From Concept to Industrialization: Innovative Companies Accelerate Toward Leadership in the Trillion-Yuan Digital Health Market
“The Post-Tech Era Has Arrived.”
Accenture pointed out in its research report, "2019 Digital Health Technology Vision," that digital health is undergoing disruptive changes.
Digital health has already become a hot field. According to statistics from Transparency Market Research, the global digital health market size is expected to reach $536.6 billion by the end of 2025. Boston Consulting also predicts,By 2020, the market size of China's digital healthcare industry will reach RMB 700 billion.
A recent report released by Philips indicates that China has surpassed other countries in the application of digital healthcare, emerging as a global pioneer in this field. Key subsectors currently garnering significant attention include smart wearable devices, digital medical devices, information management systems, and telemedicine technologies.
Taking smart wearable devices as an example, the market size in China has reached $4.6 billion and continues to grow year by year. Such a promising market prospect has also inspired a large number of innovators to move forward and explore. Recently, VCBeatExclusive Interviews with Three Digital Health Companies Based in Tianfu Software Park, all of them have used smart wearable devices as an entry point to complete the evolution from traditional diagnosis to digital healthcare. Let’s see how they achieved breakthroughs from 0 to 1 through their actions?
Elderly Care IndustryIt is a significant industry that has gradually developed alongside the aging process. China has now fully entered an aging society, and this demographic shift is accelerating. With the acceleration of digital transformation, the industry holds immense potential for growth.
Founded in 2014,Mai Mai Elderly CareIt is an innovative enterprise in Tianfu Software Park specifically dedicated to digital elderly care scenarios. It is a healthcare company focused on smart caregiving services, providing comprehensive software and hardware solutions for smart caregiving to mid-to-high-end elderly care institutions, communities, and home-based elderly care.
“We have developed customized solutions for various scenarios. For instance, in our solution for institutional elderly care,”The core of Maimai Elderly Care’s product is the Health Cloud. Centered on the Health Cloud, Maimai Elderly Care has built four components: the senior terminal, the nurse terminal, the children’s terminal, and the management platform.“Li Guangpeng, founder and CTO of MaiMai Elderly Care, told VCBeat.”
(Figure caption: Maimai Elderly Care Series of Smart Hardware)
Among them, the elderly terminal consists of smart bracelets (watches), wireless fixed call buttons, wall-mounted call buttons, portable call buttons, smart gateways, and smart mattresses, meeting the daytime and nighttime application scenarios for healthy seniors, semi-dependent seniors, and seniors with dementia or disabilities.
The nurse terminal consists of a smart nurse wristband (watch), a nurse PAD, and an integrated health data collection device; the family member terminal is a WeChat mobile application; and the management platform includes a TV interface, a mobile H5 page, and a web-based backend.
(Figure caption: Focused on Smart Care Services)
Li Guangpeng stated that Maimai Elderly Care'sSoftware and hardware products and core algorithms have obtained more than 30 national technical patents, certified with EU CE, RoHS, ISO 9001, and IEC 60950.The product series has reached over 40 cities across China and more than 200 mid-to-high-end elderly care institutions.
MaMai Elderly Care has grown from a team of just four members a few years ago into an enterprise with nearly 80 employees today. Li Guangpeng attributes this achievement to the collective efforts of a dedicated group committed to continuous exploration, optimization, and innovation.
“我们在软硬件产品研发上投入了大量时间、精力和资金，从最初的第一代产品发展到如今的第三代产品，从零客户起步到如今拥有全国数百家合作机构，这些都是我们创新突破的有力见证。”李光朋感慨道。
"Innovation with the spirit of craftsmanship: The market has not let them down."Nowadays,Maimai Elderly Care’s product series ranks first in market share within the mid-to-high-end elderly care sector.
Crossing the desert, one finds an oasis. Digital healthcare is like a vibrant oasis, attracting medical innovators to pursue and pioneer new frontiers.Rotexis one of its practitioners.
RouDian Cloud Technology was founded in 2015, and is aHigh-Tech Platform-Level Flexible Electronic Product SolutionsCompany, and is also one of the star digital health companies in Tianfu Software Park.
RouDian YunKe’s independently developed electronic tattoos/skin patches can be widely applied in various fields, including human-computer interaction, healthcare and medical services, consumer electronics, and industrial applications. The company possesses core R&D capabilities, full independent intellectual property rights, and multiple patents, along with its own production lines and a mature delivery and fulfillment team.
(Figure Caption: Physiological Testing)
Good growth cannot occur without good “soil.” In 2016, FlexElec CloudTech settled in Tianfu Software Park. Over the next three years, it experienced rapid growth with the support of the park.Its independently developed electronic skin delivery system has achieved industrialization and is being fully rolled out to the market.
“OurElectronic Skin Delivery System Utilizes Transdermal Drug Delivery System (TDDS) Technology, using electronic skin as a medium to uniformly deliver hyaluronic acid and other hydro-lifting essences through the intercellular spaces of the stratum corneum directly into the dermis via surface electric fields, with a maximum penetration depth of 1 millimeter, enabling nutrients to permeate the stratum corneum and reach the dermis,Intelligent control throughout the entire process, requiring no operation, highly efficient and safe, painless and non-invasive.“said Guo Yi, COO of RouDian YunKe.”
(Figure caption: Importing facial mask)
Furthermore, FlexElectronics Cloud has collaborated with the National Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials and West China Hospital to launch multiple research projects of significant medical and commercial value. These include “Research and Development of a Flexible Electrical Stimulation Management System Based on Stretchable Epidermal Electronics and Its Application in Patients with Neck Pain” and “Clinical Product Study on Pressure-Relieving Bed Sheets Based on Electronic Skin for Pressure Ulcer Prevention,” among others.
Guo Yi, COO of RouDian YunKe, introduced that they have recently also beenNew Product Development，For example, flexible sensors for healthcare, ECG sensor patches, and flexible sensors in smart diapers.
“The advantage of growing in such fertile soil is that we don’t have to worry about anything else; we just need to focus on R&D and reap the rewards stage by stage,” said Guo Yi.
Although smart wearable devices are highly popular in the healthcare industry, gaining physician recognition remains a significant challenge at present, and integrating them into hospital clinical practices is even more difficult.
At Tianfu Software Park, there is a company that, while also rooted in the wearable device sector, has rapidly established connections with hospital physicians due to its distinctly different approach. This company isYunweikang, established in 2014, is aSpecializing in the R&D of Wearable Devices and Services for Sleep-Disordered Breathing Screeningmedical technology company.
Yun Weikang focuses on improving sleep-disordered breathing for 170 million people in China, with obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) as its entry point.Innovative “Device + Consumables” Business Model: Expanding the Application of Sleep-Disordered Breathing Screening from Traditional Clinical Departments to the Health Management (Physical Examination) Sector, significantly enhancing patients’ awareness of this disease, unlocking the industry’s development potential, and fundamentally reshaping the industry landscape.
(Figure caption: Wearable blood oxygen monitor)
In just a few years, Yunweikang has grown from a startup team into a leading enterprise in the field of sleep-disordered breathing screening. And within a mere six months,Implemented across and applied in over 150 hospitals。
According to the International Classification of Diseases, there are 88 sleep disorders, 65% of which are sleep-related breathing disorders; one of the primary manifestations of this condition is snoring.
Patients with sleep-disordered breathing not only experience adverse effects on daily life, such as poor sleep quality, non-restorative sleep, daytime sleepiness, drowsiness while driving, insomnia with excessive dreaming, decreased libido, personality changes, and nocturia, but may also trigger or exacerbate high-risk conditions including cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, and stroke. In severe cases, sudden cardiac death may occur.
Yunweikang’s first-generation product was a blood oxygen monitoring wristband. After years of technological accumulation and R&D investment, Yunweikang has launched its third-generation respiratory monitoring project.Yunweikang’s current product lineup consists of a hardware-software combination, including a coin-sized monitoring terminal and an auxiliary diagnostic software.
(Product Image)
After obtaining the relevant products at the hospital, patients only need toBy adhering the compact monitoring terminal to a designated location, such as the wrist, home-based monitoring can be achieved without the need for an overnight hospital stay.After the patient removes the monitoring terminal at the hospital, the auxiliary diagnostic software can immediately retrieve the report.Provide physicians with auxiliary diagnostic recommendations following local or cloud-based analysis.
“Over the past few years, we have completed product R&D, clinical studies, and obtained software and hardware certifications. We are currently collaborating with more than 150 medical institutions across China to accelerate industrialization and scale-up,” said Liu Jun, founder of Yunweikang.
Maimai Elderly Care, RouDian Cloud Tech, and YunWeiKang—these three digital health enterprises, despite their relatively short history, have achieved rapid growth by leveraging their astute judgment of industry prospects, continuous innovation in R&D, and the support provided by Tianfu Software Park.
For startups, the entrepreneurial environment and ecosystem are crucial. In this interview, we found thatThe systematic support provided by Tianfu Software Park to enterprises is also a crucial component.
VCBeat has learned that, in addition to providing office and R&D spaces, Tianfu Software Park facilitates resource matchmaking for enterprises and offers an investment对接 platform for incubated projects. The park regularly hosts roadshow events such as investor project review meetings, Entrepreneurship Field Open Days, investment and financing summits, innovation and entrepreneurship competitions, and startup training camps.
According to Li Guangpeng, Founder and CTO of MaiMai Elderly Care, the company’s previous successful funding round was secured thanks to a roadshow event held within the industrial park. Guo Yi, COO of RouDian Cloud Technology, also stated that Tianfu Software Park boasts a strong industrial agglomeration effect, a vibrant entrepreneurial atmosphere, and a concentration of high-tech talent, making it easier for companies to recruit and ensuring they are “well-staffed.”
Therefore, amidst the surge in digital health startups, we believe thatFor Digital Health Companies to Break ThroughAt least the following three traits are required:
I. Focus on High-Potential Sectors.The elderly care industry and OSA screening are both fields with substantial growth potential;
II. Features forward-looking technologies, with R&D addressing actual pain points.Although the three companies approached the market from different angles, they all leveraged digital technology innovation to effectively address market pain points, thereby delivering greater value for commercialization.
III. Innovation Ecosystem and Industrial Landscape.The journey of Maimai Elderly Care, Yunweikang, and Roudian Cloud Tech from startup teams to industrialization would not have been possible without the favorable entrepreneurial environment and comprehensive, well-matched service ecosystem provided by Tianfu Software Park.
November 16,2019 13th Sichuan Internet ConferenceHeld at the InterContinental Century City Global Center in Chengdu. This conference is themed “Illuminating the Eye of Technology: AI and 5G Usher in a New Era of Industry Convergence” as the theme, inviting tech giants, industry experts, and investment institutions from both China and abroad who are authorities in communication technology and artificial intelligence to jointly explore how AI and 5G will redefine the internet.
