2023 Inaugural Greater Bay Area Smart Healthcare and Wellness Forum Successfully Held in Macao

On June 14, the 2023 Inaugural Greater Bay Area Smart Healthcare and Big Health Forum was grandly opened. Nearly 200 government leaders from Guangdong and Macao, experts in the big health sector, hospital directors, and medical entrepreneurs gathered in Macao. Supported by the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute and the Zhuhai Municipal Bureau of Commerce, the forum was jointly organized by six entities: the Macao-Zhuhai Talent Development Promotion Association, the Guangdong-Macao General Chamber of Commerce, the Macao Medical Association, Zhuguang (Group) Co., Ltd., the Second People's Hospital of Guangdong Province, and the Guangdong Clinical Medicine Association. Centered on the strategic goals of building a Healthy China, the forum aimed to accelerate the implementation of the 14th Five-Year Plan and the Outline of the Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, stimulate the vitality of healthcare resources in the Greater Bay Area, leverage the role of “Internet + Smart Healthcare,” and promote the integrated development of internet technologies and the medical and big health industries in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Guests in attendance at the forum included Dr. Lo Iat Long, Director of the Health Bureau of the Macao Special Administrative Region Government; Mr. Choi Peng Siong, Director of the Medicines Administration and Supervision Bureau of the Macao Special Administrative Region Government; Mr. Yang Hao, Deputy Director of the Economic Department of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Macao Special Administrative Region; Mr. Wong Sin Man, Executive Member of the Administrative Committee of the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute; Mr. Liu Qiang, Secretary-General of the Macao Chinese Enterprises Association; and Mr. Wu Yeli, Deputy Director of the Zhuhai Municipal Commerce Bureau.

In his address, Shi Jialun, a deputy to the National People’s Congress from the Macao Special Administrative Region and a member of the Legislative Assembly of the Macao Special Administrative Region, stated that Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao boast numerous top-tier medical institutions, industry enterprises, and professional teams. The three regions are well-positioned to engage in more proactive exploration in smart healthcare, telemedicine, and collaboration within the broader health industry, thereby developing more replicable and scalable cross-border cooperation models. At this forum, experts will share insightful perspectives on the frontiers of innovation in smart healthcare and the broader health sector. They will conduct in-depth discussions on topics such as “Internet+ Smart Healthcare,” smart medicine, and talent development. Additionally, multiple cooperation agreements will be signed, alongside ceremonies for the establishment of medical enterprises and business matchmaking sessions. These initiatives will further promote information sharing and exchange between professionals and industry stakeholders, providing valuable expert opinions and significant new momentum for the high-quality development of healthcare in Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao, as well as for the growth of Macao’s traditional Chinese medicine industry within the broader health sector.

As an important component of Macao’s moderate economic diversification, the big health industry, with a focus on the research, development, and manufacturing of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), has made some progress in recent years. “The development of the big health industry involves coordination across multiple dimensions, including talent, technology, capital, and markets. Macao’s convention, exhibition, and trade platforms can create more opportunities for exchange and collaboration within this sector,” said Huang Shanwen, Executive Member of the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM), in his address. He stated that, moving forward, IPIM will strengthen the introduction of international, regional, and Greater Bay Area professional convention and exhibition events, leverage cross-sectoral exhibition platforms to enhance industrial synergy, and support enterprise development.

Wu Yeli, Deputy Director of the Zhuhai Municipal Bureau of Commerce, pointed out that Zhuhai is currently vigorously developing its “4+3” industrial sectors, which include biopharmaceuticals and health. As a key platform connecting Zhuhai and Macao, integrating with the Greater Bay Area, and facilitating enterprises’ “introduction in and going global” initiatives, the “Zhuhai-Macao Economic and Trade Cooperation Platform” plays a positive role in promoting two-way investment, bilateral trade, and business exchanges between Zhuhai and Macao. It is hoped that this forum will further drive innovation and development in the fields of smart healthcare and general health within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, foster mutual exchange among medical and healthcare enterprises in Zhuhai and Macao, strengthen cooperation in platform construction and industry cultivation, and thereby promote industrial development in Zhuhai.

Wang Yi, Director and General Manager of Zhuguang Group, stated that with the continued advancement of the Healthy China strategy, smart healthcare led by digital technologies is reshaping or poised to reshape the medical and health industry. Digitalization will become the core driver of future growth in the sector, leading a new round of changes in the competitive landscape. As one of the forum organizers, Zhuguang Group, upholding its mission to promote deep cooperation between Zhuhai and Macau, will leverage its cross-border platform advantages to vigorously foster broader, deeper, and higher-level exchanges and collaboration across various sectors within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, fully supporting Macau’s appropriate economic diversification.

The forum held a signing ceremony for the major project “Jointly Building Internet + Smart Healthcare Cooperation,” which included agreements for ten Zhuhai-based healthcare enterprises to join the Zhuguang Group’s Zhuhai-Macao Economic and Trade Cooperation Platform, as well as partnerships between the Zhongguancun Huayi Mobile Medical Technology Innovation Research Institute, the Guangdong Clinical Medicine Association, and the Greater Health Industry Committee of the Guangdong-Macao Federation of Industry and Commerce. The partnering parties will adhere to the principles of “resource sharing, complementary advantages, deepened cooperation, and mutual development,” promoting the orderly advancement of healthcare services in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area through a collaborative model integrating “Smart Healthcare + Internet + Greater Health.” These signed major projects will provide technical services and facilitate the translation of scientific achievements, thereby driving the comprehensive, end-to-end development of the healthcare industry in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

At the forum, Zhao Jun, Director of the Institute of Hospital Management, Director of the Ethics Committee, and Director of the Center for Innovation and Translation at Jiangsu Province People’s Hospital, and Ye Zhewei, Professor, Chief Physician, and Doctoral Supervisor in the Department of Orthopedics at Union Hospital affiliated with Huazhong University of Science and Technology, delivered special lectures titled “Digital Intelligence Empowering Technological Innovation and the Development of the Biopharmaceutical Industry: Opportunities, Challenges, and Countermeasures” and “Construction and Application of Medical Metaverse Scenarios,” respectively.

Meanwhile, focusing on cutting-edge topics in industries such as “Internet + Medical Aesthetics,” Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), and health supplements, a peak dialogue was held under the theme of “Internet + Smart Healthcare in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.” Distinguished experts invited to participate included Chan Iok Lap, Member of the Legislative Assembly of the Macao Special Administrative Region and President of the Macao Medical Association; Zhou Qiru, Director of the Internet Medical Center at the Second People’s Hospital of Guangdong Province; Li Zhuoxian, Vice President of Macau University of Science and Technology Hospital, Honorary President of the Macao Society of Digestive Endoscopy and the Macao Surgical Society, Honorary Clinical Professor of Surgery at the University of Hong Kong, and Honorary Committee Member of the Surgical Branch of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association; and Yu Linchang, Vice President of Zhuhai Health Cloud Technology Co., Ltd.Additionally, a roundtable forum was conducted under the theme of “Talent Think Tanks and Intelligent Medicine in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.” Invited speakers included Li Junde, former Vice President of the China Association of Chinese Medicine, doctoral supervisor, and chief physician; Sun Jinlv, Deputy Director of the Department of Allergy at Peking Union Medical College Hospital and doctoral supervisor; Tan Yali, a high-level talent from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan in Guangdong Province, Director of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Affairs Office at the Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, and Council Member of the Macao-Zhuhai Talent Development Promotion Association; Guan Bingquan, Chairman of the Macao Medical Association; and Huang Junjie, Vice President of the Macao Medical Association and Director of its Youth Committee. Through these exchanges and interactions, mutual understanding within the Guangdong-Macao big health industry was enhanced, creating favorable conditions for promoting resource integration between the two regions and fostering stronger cooperation between mainland enterprises and Macao.

That afternoon, the Enterprise In-Depth Exchange and Cooperation Conference was successfully held at Zhuguang Group’s Macau headquarters. Nearly 100 executives from leading companies in the internet healthcare industry engaged in in-depth discussions on “Internet + Smart + Intelligent + Rehabilitation Medicine” and the integration of the broader health sector, creating opportunities for the industry’s global development.

At the exchange meeting, Zhou Qiru, Chairman of the Internet Hospital Professional Committee of the Guangdong Clinical Medical Association, stated, “‘Internet + Smart Healthcare’ has played a significant role in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and meeting the public’s healthcare needs, demonstrating the broad prospects of internet-enabled health services. ‘Internet + Smart Healthcare’ can substantially elevate the level of domestic medical and health services, optimize resource allocation, innovate service delivery models, improve the efficiency of hospitals and physicians, reduce healthcare costs, and better satisfy the people’s growing demands for medical and health services. Meanwhile, ‘Internet + Healthcare’ promotes the integration of the internet with medical and health services, creating new opportunities for the development of the health industry. Concurrently, with the continuous advancement of big data, the Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence, as well as the widespread application of technologies such as omics, gene editing, and new material manufacturing, regenerative medicine has become a hot topic. Research in regenerative medicine is continuously expanding, with its scope steadily broadening. The development of the regenerative medicine field also brings new opportunities for the biopharmaceutical industry and fosters additional growth points within the broader health industry.”

In the future, Guangdong and Macao will focus on building a comprehensive, full-cycle medical and health industry chain. Efforts will be made to strengthen the cultivation of corporate innovation, accelerate the quality improvement, efficiency enhancement, and implementation of major projects, and expedite the development of smart healthcare innovation platforms, thereby promoting stepwise growth in the big health industry. The region aims to establish strong brands in the big health sector, continuously stimulate innovation vitality, optimize the business environment, vigorously attract investment, accelerate the creation of national-level industrial bases, and build a robust big health industry cluster.

“We look forward to leveraging this forum to further facilitate the mobility of medical talent in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and advance the development of smart healthcare service platforms, thereby promoting high-quality growth in the healthcare industry and continuously contributing voice and strength to the implementation of the ‘Healthy China’ strategy,” said Huang Gu, Head of Events at Zhuguang Group.