Bayer G4A China 2019 Successfully Concludes with Blockchain-Powered Digital Health Solution Csecure

After months of communication and selection, the Bayer G4A China Startup Collaboration Program ultimately facilitated on-the-ground partnerships with startups.

G4A China Program: After years of development, the program was relaunched in 2019 with a redefined role, aligning its recruited projects more closely with practical implementation, ultimately facilitating a successful collaboration between a company and Bayer.

How does the G4A China program view the development of the digital health sector? What qualities must a project possess to ultimately secure a partnership with Bayer?

As G4A China 2019 drew to a successful close, VCBeat spoke with Ding Song’en, the project lead for G4A, to understand the rationale behind the changes seen in G4A China 2019:

VCBeat:What considerations led G4A China to depart from its previous operational model in 2019 by directly advancing collaborative projects to the implementation stage?

Ding Song'en:Startups do bring many valuable ideas and perspectives, possessing their own unique technological core. However, perhaps because the solutions are not yet mature or due to gaps in technical reserves, these ideas and technologies often struggle to achieve final commercialization and practical implementation. Upon reflection, we believe that in the field of digital health, what matters is not just technology, but more importantly, addressing actual patient needs. This is also the reason why our strategy changed in 2019.

VCBeat:Has G4A China’s evaluation criteria for enterprises also undergone corresponding changes as it delves deeper into the implementation phase?

Ding Songen:Our evaluation of enterprises no longer stops at the technical level; we place greater emphasis on their comprehensive strength. To ultimately achieve project implementation, technical reserves alone are far from sufficient. Other attributes, such as team capability, project experience, value proposition, and even financial status, are also critically important. Moreover, the solutions proposed by enterprises must align closely with the specific challenges of our collaboration.

VCBeat:How does G4A China evaluate its performance in recent years, particularly its operations in 2019?

Ding Song'en:This year’s progress has validated our new strategic direction. We have been continuously exploring the digital health sector since 2016. Through ongoing engagement with local Chinese startups, we have deepened our understanding of the digital health landscape. Ultimately, G4A has sought to identify new entry points within this domain, aiming to fulfill its mission of “Shaping New Health Experiences.”

Bayer’s mission, “Science for a Better Life,” signifies the pursuit of innovative solutions to improve people’s lives. As a vital component of Bayer’s global innovation network, China drives sustained growth through the cultivation of local innovation capabilities, strengthened cross-sector collaboration, support for startups, and leadership in digital transformation across the industry. This is precisely why Bayer has introduced G4A to China.

The years since G4A’s entry into China have coincided with a period of rapid development in the country’s digital health sector. From internet-based healthcare to artificial intelligence, digital technologies are reshaping traditional medical processes and delivering entirely new healthcare experiences for patients. As a leading global healthcare company, Bayer has accurately seized the new opportunities presented by the “Internet Plus” initiative and the broader digital transformation. By supporting startups through G4A, Bayer is helping to lead industry trends in digital applications while fulfilling its responsibility to enhance patients’ healthcare experiences.

In 2019, G4A shifted its approach from a technology-centric perspective to one driven by the needs of real-world clinical practice, pre-defining six collaborative challenges. Participating companies were required to engage in dialogue with Bayer to identify innovative digital health solutions within practical application scenarios and ultimately implement them.

G4A maintained its consistently high standards for partner companies during the project selection process. Over a six-week period, all applicant projects underwent G4A’s initial screening followed by in-depth discussions with relevant Bayer departments. By facilitating communication with these departments, G4A clarified the entire pathway from recruitment to project implementation. This enabled participating startups to better understand Bayer’s needs and pre-design corresponding solutions, ultimately ensuring more precise project execution.

During the initial screening phase, companies must first engage in preliminary communications with the G4A Challenge Collaboration Team to establish the basic project direction. Following this initial screening, only companies with demonstrated collaboration potential will advance to the second round of in-depth discussions for each challenge. To pass the first-round screening, companies must possess the comprehensive capability to execute an implementable project and have already developed a preliminary solution tailored to the specific challenge.

In the second round of in-depth discussions, companies will engage in direct dialogue with Bayer’s functional departments to refine their project proposals, aiming to translate their solutions to specific challenges into implementable projects.

Reaching the second round still leaves a considerable distance before project implementation. Companies need to continue refining their proposals through in-depth discussions with Bayer, further improving their solutions from multiple dimensions such as feasibility, economic cost, and market positioning. At this stage, the maturity of the solution and the uniqueness of the technical approach are particularly important. Meanwhile, companies must also reach agreement with Bayer on numerous details regarding project execution, such as milestones in project progress, and the roles and responsibilities assumed by each party.

The final solution from the companies that passed the two rounds of screening was selected by the Bayer Co-Lab Challenge team to determine which enterprise would enter into a partnership. In 2019, G4A recruited a long list of dozens of companies. After one and a half months of preliminary screening and in-depth exchanges, only one company emerged as the standout, becoming the sole startup to partner with Bayer in 2019.

Interestingly, the only company that ultimately partnered with G4A this year does not have a healthcare background.

At the 2019 Bayer G4A program, Chinese startups addressed challenges in investigational medicinal product management for clinical trials, ultimately developing “Csecure,” a secure platform that leverages blockchain technology to manage clinical trial supplies.

The objective of this challenge was to identify a solution capable of enhancing data transparency, efficacy, and traceability in the management of investigational medicinal products for clinical trials. The high security, traceability, and immutability inherent to blockchain technology align precisely with these requirements. Consequently, the partnership was ultimately established with VeChain, a blockchain technology company.

VeChain is a startup that was launched in 2015 and formally established in 2017, focusing on the development of underlying blockchain technologies and tools and services related to the application of emerging technologies. “Blockchain has developed very rapidly in recent years. It is essentially an underlying technology that can be integrated into various fields to safeguard data transmission and sharing,” VeChain’s founder, Lu Yang, told VCBeat. In the past, VeChain’s collaborations with large enterprises mostly occurred in non-healthcare sectors, with limited involvement in the healthcare field. In particular, its direct participation in the design and research and development of a medical product marks its first such endeavor.

In terms of technical capabilities, VeChain’s independently developed VeChain ToolChain™^TMThe BaaS (Blockchain-as-a-Service) platform can rapidly deploy comprehensive solutions. In terms of team composition, VeChain’s executive team largely comprises professionals from Fortune 500 companies, supported by a technical R&D team of over 60 members. Regarding project experience, VeChain has previously collaborated with enterprises such as PwC and Walmart China. It is this strong overall capability that enabled VeChain to successfully pass through the rigorous selection stages of G4A.

The Csecure platform leverages blockchain technology to continuously collect and track supply chain data for clinical trials. Information encrypted via blockchain is timestamped, user-identified, and immutable. Consequently, if a user’s digital information does not match the actual conditions, the system will rapidly respond and report any misconduct. Csecure addresses this scenario to enhance transparency and ensure security within Bayer’s clinical trial supply chain.

“Through this collaboration with Bayer, our strongest impression has been the rigor characteristic of the healthcare industry. This rigor extends beyond product design; it was evident throughout our communications with G4A and various relevant business units at Bayer, reflecting the company’s overall serious commitment to healthcare,” said Lu Yang, Founder of VeChain, who spoke highly of Bayer.

While the application scenarios targeted by Csecure may appear limited in scope, they represent genuine pain points and opportunities that Bayer has directly encountered in the conduct of actual clinical trials. It is precisely by addressing such specific, real-world micro-scenarios within individual operational steps that digital technologies continuously enhance the experience of patients, healthcare professionals, and other relevant stakeholders throughout the diagnosis and treatment process.

The 2020 G4A Global Collaboration Program further consolidated the successful experiences from previous years, offering differentiated collaboration opportunities tailored to the development stages of startups. Early-stage companies can apply for the Growth Track to secure funding and learning opportunities, while more established enterprises can apply for the Scale-up Track to explore collaboration opportunities in the digital health sector with Bayer.

Meanwhile, corresponding collaboration challenges are opened to companies at different stages of development based on the challenge content. Shortlisted companies will still receive exclusive networking opportunities provided by G4A, guidance from senior mentors, and join the G4A alumni community, becoming lifelong partners of G4A. Companies interested in participating should follow the WeChat official account [G4A Bayer Grants for Acceleration] to stay updated on the 2020 track information as soon as it is released!