Smart healthcare, innovations shine at flagship medical fair

World-class local innovations were the highlight of the China International Medical Equipment Fair, which concluded in Shanghai on Sunday.

Multinational as well as local companies showcased groundbreaking products in fields such as surgical robots, AI healthcare and brain-machine interfaces at the fair, renowned as a global indicator of healthcare industry trends.

Several of these innovations originated in China.

This year's fair was the largest ever, attracting nearly 5,000 brands from around 30 countries and regions.

Siemens Healthineers showcased nearly 50 innovative products, including two scanners of its photon-counting CT family, and a multi-imaging, integrated, one-stop hybrid operating room.

"Among these innovative products on display, 90 percent originate from local innovation and are made in China. The two new photon-counting CT products are expected to begin local production soon," said Jerry Wang, president of Siemens Healthineers Greater China.

Earlier this year, the company entered into a collaboration with Ruijin Hospital in Shanghai based on its photon-counting CT products. It obtained exclusive rights to a liver fat assessment model developed by the hospital, and will be responsible for subsequent work from development to market implementation. The company said it is committed to bridging the collaborative power of China and the world.

At the Royal Philips booth, an AI-powered CT product capable of covering complex radiotherapy scenarios showcased the company's local innovation capabilities.

The product, Rembra RT, was developed by its innovation center in Shenyang, Liaoning province, manufactured at its production base in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, and will be supplied to the global market.

The company also globally debuted the world's first metabolic CT, bringing medical imaging from traditional structural diagnosis into a new dimension of metabolic characterization, which will support early cancer screening and precise identification of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. The product will be manufactured in China as well.

Domestic medical imaging innovation enterprise Nanovision Technology Group showcased its latest advancements in phased array CT, a new variant of CT technology. The world's first CT scanner using this technology was approved in China in December and is ready for large-scale applications.

Based on electronic pulse exposure, this new technology replaces the traditional mechanical rotation model of CT scanners and uses over 20 fixed X-ray sources and one entire ring of detectors. This results in a qualitative leap in both spatial resolution and temporal resolution, providing a magnifying glass-like perspective for early and precise diagnosis.

"It's truly an original technology that emerged from uncharted territory, and the product's approval last year represents a decade of efforts," said Yuan Li, chief operations officer of Nanovision.

The product is expected to obtain approval in Europe within the year, and the company is also preparing for its registration in the United States, Yuan said.

Among the product debuts by NovaSerenia, a domestic enterprise specializing in intelligent rehabilitation and eldercare, was an all-carbon fiber electric wheelchair weighing just 9.2 kg, setting a new world record.

This electric wheelchair will be initially targeted at overseas markets and will also be sold within the country, according to the company.

Over 70 percent of its sales of electric wheelchairs and mobility scooters come from overseas markets, primarily developed countries including the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Spain.

Roughly 500 exhibitors showcased technologies related to intelligent rehabilitation robots, smart eldercare and sleep health at the event.

According to official data, the scale of China's silver economy is expected to exceed 30 trillion yuan ($4.39 trillion) by 2035.