YiduTech Leverages AI 'Leading Goose Effect' to Advance Public Health and Unveils IPO Prospectus

“Artificial intelligence is a strategic technology leading this round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation,” emphasized President Xi Jinping during the ninth collective study session of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, clearly pointing out that AI has a strong “lead goose effect” with significant spillover and driving capabilities. How to better leverage the driving role of artificial intelligence is a question that every enterprise in the industry should consider.

Recently, two hot topics in the medical big data industry have caught the attention of VCBeat. Guiyang, known as “China’s Data Valley,” has welcomed its first medical big data enterprise to establish a presence. Almost simultaneously, Nanjing, one of the national pilot cities for health and medical big data centers, is attracting talent and fostering collaboration between government and enterprises to build a life and health industrial cluster valued at hundreds of billions of yuan. VCBeat has found that behind these two news stories lies a common name—Yidu Cloud, a unicorn enterprise in the medical big data sector.

It is reported that Yidu Cloud, whose valuation has exceeded RMB 10 billion, has further secured direct investment from China Investment Corporation this year. With high expectations, VCBeat interviewed Sun Zhe, founder of Yidu Cloud, aiming to draw insights for the current industry’s hotspots, challenges, and key priorities through his years of reflection as a pioneer, practitioner, and expert.

On-site at the unveiling ceremony for Yidu Cloud’s “Two Centers and One Research Institute” settling in Nanjing Jiangbei New Area: Li Baoping, Deputy Director of the Administrative Committee of Jiangbei New Area; Fang Jing, Director of the Science and Technology Innovation Bureau of the Administrative Committee of Jiangbei New Area; Gao Lei, Chairman and General Manager of Science and Technology Investment Group; Sun Zhe, Founder of Yidu Cloud; Sun Xiaoning, President of Private Equity Investment in China at Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC); Wu Jian’an, Director of the Private Equity Investment Department at China Investment Corporation (CIC); and senior executives from Yidu Cloud.

During the recent ninth group study session of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized the “lead goose effect” of artificial intelligence. This important assertion has strengthened our confidence and provided guidance for accelerating the development of next-generation AI. Artificial intelligence must be grounded in industrial applications; as pointed out in the report to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, it is essential to promote the deep integration of the internet, big data, artificial intelligence, and the real economy. Big data is regarded as a key driver for regional economic development and industrial upgrading, with local governments serving at the forefront of big data application.

In 2017, Yidu Cloud and Chongqing Medical University jointly established the Yidu Cloud Medical Data Research Institute at Chongqing Medical University, marking China’s first secondary college dedicated to medical data. Leveraging this platform, Yidu Cloud collaborated with the China Food and Drug Administration (formerly CFDA) on monitoring adverse drug reactions. By conducting population-level analyses across the entire Chongqing region, the partnership effectively identified local drug utilization patterns and adverse reactions with characteristics specific to Chongqing, demonstrating the substantial efficacy of this university-industry collaboration platform in the region.

This October, responding to the regional development policies of Guiyang—the national-level big data industry development cluster known as “China’s Data Valley”—Yidu Cloud has established its headquarters there, becoming the first medical big data enterprise to take root in Guizhou Province. To better leverage the “lead goose effect” of artificial intelligence, Yidu Cloud has fully exercised its role as an industry leader in its collaboration with the Guiyang Municipal Government, driving industrial incubation and innovating operational models.

Signing Ceremony Between Yidu Cloud COO Zhang Shi, the Administrative Committee of Guizhou Wudang Economic Development Zone, and Guizhou Wudang Economic Development Zone Construction Investment & Development Co., Ltd.

Sun Zhe, founder of Yidu Cloud, stated: “Yidu Cloud is committed to empowering governments through technology, providing patients with more effective healthcare services, delivering superior technical support to medical institutions, and contributing valuable practical experience to the development of China’s big data industry.”

As a key city in the Yangtze River Delta region, Nanjing has gathered numerous life and health enterprises. Previously, Yidu Cloud jointly established the “Jiangsu Provincial Medical Big Data Center” with Nanjing Medical University. Recently, Yidu Cloud partnered with Nanjing for the second time, establishing its China R&D Center and China Innovation Business Center in the Nanjing Jiangbei New Area. Meanwhile, the Nanjing Yiji Cloud Medical Data Research Institute, initiated by Yidu Cloud, was officially established. Aligning with the national strategy of building a “Modern Industrial Agglomeration Zone in the Yangtze River Delta,” this move represents a comprehensive smart healthcare initiative featuring “Two Centers and One Research Institute.”

In response to policy calls, Yidu Cloud not only drives industrial innovation with data intelligence, building the platform and ecological foundation for “industrial acceleration” in the medical and health sector, but also strives to serve socioeconomic development through data intelligence. These cross-industry collaborations and technological explorations are all hallmarks of “Chinese Practice.”

Since 2016, a series of guiding policy documents, including the “Guiding Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Promoting and Standardizing the Application and Development of Health and Medical Big Data” and the “Outline of the ‘Healthy China 2030’ Plan,” have been successively promulgated. As a result, health and medical big data has been incorporated into the national strategic layout for big data and has ushered in a period of rapid development. Guided by these policies, Yidu Cloud has progressed from R&D innovation to practical implementation and further to ecosystem building, thereby defining technical and application standards for artificial intelligence through its own growth, exemplifying the “lead goose effect.”

Yidu Cloud, founded in 2013, has since embarked on the exploration of intelligent medical data technologies. It is reported that Yidu Cloud has invested hundreds of millions of yuan in the independent research and development of its intelligent medical data platform and service system, which have been deployed in top-tier medical institutions.

Over the past five years, Yidu Cloud has built a traceable and regulatable intelligent medical data platform and an artificial intelligence application ecosystem. By establishing strategic collaborations with nearly 100 top-tier medical institutions in China, it has initially formed a hospital-centric alliance ecosystem.

Over the past two years, Yidu Cloud has begun exploring a regionalized, in-depth, and multi-center ecosystem. It has not only engaged in deep cooperation with local governments to foster innovation in the local medical and health industries but also implemented its big data centers and ecosystem initiatives, thereby establishing a data-driven healthcare ecosystem.

These achievements are underpinned by Yidu Cloud’s data technology, data knowledge, data networks, and applications. First, Yidu Cloud transforms large volumes of raw, unusable hospital data into computable big data that can be utilized efficiently. “Only high-quality, computable data that has undergone structuring and standardization can serve as the foundation for knowledge,” stated Sun Zhe.

By mastering patient-centric, full-lifecycle data and disease-oriented dynamic diagnostic and treatment data, Yidu Cloud has established a knowledge base system grounded in real-world data. Through this process, the value of medical big data is elevated, ultimately forming an “Intelligent Medical Brain.” Leveraging this Medical Brain, Yidu Cloud’s services have comprehensively permeated areas such as healthcare management, clinical diagnosis and treatment, scientific research, public policy-making, and regulation. Its service recipients span multiple dimensions, including governments, hospitals, medical professionals, regulatory agencies, and healthcare-related research institutions, providing personalized and guided application strategies for medical big data and artificial intelligence solutions.

Last year, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the National Health Commission, and several other ministries and agencies jointly formulated and issued the Five-Year Development Plan (2017–2021) for National Clinical Medical Research Centers. The plan calls for strengthening data aggregation and integration, and for building a cohort of standardized, norm-based, and large-scale health and medical big data platforms to lay a solid foundation for conducting high-level clinical research.

Currently, Yidu Cloud’s products cover more than 20 provinces across China and over 700 medical institutions. To date, Yidu Cloud has established 35 disease-specific databases, providing platform support for high-level scientific and technological breakthroughs. Based on these disease-specific databases, nearly 20 research papers have been published in prominent domestic and international journals, including top-tier industry journals such as The Lancet Oncology.

Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center Continuously Publishes SCI Articles Based on Disease-Specific Databases

Leveraging the nasopharyngeal carcinoma-specific disease database co-established with Yidu Cloud, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center has published five SCI-indexed papers on nasopharyngeal carcinoma this year in prestigious international journals, including The Lancet Oncology, BMC Cancer, Oral Oncology, and Cancer Science. Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center stated that it aims to produce over 100 research articles based on the specialized disease database over the next three years.

Thanks to standardized and large-scale medical big data platforms, standard terminology systems have been established for single diseases. For example, China’s first "Standard Dataset for Colorectal Cancer," jointly developed by the Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, the CSCO Colorectal Cancer Expert Committee, and Yidu Cloud, has laid the foundation for subsequent multi-center real-world data studies and advanced the standardization of colorectal cancer diagnosis and treatment in China.

This year, Yidu Cloud and Tsinghua University jointly established the “Smart Healthcare Research Center.” It is reported that the center conducts research on intelligent autonomous healthcare systems, as well as generic and core technologies. Zheng Li, Vice President of Tsinghua University, stated, “The Research Center will serve as a vital knowledge platform for medical scientific research, clinical practice, technology application, and product development, making every effort to contribute to China’s transformation from a major healthcare country into a leading global power in healthcare.”

From R&D and ecosystem building to establishing its headquarters in Guiyang’s big data hub, collaborating closely with government agencies, and receiving direct investment from China Investment Corporation, all these efforts reflect Yidu Cloud’s five-year journey of diligent development. The company has forged a correct path that leverages data intelligence technology for breakthroughs, demonstrates the “lead goose effect” of artificial intelligence through innovative applications, supports the implementation of the “Healthy China” strategy and the national big data strategy, and drives the integrated development of the healthcare industry and external sectors.

As founder Sun Zhe stated, Yidu Cloud is committed to leveraging its advantages in technology, resources, and innovation capacity to serve society and promote artificial intelligence as a key driver of development.