Distinguished innovation teams, relevant companies, research institutes, innovation service and investment institutions, hospitals and clinical experts:

The China Medical Devices Design & Entrepreneurship Competition (“Competition”, part of “Innovation China” activities) has been successfully held for five consecutive sessions under the guidance of the China Association for Science and Technology and the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China, in order to promote the continuous innovation and development of China’s medical device industry, deepen the cooperation among the medical device industry, universities, research institutions, users, capital sector and regulators in all aspects and stimulate the innovation vitality of enterprises and clinical medical personnel. The five sessions have collected 283, 607, 665, 831 and 733 medical device innovation projects from home and abroad, respectively. The Competition and its supporting activities have cumulatively attracted the participation of nearly 3,000 enterprises and innovation service and investment institutions, the visits of more than 40,000 persons on site and the presence of many ministry and commission heads and academicians and more than 100 authoritative regulation and industry experts to provide guidance on site. A total of 369 first-prize, second-prize and third-prize projects have been selected from the finals of the five sessions, which obtained average financing of more than RMB 1.35 billion according to post-competition half-year tracking statistics, and some of which subsequently obtained project funding from ministries, commissions, provinces, cities or parks and won the prizes of other competitions. The Competition has effectively promoted the transformation of medical device achievements and has received wide appreciation.

Registration open for the Competition 2023

The 6^th China Medical Devices Design & Entrepreneurship Competition 2023 (“6^th Competition”) has been officially launched on February 10, 2023, matters related to which are notified as follows:

I. The 5^th Competition will continue to be undertaken by the China Strategic Alliance of Medical Device Innovation and Innomd.org, and local governments, science and technology parks and research institutes are welcome to participate in the joint undertaking.

II. The 5^th Competition is themed by “Meet Actual Needs, Support Transformation of Clinical and University Research Achievements, and Focus on Technological Innovation and Innovation Services”, with the following categories for competition:

Categories for competition:

In vitro diagnostic (IVD) reagents

Analytical instruments and equipment

Medical materials (hygienic materials, dressings, etc.) and care products

Disinfection, protection and assistive devices

Diagnostic, treatment and surgical instruments

Laparoscope and endoscope devices and consumables

Minimally invasive instruments and equipment (excluding laparoscope and endoscope devices)

Implantation and intervention products (including active and passive ones)

Other high-value medical consumables

Small and medium-sized diagnosis and treatment equipment

Large diagnostic and treatment equipment (imaging, radiotherapy, etc.)

First aid and life support products (severe cases, emergency treatment, monitoring, inhalational anesthesia, dialysis, etc.)

Artificial intelligence and medical robots

Medical software and digital health care

Wearable and portable products

Mobile health care and telemedicine

Chronic disease management and information systems

Rehabilitation instruments and appliances

TCM instruments and physical therapy products

Sports & health and wellness products

Accessories, materials, processes and others

The above categories are divided into the startup group (for products or projects without registration certificates at the time of registration) and the growth group (for products that receive registration certificates for the first time) for registration.

The organizer will appropriately adjust and hold category contests according to projects’ registration and experts’ suggestions or hold special contests to facilitate project financing and follow-up services, industrial transformation, etc.

Special contests may be set up according to the requirements of the undertakers by product field, process material, clinical category, industry agglomeration, or business mode, and those planned to be held include the doctors contest, care contest, stomatology contest, ophthalmology contest, digital therapy contest, POCT contest, home-use devices contest, deep human phenotyping contest, industrial transformation contest, overseas contest and HUAWEI contest.

III. Projects intended to participate in the event must meet the following conditions:

1. The projects to compete in the startup group must be medical devices or technologies in the R&D or registration stage that have not received medical device product registration certificates; those to compete in the growth group are limited to innovative medical device products that have received medical device product registration certificates for the first time; for materials, accessories and processes that are not defined in the categories or cannot be registered as medical devices, the category of others may be selected for registration for competition.

2. The competition projects shall comply with relevant national laws, regulations and policies, and shall not infringe upon the intellectual property rights or other legitimate rights and interests of others. Individuals, teams and enterprises participating in the competition shall be responsible for the authenticity and accuracy of the registration information;

3. The medical device products involved in the competing projects must be innovative and clinically applicable and have a certain social and market value;

4. The registration shall be made based on competition entries, and each company or team can apply for more than one, and there is no limit on the number of items applied;

5. Clinicians, nurses, medical professionals, etc. are welcome to participate in the contests or cooperate with others to register to compete;

6. Overseas (including Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) projects are welcome to register to compete in contests of various categories. The organizer will timely adjust the contest arrangements according to the registration situation and China’s entry requirements and encourage overseas projects to participate on site if circumstances permit. Those projects may participate in the contests via video or participate in the overseas contest, if necessary. The organizer will provide one-to-one services for projects that are willing to raise funds and settle in China;

7. Projects that competed in previous sessions and have made new progress as well as excellent projects that have participated in other contests may also register to compete in the growth group or startup group based on whether registration certificates are received or not; and

8. Participants will not be charged any fees in the whole competition process, and the undertakers, to encourage participation in innovation, will be responsible for the accommodation and food of the contestants who compete offline and offer certain competition subsidies depending on the situation.

IV. The competition schedule is as follows:

1. Registration

Participants can register on the official website of the Competition (https://www.innomd.org/cmddec/apply/) from today, and the deadline for registration is April 30.

The registration shall be made based on competition entries, and each company or team can apply for more than one, and there is no limit on the number of items applied;

Cross-field (composite) projects can register for two or more (major) related category contests at the same time and register for (multiple) related field/discipline contests.

2. Preliminary contest

The competition projects confirmed through review will enter the preliminary contest, and the qualifications of such projects will be reviewed on Internet. The jury is composed of well-known technical experts, clinical experts, registration or review experts, and investment experts in the industry. The organizer and jury have the right to veto projects that do not meet the requirements of the competition.

3. Category contests

The organizer will appropriately adjust the competition categories and reasonably arrange the sessions according to the registration situation. For projects that participate in more than two category contests, the organizer will make reasonable arrangements according to the specific project and contest situations.

Category contests will begin from May in the form of on-site roadshows, and the specific time, place and schedule will be further notified.

4. Special contests

Registered projects can participate in special contests, and the same project can participate in multiple special contests according to the actual situation. The specific form, time, place and schedule of special contests will be further notified.

5. Finals

The finals will be held in Suzhou at the end of September in the form of on-site roadshows, and the specific time, place and schedule will be further notified.

V. The awards are set as follows:

Depending on the number of projects registered, the first, second and third prizes and excellent prizes will be awarded by category contests and special contests.

VI. Competing projects will receive the following awards:

1. Category contests will be given related awards depending on the undertakers and local industrial support policies;

2. For all projects that enter the category contests, finals and special contests and are demonstrated in on-site roadshows, the contestants will be provided with free accommodation and food (limited to two persons per project) and, according to the circumstances, also transport subsidies for the contests (limited as per tickets; the specific amount as per the session-related notices and announcements) by the organizer;

3. Priority to be recommended to apply for national and local relevant science and technology project subsidies will be given;

4. Face-to-face communication with several academicians who lead the review and more than 100 authoritative regulation and industry experts will be available to receive one-on-one mentoring.

5. Priority to enter Innomd.org and medical device innovation service base in Suzhou (and other places) will be given, so as to enjoy more than 20 outsourcing innovation services at one stop;

6. Participating projects are prioritized to receive capital injection and mergers and acquisitions by enterprises and investment institutions in the industry, as well as to be publicized by popular media.

7. Participating projects are prioritized to receive special supporting policy support from the science parks and innovation service institutions.

8. The cooperation between some participating projects and some production and operation enterprises will be promoted.

9. Exclusive interviews and reports will be published on media platforms such as Innomd.org and China Medical Device Information on a merit basis.

10. High-level training, creativity and resource connection activities held by the undertakers can be attended free of charge.

VII. In order for competing projects to better connect industrial and innovation service resources and achieve growth and transformation as soon as possible, the Global Device Week (2023) will continue to be held during the finals of the 6^th Competition, which will last four days and be held in the form of “one competition, two exhibitions and 3+15 forums”, with the finals of the 6^th Competition and the 2023 Medical Device Innovation and Service Exhibition (MISE2023) and 2023 China Big Health Innovation and Entrepreneurship Resources Revitalization (Transaction) Conference (HAUTE2023) as the core, three supporting keynote forums - China Medical Innovation Forum 2023 (CMIF2023), China Transformation Medicine and Innovation Service Forum 2023 (TMIS2023), and Health Science Popularization Forum 2023 (HSP2023), an innovative “Special Training Camp for Medical Device Innovation and Entrepreneurship Executives”, and 15 professional theme sub-forums, covering medical device innovation ecosystems for production, education, research, marketing, application, capital sector and regulation such as heart and cerebral vessels, imaging equipment, minimally invasive surgery, orthopedic equipment and materials, medical artificial intelligence, in vitro diagnostics, upstream material accessories and manufacturing processes, medical devices innovative design and contract manufacturing, innovative products animal experiments and clinical trials, medical results transformation, and market and capital connection. A public innovation service platform that gathers global innovative talents, companies, products and various innovation service resources will be eventually built through the above forum and exhibition activities as well as the undertakers’ continuous services before and after the Competition, so as to promote local and international innovation collaboration, accelerate medical device clinical research and academic results transformation and promote the continuous innovation and development of China’s medical device industry.

It is planned that projects that registered to participate in some category contests that were not held as scheduled in the 5^th Competition in 2022 (implantation and intervention products, large diagnostic and treatment equipment, small and medium-sized diagnostic and treatment equipment, first aid and life support products, chronic disease management and information systems, medical software and digital health care, and artificial intelligence and medical robots) will be incorporated in the 6^th Competition. Please pay attention to the notice of the competition organizing committee on advancing to the semifinals to participate directly, or register for the 6^th Competition based on the project progress.

Medical device industry entities and individuals or teams engaged in the research and development, production, sales, use, regulation and services of medical devices are encouraged to participate in the Competition and Global Device Week activities and actively publicize such activities. Local governments, industrial parks, enterprises and institutions are welcome to exchange ideas on the joint undertaking of the contests regionally and on cooperation for special contests and sub-forums. Overseas project teams are welcome to participate in the contests in China. Industry elites and friends from all circles are sincerely invited to come to Suzhou to participate in the finals and Global Device Week activities!

For more information, please refer to the official website of the Competition (https://www.innomd.org/cmddec/) and the WeChat official account of Innomd.org.