2024 Annual Insight Assessment on Medical Device Industry Innovation Ecosystem Officially Launched

To continuously promote innovative development in China’s medical device industry and encourage organizations and individuals that have made outstanding contributions in this field, the National Innovation Center for High-Performance Medical Devices (hereinafter referred to as the “National Innovation Center”) has officially launched the public call for nominations and selection process for the 2024 Annual Insight Assessment of the Medical Device Industry’s Innovation Ecosystem. The assessment comprises 11 categories, including Individuals, Enterprises, Products, and Institutions. The results will be announced at the end of the year, providing a comprehensive and multidimensional showcase of the development achievements of China’s medical device industry in 2024.

The development of the medical device industry is closely linked to human health. In recent years, driven by technological innovation and supportive policies, the medical device sector has ushered in unprecedented opportunities for growth, with a surge of innovative enterprises and products emerging rapidly, injecting strong momentum into market development. As a national major platform for scientific and industrial innovation, the National Innovation Center (NIC) bears the important mission of “breaking through key generic technologies, leading the industry toward high-end development, and safeguarding Healthy China.” Aligning with national strategies and industrial needs, the NIC focuses on bridging the innovation and industrialization chains across basic materials, core components, and systems, steadily advancing the construction of an innovative ecosystem in the medical device field. It aims to enhance China’s capabilities in high-end manufacturing and industrial innovation for advanced medical equipment, achieving self-reliance and controllability in high-end medical devices. The NIC has launched this evaluation initiative to continuously leverage the radiating and driving role of national-level innovation platforms, further stimulate industrial innovation vitality, solidly promote the high-quality development of the high-performance medical device industry, and accelerate the cultivation of new quality productive forces in China’s medical equipment sector.

 Figure: National Innovation Center for High-Performance Medical Devices

This assessment initiative has been held consecutively for two years, garnering extensive attention across the industry. In July 2022, the “2022 Top 100 Emerging High-Performance Medical Device Enterprises in China” and the “2022 Distinguished Figures in China’s Medical Device Industry” were announced, with a cohort of “Future Stars” in high-performance medical devices making the list. In December 2023, the “2023 Top 100 Emerging Medical Device Enterprises in China” and the “2023 Distinguished Figures in China’s Medical Device Industry” were released. Building on this foundation, additional awards were introduced concurrently, including the “2023 Biomedical Engineering Innovation Highlands,” “2023 Pioneer Hospitals in Innovative Achievement Translation,” “2023 Outstanding Investment Institutions in China’s Medical Device Industry,” “2023 Emerging Entrepreneurs in China’s Medical Device Industry,” and the “Top 10 Independently Innovated Medical Device Products of 2023.” Numerous hospitals, universities, research institutes, investment firms, and enterprises that have made outstanding contributions to the medical device sector were recognized. Over the past two years, this initiative has encouraged innovative forces within the industry, fostered an ecosystem characterized by determination and intelligent innovation, and established significant industry influence.

While continuing the traditions of previous editions, this year the National Innovation Center has iterated and upgraded its industry series assessments. By focusing on key niche sectors within the industry and continuously enriching its category matrix, the Center has launched the 2024 Annual Insight Assessment of the Medical Device Industry’s Innovative Ecosystem. In collaboration with ecosystem partners across the industrial chain—including the Clinical Competency Enhancement and Subject Protection Practice Platform (CCHRPP), Lihe Industry-Research, Huawei Cloud Startup Ecosystem, VCBeat, MedTech Study Club, Pure Global, Yingke Consulting, Chengdu Medical Device Industry Association, Shenzhen International Medical Device City, Shanghai MedValley, Wuhan Gaoxin Medical Device Park in Optics Valley Bio-City, Chengdu Medical City, and Zhuhai High-Tech Medical Port—the Center strives to create a widely representative, professional, and authoritative flagship event for the medical device industry in 2024.

The image shows the launch event of the 2023 Top 100 Emerging Chinese Medical Device Companies.

Specifically, this year’s initiative focuses on emerging enterprises and entrepreneurs, conducting specialized assessments across three key segments: medical imaging, in vitro diagnostics (IVD), and high-value consumables. The following will be released: the “2024 Top 100 Emerging Medical Device Companies Innovation Index,” the “2024 Medical Device Industry Medical Imaging Sector Innovation Index” (10 companies), the “2024 Medical Device Industry In Vitro Diagnostics Sector Innovation Index” (10 companies), the “2024 Medical Device Industry High-Value Consumables Sector Innovation Index” (10 companies), and the “2024 Emerging Entrepreneurs in the Medical Device Industry” (10 individuals). These efforts aim to transparently, scientifically, and objectively reflect the sustained innovation capabilities and innovation value of medical device companies in their startup phase, highlighting the emerging corporate and individual forces driving China’s medical device industry.

Furthermore, this year has established the “2024 Pioneer Hospitals for Innovation Achievement Transformation” (10 institutions), aimed at further promoting the clinical translation and application of innovative medical devices and accelerating the conversion of scientific and technological achievements into practical medical services; the “2024 Biomedical Engineering Innovation Highlands (Universities and Research Institutes)” (10 institutions) upholds the concepts of interdisciplinary integration of biology, medicine, and engineering, convergence of emerging technologies, collaborative industry-academia-research-application efforts, and diversified cross-sector cooperation, with a focus on biomedical engineering innovation; the “2024 Rising Star Innovative Medical Device Products” (10 products) will evaluate innovative medical device products that passed the NMPA review between October 2023 and September 2024; the “2024 Outstanding Investment Institutions in the Medical Device Industry” (10 institutions) targets investment firms active in the medical device sector in 2024 with significant investment performance and social influence; and the “2024 Excellent Enterprises for Overseas Expansion in the Medical Device Industry” (10 enterprises) recognizes outstanding companies actively expanding international business, exploring new models for global development, and helping Chinese medical device enterprises step onto the international stage.

This year, we will continue to highlight individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the medical device industry, with a greater emphasis on those who have achieved significant results and impact in scientific research, deeply cultivated the field of medical device R&D, attained major breakthroughs, and led research projects with high potential for industrial translation. We will announce the prestigious annual honor, “2024 Medical Device Industry Meritorious Figures.”

This event will continue to feature a high-caliber panel of judges to ensure authority and impact. The final results will be officially released by the National Innovation Center, and the awardees will be integrated into the National Innovation Center’s Industrial Service Innovation Ecosystem. The submission period runs from today until October 8. Hospitals, universities and research institutes, scientific researchers in the industry, innovative medical device companies, and entrepreneurs across China are welcome to apply. For detailed application procedures and event schedules, please visit or contact the official website and WeChat account of the National Innovation Center for High-Performance Medical Devices.

Specific Application Method:https://nmed.org.cn/Content/xwzx/xw/2024-08/147066.html