the pulse of technological evolution and industrial development. After sixteen years of deep cultivation, the evaluation has seen hundreds of companies grow from initial exploration to become key players in specific sectors.
Dr. Wang Xin presented awards to some shortlisted company representatives
It is reported that this year's evaluation was jointly organized by Ernst & Young Greater China and Fudan University School of Management. The judging committee was composed of industry experts and university scholars, and strict selection was carried out from dimensions such as technological innovation, scenario implementation ability, and growth potential. In the future, the organizer can provide full-cycle support for the rapid growth of shortlisted companies, assisting them in pre-listing, listing process, and post-listing, including pre-listing financing, risk screening, and providing comprehensive professional services such as tax, internal control, mergers and acquisitions, compliance, and consulting. It offers professional services and advanced insights required for the domestic market and international expansion, helping them grow rapidly and enabling Chinese companies to occupy a more core position in domestic and global competition.
In the future, Frost & Sullivan hopes to continue working with Ernst & Young, Fudan, and other global think tanks and top professional institutions to empower a new batch of future industry leaders to achieve comprehensive success and lead industry innovation and development!
