On the afternoon of December 8, the "Belt and Road" Medical Device Innovation and Application Alliance(BRMDIA) was officially established in the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology (USST) by the joint efforts of 55 institutions from 18 countries jointly through online and offline modes. At the same time, the first Belt and Road Forum on Innovation of Medical Device was convened at the same venue of USST. Leaders from Shanghai High-end Medical Equipment Innovation Center, China National Medical Device Co. Ltd., Shanghai Shenkang Hospital Development Center, Shanghai Drug Administration, Technology Progress Division of Shanghai Economic and Information Commission were present at the conference and extended their warm congratulations on the congress and forum.

At the grand event of the Conference, all the member units proposed an initiative of Jointly Co-building a Community of Shared Future of Medical Devices from the five perspectives of user and market, innovation as original forces,deepening the integration of production and education, and strengthening international communication and cooperation in medical devices. Three cooperative documents on research and development, investment and academic exchanges were also signed on the conference.

Human health is inseparable from medical treatment while the progress of healthcare can’t grow without the self-innovation of medical devices. In November this year, witnessed by vice Mayor Zong Ming of Shanghai Municipality and leaders of relevant commissions and bureaus, USST just set up Shanghai High-end Medical Equipment Innovation Center, the 7th manufacturing innovation center and the only manufacturing innovation center in the biomedical industry in Shanghai.

The Belt and Road Medical Device Innovation and Application Alliance, integrated as one with Shanghai high-end Medical Equipment Innovation Center and Yangtze River Delta High-end Medical Equipment Innovation Alliance, will promote complementary development, aiming at the cutting-edge technology of high-end medical equipment, resolving common problems in the industry, and actively building an industrial ecology system that integrates the innovation chain, industrial chain and value chain of medical equipment and driving its leap-forward development. 

At present, the global medical device market has a high degree of concentration, while China's medical device industry is very much dispersed. Meanwhile, the low-end field has a high degree of domestic substitution and the middle and high-end medical devices still rely heavily on imports. The Belt and Road Medical Device Innovation and Application Alliance will rely on the advantages of Shanghai High-end Medical Equipment Innovation Center, strengthen cooperation and international communication and docking, explore the technological innovation, product innovation, model innovation, and exert efforts to be important forces to promote the development of high-end medical equipment innovation in and out of China. 

The Alliance covers 18 countries, including China, Singapore, Pakistan, South Korea, Malaysia, Kyrgyzstan, Romania, The Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Serbia, Israel, Italy, Sweden, Holland, Brazil, Canada and the United States; The member units of the Alliance include institutions of higher learning, scientific research institutions, industry associations, production enterprises, large dealers, science and technology parks, third-party medical service agencies, law firms, consulting companies, innovation carriers, venture capital funds to complete a full industrial chain of the medical device and numerous talents in the sector.

The first Belt and Road Forum on Innovation of Medical Device innovation with the theme “Synergistically Innovate Medical Device Jointly Protect the Health of Humanity” was convened at the same time.Reputational professors, industry leaders, outstanding teachers, well-known experts from seven countries, including Professor Arvind Gupta, the innovation consultant to Canadian federal government, the 13th president of UBC, Professor Yunzhang Cheng, vice president of School of Medical Devices and Food Engineering, USST, and experts from VIKCESS, ANSYS, Italy Medical Device Association, Pakistan and Singapore delivered keynote speeches. Experts shared innovation approach, management mode with the audience and provided insights into the medical device industry. The speeches were greatly appraised by the viewers at the main venue and through online.