Successful Conclusion of 'New Forces: Seeking Medical Device Industry Partners' Initiative Announces Final Shortlist
On June 23, 2020, the “New Force | Call for Partners in the Medical Device Industry” initiative was officially launched. Co-organized by the Shaoxing Yuecheng Medical Device Industry Innovation Service Complex and VCBeat, a professional service platform for the healthcare industry, this campaign sought to identify industrial and talent partners. The initiative aimed to enhance Shaoxing’s ability to rapidly adapt to the fast-paced development of the medical device industry, drive industrial upgrading, leverage the catalytic role of high-end medical device enterprises to accelerate the incubation of high-quality industrial clusters, and foster the agglomeration of leading medical device companies. The project spanned 47 days, with the submission deadline on August 10, 2020, after which it entered an intensive review phase.
After 15 days of intensive evaluation, the shortlist for partner recruitment was officially announced on August 25, 2020.
During this event, more than 100 projects were submitted for industrial partnership and talent partnership applications. The submitted projects were primarily concentrated in the fields of high-value medical consumables, in vitro diagnostics (IVD), and medical equipment within the medical device sector. Notably, submissions in categories such as imaging and rehabilitation equipment, as well as high-value consumables for cardiovascular, orthopedic, and dental applications, accounted for over 39% of the total number of submitted projects. Projects in the field of intelligent and information technology construction also demonstrated strong participation. Furthermore, all shortlisted projects have a development need to establish their presence in the Yangtze River Delta economic circle.
Following the final evaluation, a total of 10 projects were shortlisted for the Industrial Partner Program, and 7 for the Talent Partner Program. The intense competition in the fields of intelligence and information technology further indicates that the digitalization and intelligent transformation of the medical device sector have entered a new stage of development.
The expert review panel for this call for entries comprises four stakeholder groups: government entities, enterprises, investment institutions, and operators. Projects will be evaluated based on two criteria: the project entity itself and its future implementation and development prospects.
Project review experts stated: “The founder and the overall strength of the team are key evaluation criteria in this review. As people constitute the core of a project and are critical to its future development, the assessment of the project’s founder, along with the completeness of the operational team’s organizational structure, the comprehensive quality of personnel, and the caliber of professional talent, holds significant reference value for this project evaluation.”
Meanwhile, the current call for partners in the medical device industry and talent partners is closely aligned with Shaoxing’s vigorous development of its local medical device sector. To identify more high-quality innovative forces in the medical device field, activate the local industrial ecosystem, accelerate industry growth, and foster the clustering and expansion of innovative industrial clusters, this partner recruitment initiative has received strong support and assistance from the Shaoxing Municipal Government. Shortlisted projects will be granted comprehensive support spanning policy incentives, funding, talent resources, and ecosystem integration. Consequently, a key evaluation criterion for this partner recruitment process is the comprehensive assessment of the applicant enterprises’ or projects’ feasibility and commitment to local implementation. Accordingly, the review panel conducts a holistic evaluation based on three major dimensions: professional merit, economic benefits, and implementation requirements along with future development prospects. The professional merit dimension encompasses both the clinical technical value and commercial value of the submitted projects.
After careful screening, 17 projects were shortlisted for this partner recruitment initiative. The shortlisted projects/companies are all in emerging or high-quality industry sectors, demonstrating clear advantages in terms of technological value, intellectual property achievements, market size, and competitiveness.
New Forces | Although the call for partners in the medical device industry has concluded, industrial development and the construction of future medical cities continue. It is reported that relevant leaders from the Shaoxing local government and the Shaoxing Yuecheng Medical Device Industry Innovation Service Complex will conduct further on-site visits to the shortlisted industrial and talent partners to discuss future development and achieve mutually beneficial collaboration.
For Shaoxing, as a key city strategically positioned within the Yangtze River Delta Economic Belt, the development of the medical and health industry has consistently been a major policy priority. Over the past 30 years of China’s industrial cluster development, healthcare industry clusters centered around the Bohai Rim, the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, and the Central and Western regions have begun to take shape on a significant scale. Meanwhile, with the rapid advancement of China’s medical and health sector, the substantial growth in research, technology, production, and ecosystem capabilities has imposed new demands on these industrial clusters.
In terms of the agglomeration pattern of the medical device industry, cluster development has evolved from the initial physical concentration of similar enterprises in industrial parks to a focus on the aggregation of innovation service elements, achieving the integration of various components of the innovation ecosystem within the region. The Yuecheng Medical Device Industry Innovation Service Complex was officially approved in 2017, construction began in 2018, and it was formally inaugurated on May 28, 2019. In March 2020, the preparation of comprehensive innovation service platforms, including the Complex and the Medical Device 3C Platform, was launched.
To better serve innovative enterprises within the industry, the Shaoxing Municipal Government has vigorously cultivated an ecosystem for the development of innovative industrial clusters. This effort is built upon a dual-track approach of policy guidance and financial support to drive industrial growth. The Yuecheng Medical Device Complex is a direct outcome of Shaoxing’s commitment to fostering this innovative cluster ecosystem. Consequently, the Yuecheng Medical Device Complex features a comprehensive design encompassing physical infrastructure, resource interoperability, and financial assurance:**Physical Infrastructure:** The complex includes public service areas, exhibition spaces, public laboratories, testing platforms, shared cold chain facilities, business incubation centers, and warehousing centers, with public service areas exceeding 10,000 square meters.**Innovation Resource Interoperability:** This involves integration with two major hospital systems—Shaoxing local hospitals and Peking University Healthcare—as well as three provincial-level key enterprise research institutes, twelve academician/expert workstations, two provincial-level key laboratories, and an innovation R&D platform leveraging the scientific research and student resources of twelve local universities.**Financial Assurance:** Dedicated funding includes a RMB 300 million special fund for medical devices, a RMB 500 million talent fund, and a RMB 10 billion healthcare industry fund. Special incubation startup funds ranging from RMB 2 million to RMB 10 million are allocated per enterprise for talent introduction. Additional multi-dimensional financial support includes registration certificate rewards of up to RMB 5 million per enterprise annually.**Evaluation System:** The complex evaluates the completeness and effectiveness of its innovation service system to guide the government and management in providing professional and precise services to enterprises.
As one of the few medical device industrial parks located within an urban area, the Yuecheng Medical Device Innovation Service Complex has partnered with Peking University Healthcare Innovation Valley to jointly operate the park, providing fertile ground for the development of high-quality, innovative medical device enterprises. This project solicitation not only continues to activate resources within the medical device industry but also further bridges the gap between the city of Shaoxing, the Yuecheng Complex, and medical device companies, selecting a batch of high-potential “seeds” for the construction of Shaoxing’s medical device industry ecosystem. Everything is in place; we now await the harvest season for Shaoxing’s medical device industry.
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