Tsinghua University's AI-Powered TCM Platform UNIQ System Wins Top Award at Geneva International Exhibition of Inventions and Achieves Large-Scale Application

Recently, at the 49th Geneva International Exhibition of Inventions, the “Intelligent and Quantitative Analysis Technology and System for Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Based on Network Targets (UNIQ System),” independently developed by Professor Li Shao’s team at Tsinghua University, was awarded the exhibition’s highest honor—the “Gold Medal with Jury’s Commendation.” This marks the first time that a top-tier international invention award has been granted in the field of artificial intelligence applied to Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Established in 1973, the Geneva International Exhibition of Inventions is one of the longest-running and largest invention exhibitions worldwide, renowned for its rigorous selection process and professional standards. This year’s exhibition featured more than 1,000 projects from over 50 countries around the globe, marking a record high in its history.

The “Jury’s Special Commendation Gold Medal” awarded to the UNIQ system is the highest honor at the Geneva International Exhibition of Inventions, selected by the jury from among the gold medal winners through a rigorous process of excellence.

The UNIQ system, developed over more than 20 years by Professor Li Shao’s team at Tsinghua University, represents a landmark achievement in the interdisciplinary innovation of traditional Chinese medicine with cutting-edge information technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data.

Since proposing the hypothesis linking Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) with molecular networks in 1999, Professor Li Shao’s team has developed 15 core algorithms and key technical invention patents for the UNIQ system, including the first Chinese and U.S. invention patents in the field of network pharmacology.

Based on the proprietary “Network Target” theory, the UNIQ system integrates a suite of independently developed high-precision intelligent prediction algorithms, quantitative network target modeling techniques, high-throughput experimental detection technologies, and multimodal clinical databases for diseases and TCM syndromes. This enables a panoramic analysis of multi-level network associations spanning phenotypes, tissues, cells, molecules, and both traditional Chinese and Western medicines. Consequently, it resolves the long-standing core challenge of elucidating the “complexity” principle of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), which has been hindered by the intricate nature of TCM components, disease-syndrome patterns, and their interrelationships. The system has achieved significant applications in elucidating TCM mechanisms, precision diagnosis and treatment, and innovative R&D of TCM drugs.

To date, the UNIQ system has been applied to the innovative R&D and product upgrades of over 30 traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formulations and biomarkers, facilitating their inclusion in authoritative clinical guidelines and consensus statements both domestically and internationally, such as the WHO Clinical Guidelines. This has significantly enhanced the specificity and precision of TCM research and development.

Recently, the “Bushen Anshen Capsule,” a formula based on the clinical experience of Chen Baogui, a nationally renowned TCM practitioner, successfully completed the filing for traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) preparations in Tianjin. This achievement was made possible with the strong support and effective guidance of the Tianjin Municipal Medical Products Administration. It has become the first medical institution-prepared TCM formulation in Tianjin to complete the filing process for preparations manufactured using traditional techniques, underpinned by key technologies in network pharmacology.

According to Xinhua News Agency, during the application process for the in-house preparation filing of “Bushen Anshen Capsules,” a formula derived from the clinical experience of Chen Baogui, a nationally renowned traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practitioner, Professor Li Shao’s team conducted a comprehensive analysis of the holistic mechanism of action of Bushen Anshen Capsules. This analysis was based on modern TCM theories represented by network targets and leveraged key technologies of network pharmacology, thereby providing robust theoretical support for the development of Bushen Anshen Capsules as an in-house hospital preparation.

The core algorithms of the UNIQ system have also received high acclaim from internationally renowned experts. In articles published in journals such as *Nature Reviews Genetics*, network biologist Academician Barabási and systems biologist Academician Hood, among others, have described it as a representative algorithm in the field of network pharmacology and one of the hallmarks marking the advance toward systems medicine.

Building on the large-scale application of the UNIQ system, the team was also commissioned by the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) to develop guidelines and evaluation standards for key network target technologies in the research and development (R&D) of new traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) drugs, thereby promoting the development of a TCM R&D model that integrates disease and syndrome differentiation. The UNIQ system boasts prominent advantages, including high computational accuracy, superior data quality, strong discovery capabilities, and high translation efficiency. These attributes are driving a paradigm shift in TCM R&D from reductionism to systems thinking, and from experience-based approaches to intelligence-driven methods. As such, the system is poised to become a crucial technological platform for leveraging artificial intelligence to scientifically elucidate the principles of TCM and foster the development of new quality productive forces in the TCM sector.Industry practitioners and investors interested in this project are requested to contact VCBeat for further engagement.