First West China Innovation Concept Validation and Translation Competition Officially Recruiting Partners! Premium Projects Await Collaboration

In September, to continuously innovate the “West China Model for Achievement Transformation,” efficiently promote high-quality development of in-hospital innovation achievement transformation, accelerate the implementation of clinical innovation achievements, and deeply build an innovation transformation ecosystem, West China Hospital of Sichuan University officially launched the inaugural West China Innovation Achievement Proof-of-Concept and Innovation Transformation Competition, initiating project submissions and partner recruitment.

The theme of this competition is “Proof of Concept and Innovation Translation.” It is hosted by West China Hospital, Sichuan University; the Western China Medical Technology Transfer Center; and the Sichuan Provincial Medical Science and Technology Education Center. The event is organized by the Proof of Concept Center of the Huan Huaxi International Smart Medical Valley, aiming to establish a collaborative platform that integrates government, industry, academia, research, capital, and application.The competition is open to all departments and divisions of West China Hospital, Sichuan University, member institutions of the West China Medical Consortium, and related innovation and technology transfer platforms, soliciting medical research and innovation achievements in three major categories: biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, and life and general health.

The competition is simultaneously launching a call for partners, extensively recruiting across China expert and elite teams from scientific societies, innovative enterprises, financial service institutions, industrial parks, and technology service organizations that have long been engaged with the medical innovation industry.Through various forms of in-depth collaboration, the competition will establish a comprehensive, high-quality, and customized support service platform for premium medical innovation projects. Partners will gain priority access to collaborative opportunities with competition projects, share the outcomes and resources of the competition, be integrated into the West China Hospital’s scientific achievement transformation service system, and establish long-term, close cooperative relationships with the organizers.

Currently, a large number of highly promising scientific research achievements are hindered by insufficient funding, lack of industry experience, and an absence of engineering-oriented thinking, making it difficult for them to cross the “Valley of Death” and enter the stages of industrialization and commercialization.The West China Innovation Achievement Proof-of-Concept and Innovation Translation Competition was launched in response to this need. Leveraging the “3+1+N” resource-enabling network of the Smart Medical Valley Proof-of-Concept Center, it provides comprehensive, end-to-end services for high-quality projects, including proof-of-concept support, technology manager services, industrial resource linkage, expert consultation and coaching, project promotion, and policy alignment, thereby accelerating the maturation of early-stage scientific and technological achievements.

To build brand equity and generate long-tail effects, the competition deeply integrates medical industry resources with services related to scientific research achievements, establishing a comprehensive platform for translation and implementation:

Outstanding scientific research projects selected through the competition will be included in project reserve pools such as the “Scientific Research Achievement Transformation Fund” of West China Hospital, and will be featured in the 2024 Edition of the Compendium for Promoting West China Scientific Research Achievement Transformation Projects, thereby facilitating precise and efficient linkage of project resources and industrial collaboration.

The Proof-of-Concept Center will provide critical support for early-stage scientific research projects, establishing a full-lifecycle support system and technology manager service system that encompasses project screening, expert mentoring, feasibility validation, and achievement commercialization.

Award-winning projects will be incorporated into the incubation system of the West China International Smart Medical Valley Proof-of-Concept Center, with priority access to industry-academia-research proof-of-concept funding. Meanwhile, outstanding projects will be given priority recommendation and full scholarships to participate in the “Innovation Excellence Talent Entrepreneurship Incubation Program,” jointly conducted by the Beijing Tsinghua Industrial Development Institute and the Global Health Industry Innovation Center.

The competition follows a main framework of “Preliminary Round – Semi-Final – Accelerator Camp – Final,” featuring two tracks—“Original Innovation” and “Collaborative Projects”—and three categories—“Biopharmaceuticals,” “Medical Devices,” and “Life and General Health.” Shortlist awards are granted separately for each category. The “Original Innovation” track primarily refers to projects that address clearly defined clinical needs, where the original concept has been translated into a product definition, no similar concepts or products exist globally, intellectual property rights are being secured or have already been obtained, and no collaborative R&D with enterprises has yet commenced. The “Collaborative Projects” track refers to projects for which original intellectual property rights have been established based on clinical needs, enabling collaborative R&D with relevant industry, academic, and research institutions, but which have not yet produced a prototype or submitted the product for regulatory testing.

Starting in August, the Competition Organizing Committee will conduct site visits and preliminary call-for-entries activities, with the preliminary and semi-final evaluations expected to be completed by October. The preliminary and semi-final rounds will invite industry experts from clinical, industrial, technical, and investment fields to serve as judges. Projects will undergo roadshow defenses and scoring-based ranking by track and category, ultimately selecting entries in the “Original Creativity” and “Collaborative Project” categories to advance to the finals.

Projects shortlisted for the finals will be automatically nominated for the “West China Proof-of-Concept Incubation Program” from October to November and will participate in the customized “West China Proof-of-Concept Accelerator Camp.” The accelerator camp is organized by Jiusirui Consulting, which specializes in technology transfer and proof-of-concept consulting services. It will provide tailored knowledge and skills training, commercialization advisory, industry resource matchmaking, proof-of-concept courses, and end-to-end expert mentorship, aligned with each project’s development stage and industrial focus.

In November, the competition will host the “Innovation Walking with the Times, Translation Taking Off with Dreams” Innovation Dream Day Final Roadshow and related activities. Based on on-site scoring and rankings, the event will award one First Prize, two Second Prizes, three Third Prizes, three Most Potential Awards, and several Excellence Awards, ultimately compiling the 2024 Annual “Huaxi Scientific Research Achievement Translation Project Promotion Compendium.” In addition, the Smart Medical Valley Proof-of-Concept Center and a series of innovation translation units will hold industrial activities such as medical innovation translation salons and roundtable meetings concurrently with the finals.

From the customized Concept Acceleration Camp to the Innovation and Excellence Talent Incubation Program for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and the Scientific Research Achievement Transformation Fund, the competition has established a full-chain, one-stop empowerment and acceleration service for the transformation of scientific research achievements. As a large-scale branded competition featuring both scale effects and platform characteristics, the West China Hospital Innovation Achievement Proof-of-Concept and Translation Competition also aims at a broader medical industry innovation ecosystem, enabling selected high-quality achievements to achieve faster translation efficiency and deeper industrial linkages.

The Concept Validation Center of the Huan Huaxi International Smart Medical Valley is now extensively recruiting competition partners across China to build a collaborative network for the competition and related concept validation activities, gradually improve the Huaxi concept validation service system, aggregate and leverage the innovative resources and service advantages of partners, and comprehensively enhance the core competitiveness and commercial value of medical innovation projects.Partners will establish long-term, stable collaborative relationships with West China Hospital, medical consortium affiliates, the Sichuan Western Medical Technology Transfer Center, and other entities within the concept validation collaborative network, jointly exploring new models and pathways for technological innovation and the translation of research outcomes.

Specifically, partners will receive five exclusive benefits:

Display partner brands in prominent positions across competition-related promotional materials, event venues, and the official website to enhance brand image and market awareness.

Priority collaboration opportunities for competition projects, sharing of competition outcomes and resources, and priority matchmaking and cooperation with high-quality projects from various departments (offices), divisions (bureaus) of West China Hospital, Sichuan University, West China Medical Alliance units, and related innovation and translation platforms.

Recommended collaborative experts, provided they meet the eligibility criteria, shall be granted priority access to expert privileges equivalent to those afforded to experts in the database of the Sichuan Western Medical Technology Transfer Center. These privileges include priority participation in early-stage project selection processes—such as preliminary project assessment, project initiation review, and fund evaluation—organized by the Center or relevant parties, as well as priority access to project information.

Priority access to various activities organized by the Center and its partners (such as roadshows, forums, salons, and closed-door meetings), enabling participants to expand their professional networks, establish strong connections with leading enterprises and investment institutions, and unlock opportunities for business collaboration, investment, and resource linkage.

Relevant services and products will be integrated into the competition’s long-term service system to provide ongoing support and assistance to partners. We aim to establish long-term, stable collaborative relationships to jointly promote technological innovation and the commercialization of scientific achievements.

The partners recruited this time are primarily service institutions that promote technological innovation and the translation of achievements in the medical field,Including but not limited to experts and elite teams from scientific societies, innovative enterprises, financial service institutions, industrial parks, and technology service organizations that have long focused on the medical innovation industry.In alignment with diverse partners, the competition has established a variety of collaboration models:

Partners will fully leverage their media channels, including social media, industry forums, and offline events, to comprehensively promote the competition, attract high-quality innovative projects, and enhance the competition’s brand influence and market recognition.

For projects with market potential and innovativeness, partners will leverage their own resources to provide critical proof-of-concept services or funding. This support helps projects overcome the barriers from theoretical conception to practical validation, completing key stages such as preliminary experiments, prototype development, and technical feasibility studies, thereby laying a solid foundation for further maturation and subsequent commercialization.

Partners will integrate their advantageous resources in their respective fields to provide multifaceted support for the competition, including expert review panels, technical support teams, and financial sponsorship. This support includes, but is not limited to, inviting industry authorities to participate in project evaluations, providing customized technical consulting and solutions, and helping projects achieve breakthroughs in technological innovation and market application.

For participating projects and teams, partners will provide commercialization consulting services, including project incubation, investment and financing matchmaking, market expansion, and intellectual property layout. By establishing long-term cooperative relationships, we will offer continuous tracking, coaching, and support to outstanding projects, helping them advance steadily on the path to commercialization.

For projects with implementation readiness, partners will provide comprehensive services—including policy consultation, industrial park matchmaking, and legal support—based on the project team’s preferences and actual needs, ensuring smooth commercialization and successfully bridging the “last mile” from scientific research outcomes to market application.

In late 2023, the “Huaxi International Smart Medical Valley Concept Verification Center,” jointly established by West China Hospital of Sichuan University, the Wuhou District People’s Government, and Chengdu Science and Technology Innovation Investment Group, was officially launched. The center focuses on addressing the challenges of translating scientific research achievements from the laboratory to the market. It collaboratively builds a full-lifecycle support system featuring “relay-style financial support, all-factor resource empowerment, and one-stop, end-to-end services,” thereby facilitating the transition of technological innovations from the “testing ground” to the “broad marketplace.”

Amid the surge in establishing proof-of-concept (POC) centers, Chengdu has innovatively adopted a “hospital-enterprise-local government joint co-construction model” to leverage the strengths of three major platforms. Wuhou District, capitalizing on its robust big health industry foundation, provides validation sites and support for the implementation of future projects. West China Hospital leverages its advantages in medical care, education, and research, along with its network of professional empowerment institutions, to offer resource support for innovation translation platforms and clinical trials. Chengdu Science and Technology Innovation Investment Group deeply invests in hard-tech projects through a “direct investment + fund” approach, builds a matrix of fund resources, attracts social investors, and facilitates capital flow for innovation translation.

Looking further back, to facilitate the full-cycle implementation and translation of scientific and technological achievements and to advance the innovative concepts of research-oriented hospitals, West China Hospital of Sichuan University established the Western China Medical Technology Transfer Center as early as 2012. Together with the hospital’s administrative departments, it formed a distinctive management and service system for achievement translation characterized by “two brands, one team,” built a whole-chain platform for scientific research translation, and formulated and implemented a series of practical policies for achievement incubation.

The inaugural Concept Validation and Innovation Commercialization Competition further expands the outer reach of West China Hospital’s innovation ecosystem, integrating its abundant in-house scientific research projects with external industrial chain resources to build a resource-empowerment network and a “circle of friends for the commercialization of scientific research achievements.”

We sincerely welcome you to participate in the inaugural West China Innovation Achievement Proof-of-Concept and Innovation Translation Competition, join the network of West China Hospital’s research achievement translation partners, and personally experience and witness the translation of scientific achievements and the birth of future medical innovations!Organizations or individuals interested in collaboration may add the VCBeat Assistant to obtain the “Application Form for Partners of the 1st West China Innovation Achievement Proof-of-Concept and Innovation Translation Competition,” and submit it via email to mttc@medttc.com by October 1. The organizers will carefully review all applications and promptly contact the selected partners.

[Contact Information for the Competition Organizer: Mr./Ms. Yi (028-8542325), Mr./Ms. Li, (Tel) 028-85423253, (Email) mailto:mttc@medttc.com]