2019 Smart Healthcare Innovation Competition: 100 Finalists Emerge After Two-Month Selection

“Yuzhang, the ancient capital; Hongdu, the new prefecture. A land of natural treasures and human brilliance.”

A thousand years ago, Wang Bo gazed upon the autumn splendor here and penned the Preface to the Prince of Teng’s Pavilion; a thousand years later, fierce competition converges on smart healthcare.

Smart Healthcare: Applying Diverse Technologies to the Medical FieldBy leveraging digital and visual models, smart healthcare enables limited medical resources to serve a broader population. Although the path to developing smart healthcare is fraught with challenges, there has never been a shortage of pioneers. These trailblazers explore the depths of the field, seeking efficient and convenient healthcare solutions, thereby contributing to the Healthy China initiative.

The “2019 Smart Healthcare Innovation Competition” was guided by the Information Professional Committee of the Chinese Hospital Association, initiated by the Joint Laboratory of Mobile Health Education and China Mobile, and co-organized with relevant local associations, societies, and industry institutions. After two rounds of selection, including preliminary screening and regional finals (seven major regions, recommended by ten provinces and municipalities), the competition organizing committee and co-organizersfrom seven dimensions, including clarity of the project scenario, advancement of the project concept, market prospects, social benefits, clarity of target pain points, and reliability of the solution, inviting dozens of industry experts as judges to ultimately select 100 innovative projects and teams from nearly 300 entries to compete in the grand finals. (See the end of this article for the list of finalists.)

Among the 100 projects that reached the finals, 40 involved “Internet+,” 10 focused on cloud applications, 22 on big data, 25 on artificial intelligence, and 14 on the Internet of Things. Of these, 34 projects emphasized clinical applications, while 27 concentrated on information management. An analysis of both the finalist entries and the overall participant pool indicates that “Internet+” serves as a key platform for the development of smart healthcare, with clinical applications emerging as a focal point for innovation in this field.

According to data from the National Health Commission and the National Bureau of Statistics, the scale of China’s internet healthcare industry is projected to grow from RMB 15.4 billion in 2017 to RMB 94.8 billion in 2025. The broad market prospects have become the fundamental driving force behind the development of the internet healthcare sector. In the finals of the 2019 Smart Healthcare Innovation Competition, internet-based solutions remained the central theme. The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University has embarked on building an internet-centric smart healthcare platform for doctors and patients; Xiamen Maternal and Child Health Hospital has developed an “Internet+”-based integrated online-offline neonatal visitation system; and Wuhan Central Hospital, affiliated with Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, is exploring practical models for extending nursing care services through its internet hospital.

Furthermore, the advent of the “first year” of 5G commercialization has ushered in a new era of smart healthcare. 5G represents an entirely new digital medical network; its application will break through spatial limitations, significantly enhance patients’ healthcare experiences, and enable personalized medicine. In this competition, specific application cases of 5G-enabled smart healthcare included: the “5G Smart Healthcare Integrated Service Collaboration Platform Project,” jointly submitted by The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, China Mobile, and Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.; and the “Construction of a Medical Consortium Group Hospital System Based on 5G Internet Operations,” jointly submitted by Hunan Provincial Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital and Hunan Chuangxing Technology Co., Ltd.

How will the value chain of medical big data be reshaped in new drug development, precision medicine, and clinical research? The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University has conducted research on the construction of a medical big data platform and the application of prediction models for stroke complications. Ping An International Smart City Technology Co., Ltd. is focused on building a big data-based platform for clinical medical research. Furthermore, the Third Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, in partnership with Hunan Kechuang Information Technology Co., Ltd., is leveraging medical knowledge graphs and clinical big data to develop an intelligent auxiliary diagnosis and treatment system for specific diseases.

In the medical field, artificial intelligence algorithms have achieved breakthrough progress in new drug development, assisted diagnosis and treatment, and cancer detection. Although there is still a long way to go before AI can replace doctors, “AI+” has already been able to assist doctors and patients in many aspects. In this competition, the Chinese People's Liberation Army General Hospital developed an AI-based AORTIST system for precise diagnosis and treatment throughout the entire lifecycle of aortic diseases, while Pingxiang People's Hospital actively explored the application of artificial intelligence and virtual reality technologies in the construction of smart hospitals...

Future healthcare will inevitably leverage technological means to forge tighter connections among hospitals, physicians, and patients. A significant portion of medical services will transition to online, one-stop platforms. As internet, mobile internet, and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies mature to a certain level, disruptive reforms in the healthcare sector will naturally follow.

Clinical departments are the core of a hospital, directly responsible for patient admission, diagnosis, and treatment. The application of smart healthcare in clinical settings directly impacts the effectiveness of precision medicine. In the past, the focus was on exploring how technology could be applied in clinical medical practice. This year, attention has shifted more toward the productization and commercialization of smart healthcare solutions, and their applicability in real-world clinical scenarios.

As technological advancements propel hospital informatization into the 3.0 era, with a strategic shift toward data operations, Yinjiang Health has joined forces with tech giants such as Alibaba Cloud, Chutian Cloud, and Huawei to intensify their efforts in hospital data operations. Meanwhile, H3C officially launched the industry’s first “Digital Hospital Cloud.” Among the projects selected for the finals, Guiyang Maternal and Child Health Hospital established a hospital IT operations and maintenance platform; Daming County People’s Hospital proposed a novel integrated solution for radiotherapy; and Leshan People’s Hospital designed and implemented an information management system for the secondary warehouse of medical hygiene materials.

A growing number of cases demonstrate that hospital informatization can rapidly enhance operational management standards. In the course of such digital transformation, innovative smart healthcare enterprises are better positioned to accurately identify the niche markets for their R&D products.

In the field of medical imaging, Yizhan Medical Group has partnered with China Mobile to research 5G medical imaging cloud platforms and vertical industry solutions; Jiangxi Provincial Maternal and Child Health Hospital has leveraged cloud film technology to drive innovation in medical imaging services; Xinxiang Central Hospital has launched the “MedChain Cloud” imaging diagnostic platform. In the future, smart healthcare digital imaging services will enable medical institutions to achieve full lifecycle management of imaging data at low cost, while an innovative imaging ecosystem will drive upgrades in medical productivity.

The Grand Finals of the 2019 Smart Healthcare Innovation Competition, featuring 100 competing projects, will be held in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, on June 14–15. Winners will be selected through a comprehensive evaluation based on online voting scores and expert judges’ ratings, taking into account performance across three stages: on-site roadshows, expert Q&A sessions, and contestant defenses. Awards to be presented include First, Second, and Third Prizes, the Outstanding Contribution Award, the Distinguished Performance Award, the Best Application Innovation Award, the Best Grassroots Practice Award, the Most Widespread Impact Award, the Most Popular Award, and the Most Investment-Worthy Award.

Registration for this competition is now open. Industry peers are welcome to attend, and friends from all sectors are invited to provide oversight and guidance.

To register for the competition, please scan the QR code.