USST Holds the 4th “Belt & Road” Medical Device Innovation and Application Conference

“By the end of 2022, the number of the medical institutions in our country exceeds 1030 thousand, which are in great demand for medical devices, but medical equipment, especially medium and high-level medical equipment mainly depends on the foreign brand. The occupying rate of domestic brand of small medical equipment ranges from 5% to 20%. However, as the country encourages to promote research and development of medical device, government, university, research institute, hospital, and company join efforts to make better-connected innovation chain and industrial chain, medical devices of independent innovation are springing up, and the product has made advance from low-medium market and advanced market.” On October 16th, at the conference of the 4th “Belt and Road” Medical Device Innovation and Application conference, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of release about “Belt and Road” initiative, Fan Xianqun, academician of CAE, Vice President of Shanghai Jiaotong University, and Dean of Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine delivered the keynote speech titled “ clinical demands drive medical transfer”.
As one of the concurrent activities of 2023 Shanghai International Biomedical Industry Week, this conference is jointly sponsored by USST, Shanghai Biomedical Industry Promotion Center, Shanghai High-end Medical Equipment Innovation Center and the "the Belt and Road" Medical Device Innovation and Application Alliance under the guidance of Shanghai Biomedical Industry Development Leading Group Office.
Wang Lingyu, Secretary of Party Committee of USST, stated in his speech that in 2020, the university initiated the establishment of the "the Belt and Road" medical device innovation and application alliance, strengthened the cooperation between universities and industries, and actively promoted in-depth exchanges among main innovation bodies of medical devices to meet the market demand of the public for health. At present, the alliance has attracted 125 member units from 21 countries and regions to join, holding annual international conferences, innovation competitions, exchange salons, professional training, etc., promoting more than 100 project demand docking, and more than 10 institutions have achieved strategic cooperation intentions.
At the meeting, an awarding ceremony was held for the 2023 Shanghai International Biomedical Innovation Competition MDinno Shanghai (International) High-end Medical Device Innovation Competition. Among over 400 participating projects, 25 projects won the Most Investment Value Award and the Interdisciplinary Creativity Award.
On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the "the Belt and Road" initiative, the conference focused on key directions such as the frontiers of medical science and technology, policy supervision, international collaboration, with the theme of "working together to innovate medical devices and jointly protect human health". Experts and scholars in relevant fields at home and abroad, representatives of governmental administrations, clinical medical institutions, university research institutes, innovative enterprises and other representatives were invited to attend the conference, to carry out the exchange and discussion on innovative development of high-end medical equipment and in-depth cooperation of the "the Belt and Road" initiative.
Experts from China, Brazil, Serbia, and Spain shared and exchanged ideas in the form of keynote reports on medical device innovation and international cooperation. Mao Zhenbin, former first-level inspector of the Department of Science and Technology and International Cooperation of the State Drug Administration, and Professor Cheng Yunzhang, dean of the School of Medical Devices of USST and the secretary-general of the "the Belt and Road" Alliance for Medical Device Innovation and Application, also made reports respectively. According to the trade status and contribution of China's medical devices to countries along the "the Belt and Road", the proportion of China's medical device exports in the "the Belt and Road" countries has increased year by year.
In addition, Shanghai High-end Medical Equipment Innovation Center signed the cooperation agreement with Serbia's Labena Ventures accelerator, the "the Belt and Road" Medical Device Innovation and Application Conference and Brazil's HMD BRASIL COMMERCIAL. All parties will further give play to their respective advantages to carry out in-depth international cooperation in key directions such as medical device program exchange and innovative services.
It is noteworthy that the conference will be held in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan from October 19th to 24th. As one of the concurrent activities of the 2023 Shanghai International Biomedical Industry Week,  the "International Science and Practice Conference and Central Asia-China High-end Biomedical Exhibition" held in Kyrgyzstan focused on biopharmaceuticals and high-end medical devices, will introduce the latest achievements and academic research experience of Chinese technology overseas, assist Chinese enterprises in setting up locations and conducting cooperation in Central Asia, promote Chinese biopharmaceutical enterprises to go global, and gradually enhance the overseas influence of Shanghai International Biopharmaceutical Industry Week.
The official organizer of "International Science and Practice Conference and Central Asia-China High-end Biomedical Exhibition" in Kyrgyzstan is also a member of the "the Belt and Road" Medical Device Innovation and Application Alliance. Since the establishment of the "the Belt and Road" Medical Device Innovation and Application Alliance at the end of 2020, 125 industrial institutions from 21 countries and regions have been developed as members of the Alliance. With the support of the presidential unit Shanghai University of Technology, a series of international exchanges, professional training, innovation competitions and other activities have been carried out, and have been recognized by domestic and foreign partners in the field of medical devices.
It is reported that the team that visited Central Asia from October 19th to 24th is composed of universities, medical schools, professional medical teams, well-known biopharmaceutical and medical device enterprises, and will conduct in-depth discussions with Central Asian countries in such three ways: education, healthcare, and industry, and will sign a series of cooperation agreements.
Leaders from the Shanghai Biomedical Industry Promotion Center, Shanghai Food and Drug Administration, and the Science and Technology Commission of Yangpu District in Shanghai, leaders from the Shanghai High-end Medical Equipment Innovation Center, and leaders from the School of Medicine of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and USST attended the conference.