CHINA / SOCIETY
Key conference in Medpark in E. China’s Jiangsu emphasizes innovation in medical device development
Published: May 23, 2023 12:33 PM Updated: May 23, 2023 12:29 PM

 The Medical Device Technology Industrial Park (Medpark), an industrial park in Suzhou, East China’s Jiangsu Province.

The Medical Device Technology Industrial Park (Medpark), an industrial park in Suzhou, East China’s Jiangsu Province.



 The 2023 China Biomedical Engineering Conference, which focuses on the innovative application of the world's frontier technologies in the fields of biomedical engineering and medical devices, was successfully held on Friday at the Medical Device Technology Industrial Park (Medpark), an industrial park in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu Province.

The conference, together with Innovative Medical Summit Medical Device Development Forum, was co-hosted by the Chinese Society of Biomedical Engineering and the Suzhou National High-tech Industrial Development Zone Management Committee from Thursday to Sunday.

"We have built an international academic exchange platform with high standards and quality by gathering world-class innovative resources. Through the forum, we promote academic exchanges across the industry, provide driving forces for the landing and transformation of innovative achievements, and fully support the construction of a national high-end medical device industry cluster," said Liang Dong, Deputy Director of the Suzhou High-tech Zone Management Committee, during his opening speech.

The medical device industry, as an emerging industry with strategic importance, is an important part of carrying out Health China Operation. In recent years, promoting the innovation and high-end development of China's medical device industry has been improved to a strategic level.

China has set up its goal in developing medical equipment industry that by 2025, mainstream medical equipment will basically achieve effective supply, and the performance and quality of high-end medical equipment products will be significantly improved, initially forming a comprehensive support capability for public health and medical care needs in China. By 2035, China's medical equipment research and development, manufacturing, and application will be upgraded to the world's advanced level, proposed in China 14th Five-Year Plan of the Development of Medical Equipment Industry.

Focusing on cutting-edge technology

The meeting was attended by many esteemed scientists who delivered keynote speeches, including Zhao Yuliang, an academician from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, academician of the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World, and Thomas C. Südhof, the winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, fellow with Academy of Engineering of the US.

Zhao introduced drug delivery nano-materials, technology and applications from the perspective of technical research. He noted that breakthroughs in technology can disrupt a field."In the research of cutting-edge DNA nano-robots and other third-generation intelligent drug delivery materials, China is at the forefront of the world in many aspects. If this technology is widely used in the treatment of tumors and cardiovascular diseases, modern medicine will be dramatically changed," Zhao said.

Südhof addressed neurodegenerative diseases during his speech, and provided an in-depth analysis of the challenges of developing Alzheimer's disease treatments and possible innovative treatments. He said that in neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, the initial dysfunction of synapses seriously hinders the process of neural circuits receiving incoming sensory information and forming decisions, and disables the information processing ability of the brain.

Südhof pointed out that for millions of patients with neurodegenerative diseases, what they really needed are affordable medicines that can penetrate accurately and efficiently, with no side effects and medicines that can be used for a long term.

He also mentioned in his speech that although basic scientific research is time-consuming and labor-intensive, it is indispensable in helping us understand diseases and pathological mechanisms, and it is also the most important way for us to deal with diseases.

For now, Medpark, where the conference was held, has gathered together more than 600 leading talents at all levels in the field of medical devices and more than 900 leading medical device industry leaders at home and abroad, including Yuyue Medical Equipment, Kava Kerr of Germany, and Baxter Healthcare of the US.

In the future, Medpark will continue to focus on high-end medical care and related fields, build a demonstration zone of innovation and integration of high-end medical device industry to better serve the Health China Operation.

Apart from introducing a key laboratory for intelligent medical device research and evaluation jointly built by China Academy of Information and Communications Technology and State Drug Administration, the Medpark has also set up a number of public platforms around inspection and testing, animal experiments, and intellectual property services, so as to provide convenient services for enterprises in the park and accelerate their own growth.