Weigao Group Announces $7 Billion International Medical Device Industrial Park in Qingdao

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On November 25, WEGO Group signed multiple cooperation agreements with the Qingdao High-tech Zone Management Committee, and the WEGO International Medical Device Industrial Park, with a total investment of 5 billion yuan, officially settled in Qingdao High-tech Zone.

This cooperation agreement was signed,Including the WEGO International Medical and Health Industry Headquarters in Qingdao, the Digital Low-Carbon China Headquarters, the Medical and Health Industry Fund, and several other projects.

The biopharmaceutical and medical device industry is one of the ten emerging industries that Qingdao's manufacturing sector has prioritized for development. Within the entire industrial landscape, medical devices, in particular, are highly anticipated.

01

High-Tech Zone's Medical Industry Explores "New Ecosystem"

In recent years, as one of the more developed areas in Qingdao City's biomedicine and medical device industries, the core medical and pharmaceutical sectors in the High-Tech Zone have experienced significant growth. The introduction of various industrial policies has attracted several Fortune Global 500 companies, including AstraZeneca, Haier Biomedical, and Sinopharm Medical Devices.

The total investment of multiple projects signed this time exceeds 5 billion yuan, covering industry introduction and incubation, digital low-carbon energy, and development fund support. "Industry, research, and fund" run through the entire medical and pharmaceutical industry chain in Qingdao High-tech Zone.

Currently, the Qingdao High-tech Zone Management Committee has signed with WEGO GroupProject cooperation agreements such as WEGO International Medical and Health Industry Headquarters in Qingdao, Digital Low-Carbon China Headquarters, and Medical and Health Industry Fund.

Phase I of the WEGO International Medical and Health Industry Headquarters Project in Qingdao, covering an area of approximately 91 mu, mainly introduces projects invested by industrial funds, including the already invested Sino-Korean joint venture Reborn (Qingdao) Biotechnology Co., Ltd. project, Anhui Tongling Bionic Technology Co., Ltd. project, and other projects invested by industrial funds.

Digital Low-Carbon China Headquarters Project, in response to the national "Dual Carbon" strategy, is built by relying on WEGO Group. With energy management as its core, it integrates R&D, production, operation, maintenance, and big data management into a digital low-carbon global headquarters.

Medical Health Industry Fund Project: Relying on the advantages of WEGO Group in medical devices, biomedicine, and rehabilitation medicine, a 20-billion-yuan medical health industry fund has been jointly established by Qingdao Municipal Guidance Fund, High-tech Zone Guidance Fund, industrial funds, and WEGO Capital.

In addition, Qingdao University will also collaborate with WEGO Group to establish the Qingdao University WEGO Research Institute in the High-tech Zone. The institute will focus on technical research and development, achievement transformation, and commercial application in the fields of pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and rehabilitation medicine, building an integrated "industry-academia-research-application" industrial system.

As the industrial chain and ecosystem are becoming increasingly complete, Qingdao and WEGO will spark more innovations and secure a place in the highly competitive medical device field.

02

Leading Enterprises Boost Qingdao

The predecessor of WEGO Group was the No.1 Branch Factory of Weihai State-owned Medical Device Factory, established in 1988. After more than thirty years of restructuring and development,Today, WEGO has ventured into more than 1,000 types of medical devices and over 200,000 specifications, becoming one of the world's most comprehensive medical system solution providers.

In June last year, WEGO Orthopedics, a subsidiary of Weigao Group, was officially listed on the STAR Market of the Shanghai Stock Exchange. It issued 41.41 million shares publicly and raised 1.5 billion yuan. On the first day of listing, its market value once surged to more than 40 billion yuan due to a sharp rise in stock price.

By June 27 this year, Shandong WEGO Blood Purification Products Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of WEGO Group, submitted a prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, planning to list on the main board with an initial target of raising $500 million. This marks another move by WEGO Group to plan the listing of its subsidiary, following the Hong Kong listing of WEGO Holdings in 2004 and the spin-off listing of WEGO Orthopedics on the STAR Market.

In the 2020 China Enterprise 500, WEGO ranked 375th, and in the China Manufacturing 500, it ranked 176th. In the top 15 global medical device细分 markets, WEGO has entered 11 fields.In the "2022 China Brand Value Evaluation Information" ranking, WEGO ranked 4th in the pharmaceuticals and health category with a brand value of 23.275 billion yuan.

Its layout involves product lines such as clinical care, orthopedics, blood purification, pharmaceutical packaging, medical intervention, surgical robotics, and medical engineering.Including orthopedics, blood technology and other product lines rank among the top in China. Products have been sold to more than 100 countries and regions around the world, making it an undisputed leading enterprise in China's pharmaceuticals field.

In terms of market share, WEGO's high-end infusion consumables, blood equipment and consumables, pharmaceutical packaging materials, and other products account for approximately 70% of the domestic market in China. The market share of orthopedic material series, blood purification series, and cardiovascular consumables series products in China is around 30%.

Last year, WEGO Group deepened its cooperation with Shanghai, and the WEGO (Shanghai) International Research Institute project was successfully established in Minhang District.The project covers an area of 61 mu, with an expected construction area of 180,000 square meters and a total investment of 2.3 billion yuan.

WEGO is expected to establish four research and development centers focusing on polymer materials, tissue engineering and repair, intelligent medical equipment, and life science products.Aimed at promoting the R&D of high-tech products, accelerating technology introduction, and strengthening external cooperation. This will create a distinctive integrated service platform and improve the ecological model for medical device R&D.

03

Strong alliances require perseverance.

As the saying goes, "For a train to run fast, it relies on the locomotive." This time, WEGO has launched a new round of cooperation plans with Qingdao High-tech Zone.Aimed to build a "WEGO Medical Ecosystem" in Qingdao High-tech Zone, covering multiple aspects such as "production, research, and funds," and encompassing the entire process of the medical industry, medical commerce, and medical services.

It can be predicted that, under the leadership of WEGO, the integration of upstream and downstream industrial chains in Qingdao's medical device sector will be accelerated, ultimately helping Qingdao build a locally-produced industrial ecosystem with core competitiveness.

Apart from the WEGO cooperation project, Qingdao has already seen multiple industrial parks and projects being implemented and put into operation. Since July, Qingdao has held several special meetings focusing on emerging industry professional parks, repeatedly emphasizing the need to transform these professional parks into hubs for high-quality industry resources and innovation centers within their respective fields.

The WEGO International Medical Device Industrial Park project, which has been implemented this time, can maximize the allocation of high-quality resources on the one hand, and on the other hand, its agglomeration effect can bring vitality to the upcoming recruitment of medical device projects.

From the perspective of industry development, the medical device industry is a high-tech industry characterized by multidisciplinary integration, and intensive knowledge and capital.Its product manufacturing technology involves multiple interdisciplinary fields such as pharmaceuticals, electronics, and materials, and its core technology covers various disciplines including medical polymers, hematology, life sciences, and laboratory medicine.

In other words, the medical device industry is highly technical and has a high entry threshold.It is necessary to build a complete ecological closed loop of "industry-university-research institute".

In the future, Qingdao may follow Shenzhen's path by creating a medical device industry cluster to attract well-known domestic and international medical device companies to set up production bases in Qingdao, thereby seizing the commanding heights of a new round of development in the medical device industry.