Innovation Partner Exchange and Concept Validation Project Evaluation Criteria Seminar Successfully Held for the First West China Innovation Translation Competition

On October 23, the phase meeting of the “1st West China Innovation Achievement Proof-of-Concept and Innovation Translation Competition”—the Innovation Partner Exchange Meeting and Seminar on Review Criteria for Proof-of-Concept Projects—was successfully held.

During the symposium, Director Lei Juan of the Western Sichuan Medical Technology Transfer Center provided a comprehensive overview of the competition’s background, project solicitation status, core team members involved in subsequent re-evaluation and service phases, review procedures, scoring criteria, and the overall plan for follow-up acceleration camp services and training. She emphasized that the competition aims to “identify high-quality projects, promote proof-of-concept validation, and accelerate the translation of scientific achievements.” Through this competitive platform, the organizers seek to integrate innovation and commercialization resources from various stakeholders, engage at an early stage, and provide comprehensive services including diagnostic recommendations, commercialization pathway consulting, and resource matchmaking.

The competition has completed its project recruitment phase, with a total of 75 projects submitted. These include 19 in biopharmaceuticals, 36 in medical devices, 8 in IVD (in vitro diagnostics), and 12 in life and general health (artificial intelligence and digital therapeutics). Preliminary evaluations have been conducted by technology transfer professionals.

Since September, the West China Medical Technology Transfer Center has partnered with VCBeat, a leading national healthcare industry research and media platform, to launch the call for partners for the inaugural West China Innovation Achievement Proof-of-Concept and Translation Competition, further expanding its network of innovation translation partners. Additionally, the Center collaborated with multiple institutions to release the 2024 “List of High-Quality Service Providers for Medical Innovation Translation” in Haikou, providing support for subsequent translation consulting and industry linkage services for the competition.

To ensure the professionalism and authority of the competition and selection process, the Center has specially invited experts fromExperts from more than 20 leading domestic institutions—including industry leaders, R&D service providers in the medical field, medical intellectual property agencies, comprehensive service agencies for the translation of medical achievements, well-known professional healthcare investment firms, and regulatory registration and consulting agencies—served as re-evaluation judges. They reviewed phased deliverables such as review guidelines and scoring criteria. The review system encompasses four requirements and six processes, while the scoring metrics include six primary indicators, thirteen secondary indicators, and multiple detailed scoring dimensions.

Next, the projects advancing to the semi-finals of the competition will join“The 1st West China Proof-of-Concept Acceleration Camp”, and top judges from these competitions will continue to serve as mentors for the “Acceleration Camp.”

The Center, in collaboration with China’s leading technology achievement proof-of-concept consulting firms, introduced the overall plan and workflow for the “1st West China Proof-of-Concept Acceleration Camp.” The Acceleration Camp will follow the main theme of “creating value, delivering value, and manifesting value,” which includes projectsPreliminary groundwork, including preparatory research, team interviews, project evaluations, and reporting, as well as intensive theoretical instruction and practical application of tools through courses such as “Reshaping the Origin of Research Value: How Scientific Achievements Address Practical Needs,” “Cultivating High-Value Patent Portfolios for Commercialization,” and “Industrialization of Scientific and Technological Achievements: Business Model Deduction and Technology Transfer Planning.”The accelerator program will provide selected projects with in-depth services, including customized consulting and coaching, co-creation of tailored technology transfer reports, guidance on commercialization plans, and resource matchmaking.

In the future, projects selected as finalists will have the opportunity to be included in the “West China Hospital Compendium for the Promotion of Scientific and Technological Achievement Transformation Projects,” the full-lifecycle support system of the Concept Verification Center, and the technology manager service system.

Seizing the opportunity presented by this symposium, the competition organizers aim to collaborate with industry partners to jointly navigate the opportunities and challenges in translating medical innovations, stimulate greater innovative vitality, connect more resources for translation, and identify more high-potential projects. The competition will serve as a crucial foundation for West China Hospital to further optimize its system for achieving scientific and technological advancements at this new stage, and as a core component of the work carried out by the Sichuan Western Medical Technology Transfer Center, leveraging innovative translation platforms such as the Concept Verification Center within the Huaxi International Medical Valley. It is believed that by exploring this new pathway of “competition-as-incubation” to promote the translation of scientific and technological achievements, a full-chain innovation and translation ecosystem can be established. This will become a powerful engine driving medical innovation and translation, injecting new momentum into the development of the medical field, and promoting the exploration of how scientific and technological translation can empower high-quality development in healthcare institutions and drive the growth of new quality productive forces.