Top 10 Projects Crowned at the First Bricare Guojian Cup International Healthcare Innovation & Entrepreneurship Competition Finals in Chongqing

VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) has learned that on September 19, the grand finals of the first Bairuike Guojian Cup “Direct to Cleveland” International Medical Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition were held at Headquarters City in Yuzhong District, Chongqing. Nineteen projects advanced through multiple rounds of competition to reach the finals, where they competed for final rankings via pitch presentations.

Finals Venue

This competition is a key component of the series of themed activities under the Chongqing Medical University (CQMU) Innovation Ecosystem, jointly promoted by the Chongqing Municipal Science and Technology Bureau, the People’s Government of Yuzhong District, Chongqing, and Chongqing Medical University. The event is hosted by the Yuzhong District Science and Technology Bureau of Chongqing, the Administrative Committee for the Construction of the Dashihua New Area in Yuzhong District, Chongqing International Medical Innovation Center, and Sinopharm Medical Device Research Institute. Co-organizers include Chongqing Science and Technology Venture Capital Co., Ltd., Wuhan Baichuanghui, Shanghai Chuangrui Investment Group, Guojian Capital, VCBeat, Huayi Health Industry Scientific and Technological Achievement Transformation Center, and Guojian Medical.

The competition aims to gather enterprises from both domestic and international markets in the fields of innovative medical devices, services, and smart healthcare. Leveraging first-mover advantages and focusing on industrial clusters, it seeks to deepen scientific research collaboration with Cleveland Clinic, select high-quality projects for international showcase, identify innovations meeting global standards, cultivate practical projects for international markets, accelerate the development of the ecosystem around Chongqing Medical University, and facilitate the implementation and industrialization of premium projects. Furthermore, serving as an international bridge for exchanges in advanced medical innovation between China and the United States, the competition actively strengthens cooperation and communication between domestic medical enterprises and foreign advanced medical institutions, thereby promoting the internationalization of China’s high-end medical enterprises.

Mr. Zou Xiaoyu, Deputy District Mayor of the Yuzhong District People’s Government of Chongqing Municipality, and Professor Yang Zhu, Vice President of Chongqing Medical University, attended the meeting. The conference was attended by 150 participants, including representatives of experts and professors from universities and medical institutions such as Chongqing Medical University, as well as representatives from high-quality domestic and international medical innovation enterprises, professional investment institutions, and incubators.

Group Photo of Participants

At the event, Zou Xiaoyu, Deputy District Mayor of Yuzhong District Government, delivered the opening remarks, fully affirming the competition’s role in promoting exchanges on advanced medical technology innovation between China and foreign countries, as well as facilitating the commercialization of projects within the innovation ecosystem surrounding Chongqing Medical University. Meng Wei, Managing Director of Guojian Capital, represented investment institutions by delivering a keynote speech titled “Investing in the World We Want,” articulating the firm’s investment philosophy as a professional healthcare industry investor. His presentation received unanimous recognition from government agencies, medical enterprises, and industrial parks in attendance.

Address by Deputy District Mayor Zou Xiaoyu

This event is held in the Dashi-Hua New Area of Chongqing. Located in the western part of Yuzhong District, Chongqing Municipality, the Dashi-Hua New Area encompasses the three subdistricts of Daping, Shiyou Road, and Hualongqiao. With over 3.1 million square meters of functional space, it is supported by three pillar industries: big data and intelligent technologies, healthcare and wellness, and professional services.

The competition spanned three months, during which event information was released and project recruitment was conducted nationwide. Approximately 300 healthcare-related projects registered. Following initial screening, 60 high-quality projects were shortlisted into the premium project pool. Subsequent regional preliminary rounds held in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Wuhan, Chengdu, and Chongqing further evaluated and narrowed down the entries, ultimately selecting 19 projects to advance to the grand finals.

After a day of intense competition and rigorous professional evaluation, ten high-quality roadshow projects were selected to receive first, second, and third prizes as well as honorary awards. These projects were chosen to form the Chinese delegation, which will participate in the 2019 Cleveland Clinic Medical Innovation Summit in the United States and present their projects to a global audience.

First Prize

Atrial Shunt Device (Weike Medical)

First Prize Award Ceremony

Second Prize

Pregnancy Prediction - Leukocyte Migration Assay (Chongqing Medical University Team)

Point-of-Care Testing and Quantitative Detection Enabled by Microfluidics: Transforming Medical Diagnostics (Mustard Bio)

Second Prize Award Ceremony

Third Prize

Coherent Raman Bacterial Metabolic Imaging Detection (VibroniX)

Medical-Grade Fiber Optic Sensor Diagnostic Platform (Daerma Technology)

Ultrasound Visualizer and AI Applications (Langsheng Youtu)

Third Prize Award Ceremony

Excellence Award

Ultrafast Light-Responsive Bioadhesive (Zhejiang University Team)

Digital Dentistry (Xiurui Medical)

(R&D of Innovative Antitumor Formulations (Jingnuoze Pharma))

Implantation Guidelines (Shenzhen Zhihe Body)

Award Ceremony for the Excellence Award

Following the grand finals, VCBeat promptly interviewed the judges, who shared their impressions of the competition and offered recommendations on the future development of the projects from the perspectives of incubation, capital, and policy.

Mr. Li Zhe, General Manager of Baichuanghui, noted that the competition has given rise to a large number of innovation projects incubated within hospitals. These projects were originally designed to closely align with genuine clinical needs. Although some of these projects have not yet established significant technical barriers at this stage, they have addressed specific clinical pain points, thereby serving as a valuable complement to innovation and entrepreneurship models that leverage frontier technologies as their foundation.

Meanwhile, Mr. Li Zhe pointed out that the entities implementing in-hospital innovation projects have unique characteristics. In the process of forming a complete entrepreneurial loop, they require greater external support. This competition has provided an excellent platform for these projects to connect with more resources across the industrial chain.

Mr. Tang Haofu, Chairman of Chuangrui Capital, emphasized the importance of Chinese innovation and entrepreneurship projects “going global” from the perspectives of technological and market validation. “Conducting technology demonstrations overseas and soliciting feedback from global industry experts can provide concrete benefits for a company’s long-term planning and resource aggregation, enabling innovative projects to achieve alignment between resources and objectives at an earlier stage.”

Mr. Xin Xiaoxiong, Deputy Director of the Medical Policy Research Center at the Beijing Health Promotion Association, stated that in recent years, many national-level policies have demonstrated an intent to encourage innovation in pharmaceuticals and healthcare from the source, such as incorporating the patent holder system into the Drug Administration Law. If innovative entrepreneurship projects can refine their design for applying through special approval and priority review channels at a relatively early stage, it will be highly beneficial for their subsequent market entry.

Mr. Liu Hui, Deputy Director of the Sinopharm Medical Device Research Institute, has long been engaged in providing services for innovative medical device projects. He stated that while the technologies and products of the finalist projects participating in the roadshows were highly competitive, their equity structure designs all exhibited various issues. “This is a common phenomenon among early-stage startups. By participating in innovation competitions, they can leverage the platform’s resources to address their weaknesses.”

Mr. Zhu Jia, Partner at Heda Capital, shared his key takeaways from the conference with VCBeat. As an investor, Mr. Zhu is accustomed to evaluating projects based on cash flow and future returns. While serving as a judge and observing project roadshows, he gained fresh insights into the professional knowledge surrounding many cutting-edge technologies and began to place greater emphasis on the technologies themselves. “Bringing together early-stage startups at similar development stages creates a valuable learning opportunity for both entrepreneurs and investors.”

The 2019 Cleveland Clinic Medical Innovation Summit in the United States will focus on global discussions of medical innovation, bringing together more than 2,000 attendees, over 500 participating institutions, 165 speakers, and participants from 16 countries, with more than 40 themed sessions. The summit’s themes span health economics, artificial intelligence in medicine, healthcare big data, and drug research and development, showcasing the most cutting-edge new technologies in healthcare to a global audience.

The organizer, Chongqing International Medical Innovation Center, is a leading professional platform for incubating and accelerating international medical innovation projects. It is committed to promoting high-quality domestic and foreign medical projects and technologies to market, while providing value-added services to incubated enterprises, such as entrepreneurial coaching, capital matchmaking, and the introduction of high-end medical resources from both China and abroad. As an important component of the innovation ecosystem surrounding Chongqing Medical University, the center has currently accumulated over 100 domestic and international medical innovation projects.

The Innovation Ecosystem Surrounding Chongqing Medical University is a key initiative undertaken by the Yuzhong District People’s Government to implement the municipal government’s requirements for advancing the construction of “University-Adjacent Innovation Ecosystems” and to promote the upgrading of Yuzhong District’s industrial structure.

Centered on the abundant clinical, teaching, and research resources of Chongqing Medical University and its affiliated hospitals, the CQMU Innovation Ecosystem strengthens the “three major pillars” of technology, capital, and innovation ecology. Leveraging capital as a linking mechanism, it connects and aggregates innovative elements—including technology, talent, universities, and enterprises—to foster positive interactions among them. This approach bridges the “last mile” in translating academic research achievements into practical applications, drives industrial structural transformation in Yuzhong District and across Chongqing Municipality, and cultivates an internationally competitive innovation ecosystem for the medical and health industry.

Through two to three years of development, the Chongqing Medical University Innovation Ecosystem will become a “Two Zones, Two Hubs”: a dynamic medical innovation zone and a high-end medical service zone in western China, as well as a comprehensive hub for medical industry aggregation and venture capital concentration.