Abstract:The mission of all institutes under Chinese Academy of Sciences focuses on frontier science and applied technology to address the challenges for country’s development and world sustainable development. Here, I summarize the founding and development of Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), originated from Institute of Microbiology of CAS. The journey reflects the advances of industrial biotechnology in China. By considering the relationships among science, technology and engineering, I propose that scientists involved in basic research should develop a logical thinking of “idea-hypothesis-experiment-concept-paper-technology- sample-product-commercial goods”, from which great solutions that tackle real problems can be developed. This is the logic from basic research to applied science.