Full of confidence in better growth in the Chinese market (witnessing opportunities in China) layout | innovative | opportunities
"In recent years, China's science and technology industry has achieved many historic achievements and entered the ranks of innovative countries. China is the world's second-largest medical device market and maintains double-digit growth every year, which gives us full confidence in better growth in the Chinese market." Zhang Yihao, Vice President of General Electric Medical, stated in an interview with our reporter that the report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed important statements such as "innovation is the first driving force" and "strengthening the position of enterprises as the main body of scientific and technological innovation", which further strengthens the confidence of enterprises from various countries in the long-term development of China.
"General Electric Medical has nearly 1000 partners in China and is striving to build a high-end medical device manufacturing ecosystem." Zhang Yihao introduced that General Electric Medical is one of the earliest multinational enterprises to start localization layout. China's technological innovation capabilities have significantly improved, providing assistance for multinational enterprises to accelerate localization in the Chinese market. At present, General Electric Medical has 5 factories in China, covering the research and production of medical equipment from economy to high-end, including more than 30 domestic projects such as molecular imaging equipment product lines, high-end ventilators, cardiac ultrasound, anesthesia machines, etc. The precision medical industrialization base in Chengdu is still under construction. In 2022, General Electric Healthcare's procurement volume in China reached 9 billion yuan. In the first quarter of this year, the proportion of domestically produced products sold in China exceeded 70%.
Zhang Yihao said that in recent years, China has launched a series of measures to support the development of the medical industry, such as deepening medical resources at the grassroots level, increasing support for digital transformation, and vigorously supporting new medical infrastructure policies, which reflect the Chinese government's emphasis on people's health and are necessary for promoting the construction of a healthy China. All of these provide broader space for the development of enterprises. "China's population base is huge, life expectancy per capita continues to increase, and people pay more attention to health. Over the past 30 years, many innovative products of GE Healthcare have come from China's medical needs. For example, Deep Sky Eye CT, which played an important role during the COVID-19 epidemic, is driven by China's need to attach importance to people's life safety and combine epidemic prevention with flexible mobile operations. This equipment has achieved three iterations in three years, becoming a star product of the company's" Made in China Intelligently "."
"The wider the scope and scope of cooperation, the deeper the understanding of customer and patient needs, and the more competitive the products produced." Zhang Yihao said that General Electric Medical has upgraded and promoted existing products by collaborating with some innovative enterprises in China. For example, a collaboration between a company and a local artificial intelligence company to add an AI quality control module to the device can help grassroots doctors quickly improve their breast disease examination and diagnostic capabilities.
Zhang Yihao stated that for multinational enterprises to succeed in the vast market of China, the key lies in the core competitiveness of their products and whether they can continuously meet the changes in the Chinese market and customer needs. General Electric Medical's R&D investment in China is increasing every year, with the Wuxi base alone doubling its R&D investment throughout 2022. The company has established "innovation centers" in Beijing and Wuxi, combining local industrial advantages with enterprise business characteristics, and integrating multiple business partners. Through various models such as independent innovation, incubation innovation, collaborative innovation, and re innovation, it promotes the industrialization of scientific and technological achievements. At present, the "Chuangcheng" platform has collaborated with 12 domestic artificial intelligence enterprises to launch 15 products that have obtained China's national medical device certification and have been put into clinical use. The third "innovation center" will soon be established in Shanghai.
"In the future, we will also increase investment in China." Zhang Yihao introduced that firstly, we will increase investment in domestic supply chains. The precision medical industrialization base project currently under construction in Chengdu will extend the global supply chain to the western region of China; The second is to increase research and development investment, striving to double the R&D investment in the entire China within the next three years.
