The operating comments of the Board of Directors of UIH in 2022 are as follows:
I. Discussion and analysis of business conditions
The company is committed to providing global customers with high-performance medical imaging equipment, radiotherapy products, life science instruments and medical digital and intelligent solutions. Headquartered in Shanghai, the company has also set up regional headquarters and R&D centers in the United States, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Poland and other places, and has established a global R&D, production and service network in Shanghai, Changzhou, Wuhan and Houston.
During the reporting period, the company’s operating performance grew steadily, achieving operating income of 9.238 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 27.36%, and net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies of 1.656 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16.86%. Since its establishment, the company has continued to invest heavily in R&D. During the reporting period, R&D investment accounted for 15.87%, an increase of 1.42 percentage points over the same period last year. The company has persistently conquered core technologies and continuously introduced innovative products, laying a solid customer base for sustainable development and establishing high-quality brand awareness and market reputation. After years of efforts, the company has built a complete product line layout and a complete set of solutions including medical imaging equipment, radiotherapy products, life science instruments and medical informationization.
(1) Product registration and patent layout
The company has a complete product layout and international leading product performance. During the reporting period, the company accelerated the iteration and breakthrough of core technologies, key components and the whole system. By the end of the reporting period, the company has launched more than 90 products to the market, with internationally leading performance indicators, and a number of software products have been certified to the market, with dozens of advanced applications covering all parts of the body to help accurate and efficient diagnosis.
During the reporting period, 10 products of the company were registered by NMPA in China, including uMRJupiter5T, the industry’s first human whole-body magnetic resonance. As the "Special Research and Development Project of Digital Diagnosis and Treatment Equipment" of the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan", this product overcame the core components and core technical problems of ultra-high field magnetic resonance and realized ultra-high field whole-body clinical imaging. All-core electrodeless digital PET/CTuMIPannoroma, which achieves the highest time resolution of 190 picoseconds in the industry for the first time; Intelligent bionic minimally invasive interventional surgery system uAngio960, which integrates leading innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence, digital twinning and multimodal fusion.
By the end of the reporting period, 39 products of the company had been certified by the EU CE and could be sold to more than 60 countries and regions. 37 products have passed FDA certification and are allowed to be sold in the United States, and the sales network covers major developed markets and emerging markets around the world. In addition, during the reporting period, the company obtained new local product registration in 27 countries and regions, involving 42 products.
The intellectual property system is the core guarantee of technological innovation, and it is also a strong support for enterprises’ sustainable development and globalization. The company has established a perfect database and intellectual property management platform to realize the platform management mode of intangible assets in the whole life cycle. The company’s intellectual property system covers patents, trademarks, copyrights and technical secrets.
By the end of the reporting period, the company had applied for more than 8,600 patents, software copyrights, trademarks and other intellectual property rights, of which the number of invention patents accounted for more than 80% of all patent applications; The company has obtained more than 4,300 intellectual property rights authorizations, including more than 2,300 invention patents. At the same time, the company strictly protects the company’s technical secrets in accordance with the Information Security Management Measures and the Trade Secret Management System, and strives to create an all-round intellectual property distribution system to protect the technological innovation achievements of enterprises from different angles. Since its establishment, the company has successively won the first China Patent Gold Award, several China Patent Excellence Awards, the first Chinese Trademark Gold Award, Shanghai Intellectual Property Innovation Award, National Intellectual Property Demonstration Enterprise and other awards in China’s high-end medical equipment industry.
(2) Domestic and international market expansion
With years of market cultivation and brand building, based on innovative technology, high-quality images, stable product quality, humanized workflow design, intelligent application level and rapid customer response, the company’s R&D, service, market, supply chain and other departments and functions cooperated with each other. During the reporting period, the company continued to make breakthrough progress in domestic and foreign markets.
In the domestic market, through the full range of medical imaging products, radiotherapy products and medical digital solutions, the company actively contributes to the construction of national medical centers, national regional medical centers and the high-quality development of county medical care with the strategy of empowering healthy China and rural revitalization through scientific and technological innovation. From the improvement of the comprehensive ability of county hospitals in the "Thousand County Project" to the construction of a "compact county medical community", the company’s overall solution products based on "integration of numbers and intelligence and disease-oriented" have improved the early warning ability and multidisciplinary treatment ability of "four categories and twenty centers" represented by "imaging center, stroke center, chest pain center and trauma center", helping "minor illnesses never leave the countryside"
By the end of the reporting period, the company has settled in more than 1,000 3A hospitals in China, which has been widely recognized by clinical institutions at all levels. According to the "2021 China Hospital Ranking-National Comprehensive Ranking" issued by the Institute of Hospital Management of Fudan University, the top 10 medical institutions in China are all corporate users, and among the top 50 medical institutions, there are 49 corporate users. During the reporting period, the company’s entire line of products ranked in the forefront in terms of new market amount and number of units, and achieved major breakthroughs in mid-to-high-end and ultra-high-end products. According to the new domestic market share in 2022, the company’s CT, PET/CT, PET/MR and XR products are ranked first in the industry, and Mr and RT are also in the forefront of the industry.
In the international market, as one of the few China enterprises that have entered the international mainstream market competition, under the overall strategy of "holding high and fighting high, covering the whole line" and "one core and multi-wings", the company actively lays out the global market R&D and production, and deeply cultivates the brand and service system construction in overseas markets. During the reporting period, with highly competitive innovative technologies and overall solutions, the company’s customer base has covered more than 50 countries and regions such as Asia, America, Europe, Oceania, Africa, etc., and its overseas sales have maintained a rapid growth trend, and the proportion of its main business income abroad has increased from 7.15% in the same period of last year to 11.94%.
In the American market, guided by clinical needs and market trends, the company continued to deepen the product layout and production capacity layout, strengthened the construction of local R&D, supply chain and marketing system, and further established its brand and academic image. By the end of the reporting period, High-end products such as the industry’s first Tota-bodyPET/CTuEXPLORER explorer, the "time-space integration" ultra-clear TOFPET/MR790, the industry’s first 75cm super-large aperture 3.0T magnetic resonance uMROmega, and ultra-high-end 320 rows of 640-storey CTuCT960+ have successively entered the University of Washington Medical College and UCDavis. University of California, San Diego, Michigan State University Innovation Center, University of Texas, McGovern Medical College, Carrollton Regional Medical Center (CRMC), State University of New York at Stony Brook, Huntsman Cancer Research Center of University of Utah in Salt Lake City and other top clinical and scientific research institutions in the world.
In the European market, the company’s products have been stationed in Italy, Finland, Greece, Poland, Romania, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other countries and regions. The company’s PET/CT equipment, digital light guide PET/CTuMI780, and 3.0T magnetic resonance uMROmega have been stationed in Calabria Hospital of Sacred Heart Hall, Italy’s top cancer treatment center with a history of 100 years, opening up new horizons for neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases and tumor diagnosis and treatment.
In the Indian market, the market share of the company’s new MR, CT and PET/CT products is also in the forefront in 2021 and 2022. Local famous medical groups such as MedicoverHospitas, MahajanImaging, Vijaya Diagnostics, ManipaHospitals and AsterDMHospitas have introduced the company’s high-end equipment to jointly promote the application of high-end medical technology in India.
In the regional markets of emerging countries with high import dependence, the company responded to the call of "One Belt, One Road" and the strategy of "going global", actively promoted the localization and informatization construction in the regional markets with the strategy of "five in one, BRICS layout", further empowered the regional centers in the Middle East and North Africa, and carried out the construction and strengthening of primary and secondary platforms in Latin America and other regions. In the Middle East, the company cooperated with AmericanHospitaDubai, the top private hospital in the United Arab Emirates, Cigaah Group, one of the top five medical suppliers in Saudi Arabia, and I-OneNuclear Medicine & OnCoogyCenter to explore the clinical application and educational value of artificial intelligence, digital PET/MR, low-dose PET imaging, early detection of small lesions and new tracers. In Latin America, the company’s full range of products has covered clinical institutions in Argentina, Colombia, Peru and other countries, further helping local medical institutions to build their disease prevention and diagnosis and testing capabilities.
(3) Medical and industrial exchanges in Industry-University-Research
In terms of medical integration in Industry-University-Research, the company joined hands with partners from all walks of life to build an innovative collaborative platform covering the chain of "basic research-clinical application-translational medicine-industrial transformation", and worked closely with world-renowned universities, clinical and scientific research institutions to build an innovative community, so as to form a strong synergy of industrial technology transformation, forward-looking scientific research innovation, basic scientific research innovation and upstream and downstream industrial development, and help build a healthy China.
During the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" period, the company joined hands with top hospitals, research institutes and universities in China to take the lead in 10 national top-level scientific research programs-the "Digital Diagnosis and Treatment Equipment" research and development project in the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan, including the industry’s first full-body imaging high-field magnetic resonance uMRJupiter5T, the first "space-time integration" ultra-clear ToF PET/MR with TOF and compressive sensing technology in China, the first 320-row 640-slice CT Tianhe 640 in China and the first high-definition low-dose 3D one in China. In the "Tenth Five-Year Plan" national key R&D plan "Diagnostic Equipment and Biomedical Materials", the company combined the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, deeply integrated, and made every effort to increase investment in research and development of photon counting energy spectrum CT and magnetic resonance linear accelerator.
In the national medical center construction project, the company and Zhongshan Hospital affiliated to Fudan University jointly built the first comprehensive national medical center in China, which solved key problems such as the disconnection between clinical medicine and scientific research innovation and the low level of medical scientific and technological innovation, and improved the quality and level of people’s health services.
In China, the company has carried out in-depth cooperation with top universities, research institutes and clinical institutions such as Tsinghua University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, National High Performance Medical Device Innovation Center, Shenzhen Advanced Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Peking Union Medical College Hospital of China Academy of Medical Sciences, west china hospital, Ruijin Hospital affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Zhongshan Hospital affiliated to Fudan University and Huashan Hospital affiliated to Fudan University, and participated in various types of scientific research cooperation projects. Internationally, the company, Yale University and UCDavis jointly undertake a major brain project of the National Institutes of Health. As an industrial partner, the company has developed a new high-sensitivity brain-specific PET system for this project, which will open up new possibilities for the exploration and research of major brain diseases such as degenerative diseases and drug addiction, as well as related drug markers and mechanisms. The company also signed a strategic cooperation with Zhongshan Hospital affiliated to Fudan University and KingHusseinCancerCenter, the overall cancer treatment center in the Middle East. The three parties will work together to build a global innovative ecosystem of medical integration in Industry-University-Research, build a research and academic exchange base for nuclear medicine and medical imaging applications radiating to Asia and Africa, and carry out international multi-center cooperation around major scientific research topics and technical training.
The company actively participates in domestic and international industry exchange activities and participates in international cooperation, injecting China’s wisdom and vitality into the construction of the world health community. In 2022 ArabHeath, the company brought a number of cutting-edge medical imaging equipment, such as uEXPLORER, uMROmega, and 9.4T magnetic resonance imaging in preclinical hyperfield, to incite Industry-University-Research doctors to cooperate closely around the world, help countries along the Belt and Road to solve people’s livelihood problems, and contribute efficient Chinese solutions to improve local medical standards. In the 2022 World Health Expo, the company, as a representative of the academic, industrial and scientific research circles in the field of big health, deeply exchanged innovative R&D concepts, focused on exploring cutting-edge technologies in the health industry, and jointly helped the high-quality development of the big health industry. At the European Radiology Conference (ECR), the company released the industry’s first full-body mr system uMRJupiter5T, and domestic leading enterprises represented by the company are participating in the reshaping of the global medical science and technology innovation map with high-end technology. At the European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM), the company made its debut with PET/CT and UExplorer, and had in-depth exchanges with industry experts and business representatives from all over the world on the latest research and development trends and cutting-edge technologies in the fields of molecular imaging and nuclear medicine, so as to accelerate the construction of an industry innovation ecology.
(4) Information security
With data security becoming the focus of global attention, many countries and regions have enacted legislation to implement data security protection measures, and at the same time, medical regulatory agencies in various countries have successively issued regulatory guidelines for network security of medical devices. As the leader of global medical imaging company, the company has built a multi-level and multi-action information security prevention and control system from four aspects: data security, application security, host security and network security.
By the end of the reporting period, The company has established and passed ISO27001 information security management system certification, ISO27701 personal privacy protection system certification, ISO27017 cloud service information security management system certification, ISO27018 public cloud privacy security management system certification, ISO27799 medical health and safety management system certification, ISO20000IT service management system certification and CCRC information security service qualification certification. According to the requirements of the system, the risk assessment of information security and privacy protection is strictly carried out, and the Risk Disposal Plan is formulated and implemented based on the assessment results and the "high, medium and low" information security risk disposal strategies, so as to reduce the risk to an acceptable range through scientific and reasonable means. The company also combines the product development process with the concept of SDL to provide users with products and services with the ability to resist cyber threats.
(5) Digital diagnosis and treatment
The company actively assists the construction of the national grading diagnosis and treatment system, provides the UIH medical cloud service based on the UIH cloud system architecture, realizes the collaboration between equipment and application cloud and the sharing of medical resources, and provides comprehensive solutions for end customers. Through integrated digital medical care and product solutions, it empowers the construction of regional medical centers, compact county medical communities and major special disease prevention and control systems, and through innovative equipment and integrated solutions such as Internet and image cloud technology, Promote the expansion of high-quality medical resources and balance the regional distribution of medical resources, help the construction of "Thousand Counties Project", and improve the clinical diagnosis and treatment ability of major diseases, the quality efficiency of medical treatment of major acute diseases and the continuity and accessibility of medical services in counties.
By the end of the reporting period, relying on the four core functions of remote diagnosis, remote consultation, remote service and remote education, the company’s graded diagnosis and treatment solutions are actively contributing to the construction of the national graded diagnosis and treatment system. Now, it has assisted local governments at all levels to successfully land nearly 400 regional imaging centers/regional precision medical diagnosis centers in 31 provinces and cities in China, including Shanghai, Guizhou, Hubei, Tibet and Liaoning, covering more than 3,000 hospitals at all levels and covering the population.
(VI) Construction of quality management system
The company strictly abides by the requirements of relevant laws and standards, continuously improves the quality management system and ensures its effective operation, and ensures the high-quality development of quality management with high standards, strict R&D and production management and scientific and efficient workflow. By the end of the reporting period, the company’s Shanghai production base, Wuhan production base, Changzhou production base and Houston production base in the United States have all obtained ISO13485 medical device management system certification, and the certification coverage rate of the company’s four major production bases is 100%; Shanghai factory and Wuhan production base have also obtained ISO9001 quality management system certification; A number of products have been certified by the National Recognition Test Laboratory (NRTL) of the United States.
The company also actively exerts its own technology, combines innovative advantages, actively participates in the formulation of medical industry standards, and promotes the development of the industry with strict standards, thus leading the company’s high-quality development.YY/T1643-2018 Testing Method for Functionality and Compatibility of Remote Medical Imaging Equipment, YY/T0595-2020 Application Guide of Medical Device Quality Management System YY/T0287-2017 and YY/T1708.2-2020 Basic Requirements for Connectivity Compliance of Medical Diagnostic X-ray Imaging Equipment Part 2: X-ray Computer Body. T1711-2020 Gated Interface for Radiotherapy, GB9706.201-2020 Medical Electrical Equipment Part 2-1: Special Requirements for Basic Safety and Basic Performance of Electron Accelerators with Energy of 1MeV to 50MeV, YY9706.233-2021 Medical Electrical Equipment Part 2-33: Special Requirements for Basic Safety and Basic Performance of Magnetic Resonance Equipment for Medical Diagnosis, etc. T1712-2021 Auxiliary Surgical Equipment and Auxiliary Surgical System Using Robotics, YY/T1708.3-2021 Basic Requirements for Connectivity Compliance of Medical Diagnostic X-ray Imaging Equipment Part 3: Digital Photographic X-ray Machine, T/CSBME025-2021 Management Specification for Reliability of Medical Equipment, GB/T42062-2022 Risk of Medical Devices.
(7) Awards and honors
In 2021, the company, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhongshan Hospital affiliated to Fudan University and other top domestic scientific research and clinical institutions won the "First Prize of 2020 National Science and Technology Progress Award" for the project of "Independent Development and Industrialization of High-field Magnetic Resonance Medical Imaging Equipment", which is also the first time that the high-end medical equipment industry has won the highest honor in this field of science and technology. During the reporting period, the company was selected as a national technological innovation demonstration enterprise of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, a demonstration enterprise of China National Intellectual Property Administration, and won the 23rd China Patent Award for Excellence.
From 2016 to 2022, the company ranked first in the after-sales service satisfaction survey of medical equipment in Shanghai for many years. In the future, the company will take the vision of "becoming a world-class leader in medical innovation", take the corporate mission of "creating differences for common health" and practice the "change with heart" brand promise.
II. Description of the company’s main business, business model, industry and R&D during the reporting period.
(a) the main business, main products or services.
Since its establishment, the company has continuously invested in high-intensity research and development, and is committed to overcoming the core technologies in the field of large-scale medical equipment such as medical imaging equipment and radiotherapy products; After years of efforts, the company has built a complete product line layout including medical imaging equipment, radiotherapy products and life science instruments. By the end of the reporting period, the company has introduced more than 90 products to the market, including magnetic resonance imaging system (MR), X-ray computed tomography system (CT), X-ray imaging system (XR), molecular imaging system (PET/CT, PET/MR), medical linear accelerator system (RT) and life science instruments. In the field of digital diagnosis and treatment, based on the UIH cloud system architecture, the company provides UIH medical cloud service, realizes the collaboration between equipment and application cloud and the sharing of medical resources, and provides comprehensive solutions for end customers.
1, medical imaging diagnosis
(1) magnetic resonance imaging system
MagneticResonanceImaging (MR) is a kind of equipment which uses the magnetic resonance signals of the nuclei (mainly hydrogen protons) in water molecules in human body in a strong magnetic field to image tissues or organs.
The company has the ability to independently design, develop and manufacture high-field superconducting magnets, high-performance gradient coils, high-density RF coils, multi-channel distributed spectrometers, MR imaging software and advanced applications. The company has launched 1.5T, 3.0T, 5.0T and other superconducting MR products, which can meet the needs of different market segments from basic clinical diagnosis to high-end scientific research, among which many products are the first in the industry or the first in China. UMRJupiter5T is the industry’s first 5.0TMR model for full-body imaging, which can realize ultra-high field full-body clinical imaging; UMR770 is the first domestically developed 3.0TMR model; UMR780 is equipped with the optical shuttle imaging technology platform, which is the first equipment in China that integrates the three acceleration technologies of compressed sensing, parallel imaging and semi-Fourier and realizes fast three-dimensional dynamic high-definition imaging in 0.5 seconds/period. UMR790 is the first domestic high-performance scientific research 3.0TMR；; UMR890 is equipped with high-performance gradient system, and the uniaxial field strength and switching rate reach 120mT/m and 200T/m/s respectively, which helps brain science research. UMROmega is the industry’s first 75cm super-large aperture 3.0TMR model, which can better support intraoperative and radiotherapy positioning, and can meet the diagnosis and treatment needs of pregnant women, overweight people and other special groups.
(2)X-ray computed tomography system
X-ray ComputedTomography (CT for short) sends out X-rays through a tube, and the X-rays penetrate human tissues and are received by a detector and converted into digital signals. After computer transformation, cross-sectional or stereoscopic images of the examined parts are formed, so that pathological changes of human tissues or organs can be found.
The company has mastered the R&D and production capacity of detectors, tubes, high-voltage generators, high-speed rotating racks and advanced applications of image processing for CT. The company’s CT product line covers clinical economic products and high-end scientific research products, which can meet the diversified needs of disease screening, clinical diagnosis and scientific research. The company has successively launched 16-row to 320-row CT products, including the first domestic 320-row ultra-high-end CT product uCT960+ and the first domestic 80-row CT product uCT780. Among them, the company’s 320-row wide-body CT product uCT960+ is equipped with a self-developed space-time detector, which can achieve a gantry rotation speed of 0.25s/ circle, has a large aperture of 82cm, and can bear up to 300kg. It can realize cardiac imaging at any heart rate, single organ perfusion and rapid large-scale vascular imaging in a single cardiac cycle, and has the energy spectrum imaging function of low-dose imaging and bulb voltage switching, which is good in cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, tumors, emergency and pediatric examinations.
(3)X-ray imaging system
X-ray imaging system (XR for short) emits X-rays through a bulb, and the X-rays penetrate human tissues and are received by a detector to generate human images. According to different clinical applications, it has different imaging modes, including two-dimensional static imaging, two-dimensional dynamic imaging and three-dimensional tomographic imaging. XR examination can be applied to screening, diagnosis and image guidance of surgery and interventional surgery.
According to different clinical uses, XR products can be divided into digital medical X-ray imaging system (DR), DigitaRadiography system (Mammo), mobile C-arm X-ray imaging system (mobile C-arm), angiography X-ray imaging system (DSA) and so on. Among them, DR is widely used in routine physical examination and clinical disease diagnosis, and it is the most widely used radiological imaging equipment in clinic. Mammo is mainly used for screening and diagnosis of various breast diseases; Mobile C-arm is mostly used to provide image guidance for surgery, and DSA is mostly used to guide images of various interventional operations such as heart, nerve and tumor.
Since the launch of the first XR product in 2016, the company has successively launched the intelligent bionic minimally invasive interventional surgery system uAngio960, the first domestic breast three-dimensional tomography system uMammo890i, the low-dose digital flat-panel mobile C-arm uMC560i using monocrystalline silicon technology, the fully automatic suspended DR product uDR780iPro enabled by computer vision technology, and the first domestic mobile DR product uDR380i with visual exposure control capability.
(4) Molecular imaging system
MoecuarImaging system (MI) can display specific molecules at tissue level, cellular level and subcellular level, and reflect the changes of molecular level in living state, so as to conduct qualitative and quantitative research on biological behavior in imaging. Molecular imaging technology can detect the abnormalities at cellular and molecular levels in the process of diseases, explore the occurrence, development and prognosis of diseases (such as cancer and Parkinson’s syndrome), and evaluate the effects of drugs and treatments.
The company is one of the few enterprises in China that has registered PET/CT products and achieved mass production of the whole machine. It has mastered the detector development technology, electronics technology, reconstruction and control technology, and can achieve high spatial resolution, high time-of-flight (TOF) resolution, high sensitivity, large axial field of vision and dynamic whole-body scanning. The technical level is in the leading position in the industry. Among them, high spatial resolution can bring high diagnostic image quality to clinic, which is helpful to find early lesions, determine disease stages, formulate treatment plans and track treatment effects. High time-of-flight resolution can greatly improve the signal-to-noise ratio and clarity of images; High sensitivity and large axial field of view can effectively improve image quality and scanning speed; Whole body dynamic scanning can provide strong support for clinical and scientific research applications such as personalized accurate diagnosis and treatment, new drug research and development. The company’s MI products can be equipped with advanced post-processing applications such as multimodal image fusion, dynamic analysis, tumor tracking, brain analysis and heart analysis, providing accurate analysis for clinical diagnosis and treatment of tumor, nerve and heart-related diseases. The company has successively launched a number of industry-leading products, including UExplorer (TOTA-body PET/CT), the industry’s first PET/CT product with 4D full-body dynamic scanning function., the industry’s highest TOF resolution PET/CT product uMIPanorama, the first domestic integrated PET/MR product uPMR790, the first domestic digital TOFPET/CT product uMI780 and the first domestic PET/CT product uMI510.
2. Radiotherapy products
RadiationTherapy system (RT) is an important tumor treatment method at present, which uses α, β and γ rays produced by radioisotopes and X-rays, electron beams, proton beams and other particle beams produced by various X-ray therapy machines or accelerators to treat tumors. The most mainstream radiotherapy equipment at home and abroad are medical linear accelerator, gamma knife based on cobalt source and a small amount of proton and heavy ion equipment, among which medical linear accelerator can be widely used in the treatment of primary or secondary tumors in many parts of the body.
The core components of RT products include accelerating tube, multi-leaf grating, power source, modulator, precision control module and airborne imaging equipment. In clinical treatment, medical linear accelerator system (Linac) combined with treatment planning system software (TPS), tumor information management system software (OIS) and radiotherapy simulator completes the radiotherapy process together: firstly, the radiotherapy simulator locates and outlines the focus, and clinicians design the treatment plan accordingly; Then, the treatment planning system software generates a treatment plan according to the treatment plan; Finally, the medical linear accelerator system executes the treatment plan; The above treatment plan and patient-related information are recorded and managed by the tumor information management system.
With the rapid development of precision medicine, precision radiotherapy has become the development trend of tumor radiotherapy technology. Accurate radiotherapy requires the destruction of tumor lesions under the condition of ensuring the maximum protection of normal tissues or organs of human body. Therefore, the accurate definition and delineation of gross tumor volume and its surrounding normal tissues is the basis of precise radiotherapy. The integrated diagnostic CT-guided accelerator technology pioneered by the company combines the diagnostic CT with the accelerator coaxially, effectively coping with the tumor morphological changes during the whole course of radiotherapy, and equipped with intelligent software, which greatly improves the work efficiency of medical staff while ensuring accurate radiotherapy. The company has developed the industry’s first integrated CT-guided linear accelerator uRT-inac506c.
3, life science instruments
Life science instruments include pre-clinical imaging equipment, optical observation equipment, electron microscope, chemical analysis instruments and other different types of products. Among them, preclinical imaging equipment mainly realizes structural and functional imaging through imaging observation of animal models, thus providing support for basic research of life sciences. At present, preclinical imaging equipment has been widely used in the study of the mechanism, diagnosis and treatment of major diseases such as brain science, tumor and cardiovascular disease.
The company started with pre-clinical imaging equipment and cut into the field of life science instruments.
(II) Main business models
1. R&D mode
From the perspective of R&D process, the company has formulated R&D systems such as Product Development Process with reference to medical device regulatory requirements and ISO quality system standards. Firstly, the R&D department determines the R&D project according to the market and customer demand; Secondly, the possible product scheme is evaluated, the technical direction is preliminarily determined, and a prototype for system integration and detailed verification is developed based on this; Then, confirm the product definition according to the expected user demand; Finally, according to the feedback information, the product is improved, the product registration is completed and the mass production is listed.
From the organizational structure, the company’s R&D departments mainly include product line division, public parts division, medical software division, medical power parts division, U+ division and future lab.
(1) Product Line Division
The product line division of the company includes MR division, CT division, XR division, MI division, RT division and ultrasound division. The company establishes a product matrix based on each product line, and each product line realizes technological breakthrough based on the long-term accumulation of industry technology research, and develops products and solutions in combination with the market’s demands for products and supporting solutions, so as to realize the innovation of technology, products and services.
(2) Public Parts Division
The Public Components Division is mainly responsible for the design and research and development of general hardware for each product line, including electronic components, human-computer interaction, motion control modules, precision machinery and equipment cooling and refrigeration. The construction of the general hardware platform can realize the joint research and sharing of the same hardware components for all product lines, reduce the R&D and production costs of general hardware, and improve the efficiency of subsequent after-sales service.
(3) Medical Software Division
The Medical Software Division is mainly responsible for the design and development of general software for each product line, including operating system, workstation and user interface. The construction of the general software platform can unify the imaging workstations and workflows of various product lines, reduce the learning cost of end customers using different product lines, and improve the user experience.
(4) Medical Power Components Division
The Medical Power Components Division is mainly responsible for the research and development of high-power electronic components required by various product lines, including gradient power amplifiers, RF power amplifiers, high-voltage generators, X-ray tubes, etc., to provide innovative, high-performance and customized solutions for various product lines, reduce the cost of the whole machine and services, and provide the component foundation for the whole machine technology and product innovation of each product line.
(5)U+ Division
U+ Division empowers equipment, clinic and scientific research through technologies such as 5G communication, Internet cloud platform and Internet of Things, and provides customers with comprehensive solutions. U+ products include clinical cloud PACS, cloud images and cloud films, data mining management for scientific research, advanced post-processing applications, Internet image service platform for regional diagnosis and treatment, and service-oriented intelligent equipment management for the Internet of Things. U+ Division can realize the integration of resources across product lines and departments, so as to fully meet the needs of customers related to imaging diagnosis and treatment in the whole life cycle of equipment, and enhance the comprehensive ability of the company to serve customers.
(6) future lab
The company has set up future lab in Shanghai headquarters and Houston, USA, focusing on the pre-research of cutting-edge technology of next-generation imaging and treatment equipment, cross-industry technological breakthrough and its innovative application in the medical field. Future lab and R&D Division complement each other in technology frontier exploration and technology productization. The former combines cutting-edge technology in the industry, potential customer demand and industry development trend, and the relevant R&D Division promotes the productization of the above reserve technologies in combination with R&D planning.
2. Purchasing mode
(1) Material procurement process
The company has established a perfect procurement control system and implemented standardized procurement operation procedures. The company has formulated relevant operating procedures such as Procurement Control Procedure and Supplier Management Procedure, and defined key links such as procurement process, supplier management and selection, contract execution and quality control to ensure efficient procurement decision-making and implementation process.
In order to integrate all aspects of resources, improve the utilization efficiency of personnel and the bargaining power of suppliers, the company regularly organizes various departments to hold production, supply and marketing meetings to carry out material procurement and production planning according to customer orders and expected sales. For mass-produced materials, the company will maintain a certain safety inventory. When the actual inventory is lower than the safety inventory, the purchasing department will focus on following up the delivery of the manufacturer to ensure the normal production; For non-mass production materials and materials with long delivery time, the company will make material forecast demand in advance according to the actual operation situation, and maintain linkage with suppliers to ensure timely supply of materials; For low-value consumables, the company will comprehensively consider the replacement frequency, procurement cycle and other factors to purchase regularly to maintain appropriate inventory. In order to further rationally plan the inventory, the Planning and Control Department will regularly analyze the inventory of raw materials, formulate the supply strategy of raw materials in combination with the company’s orders and estimated sales, and the Purchasing Department will formulate the purchasing strategy and make purchases according to the actual operating conditions.
(2) Supplier management
The company has formulated a number of operating procedures, such as Supplier Management Procedure and Supplier Audit Procedure, to standardize the company’s supplier management. The company evaluates the comprehensive ability of suppliers through their market position, supply ability, technical ability and quality level, and establishes a qualified supplier catalogue by combining the processes of supplier selection, evaluation and import. The company conducts regular evaluation and daily tracking of suppliers, including annual evaluation, quarterly scoring, auditing and other activities to promote continuous improvement of suppliers and establish a supplier elimination mechanism. During the reporting period, the company maintained good cooperative relations with major raw material suppliers to ensure a stable supply of raw materials and favorable purchase prices. The company signed a confidentiality agreement with qualified suppliers to stipulate technical confidentiality and business cooperation to prevent possible leakage risks.
3. Production mode
The company adopts independent production mode and carries out production capacity layout in Shanghai, Changzhou, Wuhan and Houston, USA. UIH Medical produces a full range of products. Changzhou UIH mainly produces MR, CT, XR and RT complete machines and product racks. Wuhan UIH produces some complete machines and high-power components, and UIHT is also responsible for the production of some complete machines of the company.
The company arranges the production plan according to the sales forecast and the actual order. The company builds an intelligent production system by means of informationization, and plans the production process with the concept of lean production to improve efficiency and reduce costs. The production process of the company’s products includes making production requirements, making production orders, material preparation, mass production,
Incoming inspection, finished product delivery and other links. The Planning and Control Department reviews customer orders, including product model, characteristics, delivery date, etc. If the orders meet the company’s current production and technical capabilities, the Planning and Control Department will prepare production plans and material plans according to the order quantity, material requirements, inventory and delivery plans. After the plan is made, the production department will collect materials and organize production according to the production plan. The quality control department participates in the whole production process, identifies key control points according to risks, and formulates and implements quality control plans to ensure that the production process of products meets relevant quality standards and requirements.
4. Sales model
(1) Market expansion and brand management
The company set up a brand and market strategy center to take the lead in market strategy formulation and brand management. The main modes include: independently organizing or participating in market activities organized by other parties, and conducting product presentations and academic exchanges for target customer groups; Participate in international, national and cross-regional exhibitions and promotion conferences and other market activities to promote the overall brand and promote the release of new products; According to the strategic direction of business development, the company holds dealer meetings from time to time to increase the interaction and stickiness between the company and dealers and expand the channel coverage of the company.
(2) Direct selling mode and distribution mode
The company adopts the sales mode of combining direct selling and distribution. The end users mainly include medical institutions, scientific research institutes and universities. During the sales process, the company installs and debugs the equipment according to customer needs.
1) Direct selling mode
Under the direct selling mode, the company builds its own sales team, which is responsible for a series of sales activities such as business opportunity mining, intention confirmation, business negotiation and bidding procurement. In the direct selling mode, the company communicates directly with customers, and understands customer demands in time, which is convenient for establishing long-term cooperative relations and establishing a good brand image.
2) Distribution mode
In the distribution mode, the dealers conduct sales activities such as intention confirmation, business negotiation, bidding and purchasing. The company makes full use of the location advantages and channel resources of dealers, shortens the development cycle of end customers and improves the market penetration rate of the company.
3) Dealer management mode
The company strengthened market expansion and dealer risk control, and established a perfect dealer management system, as follows:
A) dealer management system
Based on the overall strategic planning, marketing strategy, product strategy and other aspects, the company has established a management system for dealers at home and abroad, and systematically managed the access qualification, classified management, cultivation and development, management and assessment of dealers.
B) dealer access and qualification management
The company ensures that the dealers have the relevant qualifications to operate medical devices through the best adjustment of dealers; At the same time, the company understands the reputation, integrity, operation and company strength of dealers in their respective regions through research and field visits. Based on the above judgment, the company conducts a step-by-step audit to confirm whether the dealer meets the company’s requirements.
C) dealer support management
The high-end medical equipment industry has a high degree of professionalism. The company conducts regular training for dealers and provides all-round support for their sales work. The company will regularly carry out sales training, risk management training and annual meetings, in which sales training includes company brand promotion, product knowledge and sales skills; Risk management training includes compliance guidance and compliance risk point training; The annual meeting includes the interpretation of industry development trends, the release of new products and the promotion of company policies.
(3) After-sales service mode
The customer service department of the company provides services throughout the product life cycle around improving the user experience, covering pre-sale site survey and design, logistics and transportation, equipment installation and debugging, equipment maintenance and maintenance, software and hardware upgrade, clinical application support, equipment operation training and so on. The company’s customer service has a perfect quality management system and has passed ISO-27001, ISO-13485 and ISO-9001 certifications. The company’s equipment products usually include a one-year warranty period, and customers can also purchase longer maintenance services according to their own conditions.
The company has established a standardized talent training and certification system to realize the whole process management of after-sales service, thus providing customers with an overall after-sales service plan; Through the upgrade of information system and the development of Internet of Things technology, the company provides online technical solutions, remote upgrade, online training and other services.
The company set up headquarters call center and remote service center to accept the needs of domestic and foreign users. At the same time, the company has established a global customer service network based on China, the United States, Malaysia, Poland and other countries to provide customers with timely and efficient after-sales service.
With in-depth understanding of customers’ needs, the company adopts a combination of centralized training at headquarters, on-site training in hospitals and remote training, and devotes itself to training high-quality maintenance engineers for hospitals through specialized system knowledge training, so as to solve common equipment failures in time and improve equipment operation efficiency.
(3) the industry situation
1. The development stage, basic characteristics and main technical threshold of the industry.
According to the classification standard of National Economic Industry Classification (GB_T4754-2017) issued by the National Bureau of Statistics, the company’s industry belongs to the medical diagnosis, monitoring and treatment equipment manufacturing (classification code C3581) in the 35th category of special equipment manufacturing (classification code C35).
(1) development stage
The global aging, the increase of chronic diseases and the increase of medical expenditure have brought about the expansion of the global medical device market, and the global public health emergencies have accelerated the expansion of the market. According to the consulting data, the global medical device market has exceeded $480 billion in 2021, and it is estimated that the global medical device market will reach $848 billion in 2030, with a compound growth rate of 6.4% from 2021 to 2030, and the global market is expected to maintain steady growth.
Compared with the global medical device market, the medical device market in China is developing relatively faster. Constrained by the development level of productivity, the medical device industry in China started late as a whole. However, driven by the overall strength of the country, the improvement of people’s living standards, the aging population and the government’s strong support for the medical field, the medical device market in China has grown rapidly. From 2015 to 2020, the market size of medical devices in China has increased from 312.55 billion yuan to 778.93 billion yuan, with a compound annual growth rate of about 20.0%. In the future, with the improvement of market demand, the support of the state for the medical industry and the industrial upgrading brought by the technical development of the medical device industry, the medical device industry is expected to continue to maintain a good momentum of rapid growth and realize the process of importing and replacing low-end products to high-end products. It is estimated that the medical device market will reach 2,492.4 billion yuan by 2030, with a compound growth rate of 11.9% from 2021 to 2030.
According to different functions and functions, medical instruments can be divided into medical imaging equipment, surgery-related equipment, in-vitro diagnostic equipment and other categories. Among them, medical imaging equipment refers to the technical means of applying various physical signals, including visible light, X-ray, ultrasound and strong magnetic field, to the human body to record the signal intensity distribution of human body feedback, form an image and enable doctors to interpret human body structure and pathological information from it. According to different purposes, medical imaging equipment can be divided into diagnostic imaging equipment and therapeutic imaging equipment. According to different signals, diagnostic imaging equipment can be roughly divided into magnetic resonance imaging (MR) equipment, X-ray computed tomography (CT) equipment, X-ray imaging (XR) equipment, molecular imaging (MI) equipment, ultrasound (US) equipment, etc. Therapeutic imaging equipment can be roughly divided into digital subtraction angiography equipment (DSA) and directional radiation equipment (orthopedic C-arm).
Medical imaging equipment is the market segment with the highest technical barrier in the medical device industry. With the rapid development of China’s economy, the aging of the population, the improvement of people’s health awareness, the demand for medical care services continues to increase, and the demand for high-quality medical images in the domestic market has increased rapidly accordingly. At the same time, since the medical reform in 2012, the relevant state departments have successively issued a series of policies related to the medical industry, aiming at optimizing the level of medical services, encouraging the implementation of graded diagnosis and treatment, and promoting the sinking of medical resources, which has opened up new market space for the sales of imaging equipment. Driven by market demand and policy bonus, the medical imaging equipment market in China will continue to grow. In 2020, the market scale has reached 53.70 billion yuan, and it is estimated that the market scale will be close to 110 billion yuan in 2030, with an average compound annual growth rate of 7.3%.
(2) Basic characteristics
The high-end medical equipment industry is a high-tech industry with the characteristics of interdisciplinary, talent-intensive, knowledge-intensive and innovation-intensive. Compared with the world, China’s medical imaging equipment industry has been showing a situation of low industry concentration, small enterprise scale and low domestic product share in the middle and high-end market. In recent years, with the progress of the overall research and development level of domestic medical equipment, the core technology of products has been gradually overcome, and the product quality and reputation have risen. Some domestic enterprises have achieved overtaking in corners through technological innovation, and the pattern of import monopoly is changing. The domestic medical imaging equipment industry is gradually achieving the goal of running side by side with international brands.
(3) Main technical thresholds
The research and development of high-end medical equipment has extremely high technical barriers, and belongs to a multidisciplinary, knowledge-intensive and innovation-intensive industry. The research and development of a device often involves biomedical engineering, machinery, algorithms, electronic information, material science, medical imaging technology and many other disciplines, with high research and development threshold and long research and development cycle.
The main technical thresholds in the field of magnetic resonance imaging include superconducting magnet technology, gradient technology, radio frequency technology and spectrometer design technology. The company has the development technology of superconducting magnets with 1.5T, 3.0T, 5.0T and higher field strength, and has developed the industry’s first 3.0T, 5.0T whole-body magnetic resonance products with large aperture of 75cm and the first 3.0TMR, 9.4T animal MR products made in China. Have the ability to develop multi-size and high-performance gradient coils, and master the development technology of large-scale high-power gradient power amplifiers; Have the design and manufacturing technology of high-channel RF receiving coil suitable for all parts of human body, and be able to design and manufacture multi-channel RF transmitting coil of human body with field strength of 1.5T to 3.0T and above, and master the development technology of multi-channel high-power RF amplifier; It has a self-developed distributed spectrometer system, which has the characteristics of ultra-high channel RF parallel data acquisition, nanosecond synchronization and all-weather component monitoring.
The main technical thresholds in the field of X-ray computed tomography imaging include detector technology, tube and high voltage generator technology, reconstruction algorithm and so on. The company’s self-developed space-time detector has been applied to the company’s CT series products, supporting a variety of space-time detector configurations with the thinnest thickness of 0.5mm; Master bipolar CT tube technology and high voltage generator technology by self-research; The correction and reconstruction algorithm based on CT products is developed to provide excellent CT image quality and improve the dynamic scanning ability of the system. A full model iterative reconstruction algorithm based on artificial intelligence is also developed to minimize the dose under the premise that the image meets the requirements of clinical diagnosis.
The main technical thresholds in the field of X-ray imaging include high-voltage generator technology, image reconstruction and post-processing technology, automatic electromechanical control technology and so on. Based on deep learning, the company has developed metal implant recognition and graphic noise reduction technology, which can accurately detect the area where metal implants are located in medical images; The original full-field scanning trajectory and reconstruction algorithm expanded the reconstructed field of view of cone-beam CT on DSA system to 431mm；; Master the technology of high-voltage generator for XR. At present, this part has been mass-produced and used in some products. The self-developed high-voltage generator can reduce the product volume to meet the space requirements of end users through high-frequency inverter technology, reduce the output ripple, optimize the exposure dose, improve the image quality, improve the switching speed of kV output pulse, and reduce the radiation dose accepted by the examinee.
The main technical thresholds in the field of molecular imaging include scintillator and detector technology. Through the digital detector module based on SiPM and the overall design of large axial field of view, the company’s detector can achieve high sensitivity, which can effectively improve image quality, scanning speed and reduce scanning dose. The high-bandwidth data acquisition and transmission technology of the company’s high-resolution detector can record and process the data obtained by the high-definition digital detector without loss. The company is also one of the few enterprises in the industry that can design and manufacture long-axis PET products.
The main technical thresholds in the field of radiotherapy include accelerating tube and dynamic multi-leaf grating technology. The integrated CT imaging system integration technology mastered by the company can integrate the imaging system with the treatment system, realize the coaxial bed design of CT and medical linear accelerator, make the tumor see more clearly through high-quality diagnostic images, and improve the accuracy of clinical treatment; At the same time, the core algorithms of TPS treatment planning system independently developed by the company include dose calculation algorithm and optimization algorithm, which can improve the speed and accuracy of dose calculation and improve the working efficiency of clinical physics. The highest dose rate of the 6MV accelerator tube independently developed by the company has reached the leading level in the industry (uniform mode 600MU/min@1m, non-uniform mode 1400MU/min@1m), and it can accurately control each dose pulse. The dynamic multi-leaf grating technology independently developed by the company can realize the clinical application of efficient and accurate volume intensity modulation technology, and reduce the radiation dose received by patients’ normal tissues through precise dose modulation.
2. Analysis of the industry position of the company and its changes.
The company’s product line covers high-end medical imaging diagnosis products and radiotherapy products, realizing the integrated layout of diagnosis and treatment.
As can be seen from the above table, in the field of high-end medical imaging and radiotherapy products, the coverage of the company’s product line is basically the same as that of international manufacturers such as GE Medical, Siemens Medical and Philips Medical. In the industry where the company is located, the low-end products market has gradually realized domestic substitution, and the high-end products and ultra-high-end products markets are still dominated by imported brands.
(1)MR system competition pattern
According to the statistics of new market amount in 2022, the company is the main MR equipment manufacturer in China market, ranking third in market share. In the equipment market of 3.0TMR and above in China, the main market participants are GE Medical, Siemens Medical, Philips Medical and Company. In the superconducting MR market of 1.5TMR and below in China, the company ranks second in market share; In China’s 3.0TMR market, the company ranks third in market share; In China, the company ranks second in the market share of 3.0T+ultra-high-field MR equipment. According to the statistics of new domestic market amount in 2022, the company is the largest CT equipment manufacturer in China market, leading international manufacturers and ranking first in market share. The company ranks first in the market share of CT with rows below 40, second in the market share of CT with rows 41-63, first in the market share of CT with rows 64 -80, and third in the market share of high-end and ultra-high-end CT with rows 128 and 256 or more.
(2) Competition pattern of 2)CT system
(3) Competition pattern of 3)XR system
In various market segments of XR industry, DR and mobile DR equipment are basically localized, and the localization rate of breast machine and DSA is low, among which the localization rate of DSA is less than 10%. According to the statistics of new domestic market amount in 2022, the company ranks first in overall market share, among which fixed DR and breast DR products rank first in market share and mobile DR ranks second in market share.
(4) Competition pattern of 4)MI system
Molecular imaging system is a high-end product in the field of medical imaging. The main market participants are Siemens Medical, GE Medical, Philips Medical and Company. The company’s PET/CT products have been ranked first in China market share for many years since they were listed. China’s PET/MR market participants include the company, Siemens Medical and GE Medical, and the company is the only manufacturer of PET/MR equipment in China. According to the statistics of new domestic market amount in 2022, the market share of the company’s PET/MR products ranks first.
(5) Competition pattern of 5)RT system
As the leading enterprises of radiotherapy equipment, Varian and Medical University occupy the main share of China’s RT market. In the radiotherapy equipment market, according to the statistics of new domestic market amount in 2022, the company’s RT product market share ranks third.
3. The development of new technologies, (), new formats and new models during the reporting period and the future development trend.
(1) development and trend of 1)MR industry
The products with 1.5T field strength in MR field are mature, but with the liberalization of domestic market configuration certificate, 3.0T clinical and scientific research products will be further popularized. In the field of ultra-high field magnetic resonance, only a few multinational companies and companies have mastered the core technology and production capacity of 5.0T and above MR.
The main development trends are: enhancing the main magnetic field intensity of the system, improving the gradient performance and the digital high-channel spectrometer performance, and improving the imaging clarity; Adopt new data acquisition and reconstruction algorithm to improve scanning imaging speed; Develop a large aperture and low noise system to improve the inspection comfort; Empower the inspection process with artificial intelligence technology and optimize the inspection workflow; Low energy consumption; Low liquid helium.
(2) The development and trend of 2)CT industry
At present, the leading manufacturers in the industry can achieve the coverage of CT products such as 16 rows to 320 rows, and the products of domestic manufacturers are mainly CT products below 64 rows.
The main development trend: by adapting the patient’s situation and body position and designing dose parameters, combined with the update iteration of reconstruction algorithm, the scanning dose is reduced and low-dose scanning is realized; Through energy spectrum and perfusion function, more quantitative analysis tools are provided for clinical diagnosis, and the clinical application scene of CT is broadened; By optimizing the performance of the bulb and high pressure generator, the detection ability of small lesions can be improved, the motion artifacts can be reduced, and the resolution of cardiovascular images can be improved.
(3) Development and trend of 3)XR industry
Products in XR field can be divided into diagnosis and intervention according to application scenarios. In the field of diagnostic X-ray, DR and mobile DR have been fully developed, and some leading manufacturers have begun to explore intelligent applications. The traditional 2D breast machine products are mature and are being upgraded to 3D at present. At the same time, with the medical service focusing on diagnosis and treatment and prevention at the same time, the demand for breast machines will further increase in the future. In the field of X-ray intervention, the main body is the leading manufacturers in the industry, and the localization rate is only about 10%.
Main development trend: In the future, driven by the aging population, the increasing number of patients with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, the development of AI and other technologies, it will continue to become the growth point of XR market, driven by factors such as image acquisition, image processing and the whole process of auxiliary diagnosis.
(4) Development and trend of 4)MI industry
In terms of system design, the digital technology based on SiiconPhotomutipier (SiPM) can improve the spatial resolution, sensitivity and counting rate of molecular imaging system, and it is gradually popularized in the industry. Major manufacturers in the industry have introduced digital PET/CT products, and a few PET/MR products have also been digitized. In clinical application, artificial intelligence algorithm has been applied to image post-processing to improve the speed and effect of image processing.
The main development trend: to realize the function of finding early lesions and metastatic lesions by developing new detectors with higher resolution and sensitivity; Develop electronic technology with better flight time performance and counting rate characteristics; Develop faster data processing and correction technology; Develop low-dose scanning technology, optimize the existing system design and reconstruction algorithm, reduce the scanning radiation dose of PET and CT synchronously, and improve the scanning safety. The above technical development can realize accurate diagnosis and promote the development of personalized diagnosis and treatment.
(5) Development and trend of 5)RT industry.
Radiotherapy is one of the commonly used methods to treat malignant tumors, among which image-guided radiotherapy is the representative direction of tumor precise radiotherapy technology at present. The future development trends of the industry include diagnostic image-guided treatment system, intelligent treatment planning, intelligent quality control, remote collaboration and efficient implementation.
Image-guided radiotherapy ensures that the treatment is concentrated in the tumor area, protects the surrounding organs and realizes accurate radiotherapy by making the target area highly conformal. Before and during the treatment of patients, image-guided radiotherapy can use advanced imaging equipment to locate tumors and potentially dangerous organs, and adjust the treatment conditions according to the changes of tumor position and shape, so as to make the irradiation field conform to the target area and limit the tumors within the dose range designed by the treatment planning system. In addition, due to the uncertainty of tumor morphology during the treatment course, the treatment plan needs to be adjusted adaptively according to the tumor changes. The online adaptive radiotherapy technology of future fusion diagnostic image can monitor the tumor changes and adjust the treatment plan at any time.
(6) Situation and trend of life science instrument industry
As for preclinical magnetic resonance imaging instruments, only a few companies have mastered the design and manufacturing technology of ultra-high field magnets, high-power components, gradient and RF systems, logic control components, software and algorithm components.
Main development trends: Pre-clinical magnetic resonance imaging instruments develop high-sensitivity acquisition technology, molecular imaging technology and rapid imaging technology to help scientists complete higher-definition scientific research images, see more microscopic structures, capture functional information of living organisms, and touch and broaden the boundaries of science.
In animal PET/CT, we have mastered the key technologies such as sub-millimeter cell analysis technology based on special domestic ASIC chip, detector depth effect identification and correction technology, micro-cell detector scattering effect online recovery technology, and so on.
Main development trend: Based on the above technology, animal PET/CT equipment can be promoted to develop in the direction of higher resolution, higher sensitivity, higher animal scanning flux and more accurate quantitative consistency, and a single bed can meet the whole body dynamic scanning and realize single multi-animal scanning.
(IV) Core technologies and R&D progress
1. Core technologies and their advanced features and changes during the reporting period.
After years of research and development, the company has mastered the following core technologies:
(1) Core technology of magnetic resonance imaging system (MR)
(2) The core technology of X-ray computed tomography (CT)
(3) Core technology of X-ray imaging system (XR)
(4) Core technology of molecular imaging system (MI)
(5) Core technology of radiotherapy system (RT)
(6) Core technologies of general software and hardware
2. R&D achievements obtained during the reporting period
By the end of the reporting period, the company had applied for 8,677 intellectual property rights and obtained 4,357. During the reporting period, the company added 1,442 applications for intellectual property rights and obtained 899 applications, including 946 applications for invention patents and 533 invention patents. In addition to the above-mentioned invention patent authorization, the company also owns a number of non-patented technologies, which also constitute an important part of the company’s technological competitiveness and play an important role in the company’s business operation.
3. R&D investment table
Reasons for significant changes in total R&D investment compared with the previous year
During the reporting period, the company consolidated its leading market position in domestic technology, introduced high-level R&D talents, maintained high R&D investment, innovated and upgraded existing products and expanded new product lines, and achieved comprehensive and sustainable development.
4. Research projects
5. R&D personnel
6. Other explanations
Iii. Analysis of core competitiveness during the reporting period
(A) analysis of core competitiveness
The company is a leading medical science and technology enterprise in China and one of the few in the world to master the core technologies of high-end medical imaging diagnostic products, radiotherapy products and life science instruments, and has the ability of product life cycle management from research and development, production, sales to after-sales maintenance.
1. Comprehensive product layout and leading product performance
(1) Comprehensive product coverage
The company has formed a rich product line around high-end medical imaging equipment, covering diagnostic products such as MR, CT, XR, PET/CT, PET/MR, radiotherapy products such as conventional RT and CT-guided RT, and life science instruments such as animal MR and animal PET/CT, which can meet the needs from preclinical scientific research to diagnosis and treatment. The company’s equipment is equipped with self-developed medical image processing software and advanced applications, which can realize the organic combination of research, diagnosis, treatment and scheme, and provide a one-stop solution for accurate diagnosis and treatment.
(2) Advanced product performance
A number of products developed by the company have created "firsts" in the industry or domestically, including the industry’s first PET/CT product, uEXPLORER(Tota-bodyPET/CT), which was awarded the title of "Top Ten Technological Breakthroughs in the World" by British Physical World magazine in 2018; UMROmega, the industry’s first 3.0TMR product with 75cm aperture, has many patented technologies such as zero liquid helium volatilization technology, active/passive shimming technology and quench protection technology. The industry’s first diagnostic CT-guided integrated radiotherapy accelerator uRT-inac integrated CT linear accelerator and other products; UMRJupiter5T, the industry’s first full-body imaging in mr system, has overcome the core components and technical problems of ultra-high field magnetic resonance as the "Special Research and Development Project of Digital Diagnosis and Treatment Equipment" of the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan", and realized ultra-high field full-body clinical imaging.
2. Strong comprehensive research and development capabilities
(1) Vertical R&D system
The company has built a vertical innovation system that runs through technology, products and software, and carried out core technology research and development around the core components of each product line, laying a solid foundation for realizing independent control of core technology and casting product competitiveness barriers. The company’s self-research ratio ranks in the forefront of the industry, and the main core components of each product line are self-developed and produced.
(2) Platform R&D mode
The company has set up a general software and hardware research and development platform, which provides a basis for technology reference and exchange, product integration and iteration with a cross-product line platform research and development model. On the research and development level, the common underlying architecture provides innovation and convenience for developing multimodal products; At the project level, shared software and hardware design can improve R&D efficiency and accelerate product iteration; At the product level, the unified system and unified industrial design and interface design have maintained a high degree of consistency in brand image and experience of different product lines of the company, which is conducive to the enhancement of brand influence and the continuous promotion of products.
(3) Frontier innovation strategy
The company guides the direction of innovation with forward-looking research and market trends. On the one hand, the company set up future lab in Shanghai and Houston, USA, actively arranged forward-looking research, explored and grasped new opportunities for industry transformation and development, and provided technical reserves for the company’s R&D and innovation; On the other hand, each product division is closely connected with the market, and continuously promotes the technological innovation and iterative upgrade of all products through rapid feedback on market demand.
(4) Global R&D talent pool
Talent is the foundation of the company’s continuous R&D innovation. Through independent training and external introduction, the company has built a global R&D echelon led by many top scientists and personnel with deep experience in industry management and R&D. By the end of the reporting period, the company had 7,302 employees, including 3,088 R&D personnel, accounting for 42.29% of the total employees.
3. Complete layout of intellectual property rights
Intellectual property system is the core support of technological innovation, and it is also an important guarantee for the sustainable development and globalization of enterprises. The company has established a perfect database and intellectual property management platform to realize the platform management of intangible assets throughout their life cycle. The company’s intellectual property system covers patents, trademarks, copyrights and technical secrets. By the end of the reporting period, the company had applied for more than 8,600 patents, of which invention patent applications accounted for more than 80% of all patent applications. The company has obtained more than 4,300 intellectual property rights authorizations, including more than 2,300 invention patents. At the same time, the company strictly protects the company’s technical secrets in accordance with the Information Security Management Measures and the Trade Secret Management System, and strives to create an all-round intellectual property distribution system to protect the technological innovation achievements of enterprises from different angles.
(1) Forward-looking layout strategy
Since its establishment, the company has always regarded the patent layout strategy as an important means to strengthen its competitiveness, and combined with its own technical path, industry frontier technology and market expansion direction, it has continuously built patent barriers. The company’s patent mining mechanism runs through the whole life cycle of technology research and development, and patent applications cover a wide range of products. At the same time, in the process of research and development, the company plans in advance and protects the technologies that may be implemented in the future to seize the opportunity and ensure that the company obtains more basic patents and higher layout efficiency.
In terms of trademarks, in the early days of the company’s establishment, it cooperated with the product listing plan to carry out trademark layout, and made use of the advantages of Madrid trademark system to carry out global trademark layout, laying the foundation for overseas market expansion.
The company has formed a set of intellectual property layout with both offensive and defensive functions by combining its own technical path, industry frontier trends and market expansion direction.
(2) Establishment of the system
Combined with its own development strategy, the company has established a comprehensive and systematic intellectual property management system, covering the acquisition, maintenance and control of intellectual property rights. At the risk control level, it can support intellectual property risk identification and legal dispute resolution; At the level of documents and regulations, the company has set up control procedures including intellectual property documents and laws and regulations; In terms of information security, the company has implemented strict confidentiality management on intellectual property information resources.
4. Stereoscopic marketing network
Combining the direct selling and distribution mode, the company has built a diversified three-dimensional marketing system covering domestic and foreign markets, from top scientific research institutes, universities, 3A hospitals and grass-roots institutions. The company actively implements the national grading diagnosis and treatment implementation strategy, realizes the penetration of the primary medical market through rich products, and promotes the sinking of medical resources through the combination of innovative equipment, Internet and image cloud technology. In overseas markets, as of December 31, 2022, the company has established sales networks in many countries and regions around the world such as the United States, Japan, Poland, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, South Africa, Morocco and Malaysia, and its products have successfully entered more than 50 countries and regions such as the United States, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Italy and India.
5. Perfect after-sales service
Taking customer experience as the center, the company has built a perfect customer service system around regular after-sales demand, emergency response demand and feedback demand. The company has established an after-sales team that pays attention to details and strives for perfection, providing customers with comprehensive services covering training, installation, maintenance, upgrade and maintenance. In addition, the company attaches great importance to continuous communication with customers and gets feedback to promote the product optimization and upgrading of the R&D team.
6. Industry-University-Research medical integration innovation.
The company has gradually changed from a single dimension of empowering clinic with products and technologies to a deep integration and innovation system of Industry-University-Research medicine supported by all-round science and technology. The company has opened up the whole chain of "basic research-clinical application-translational medicine-industrial transformation", driven product definition, performance optimization, application expansion and clinical demonstration with clinical needs and major medical problems, formed a closed-loop management from innovation to commercial transformation, and continuously expanded innovation leadership and commercial competitiveness.
(II) The events that occurred during the reporting period and seriously affected the company’s core competitiveness, impact analysis and countermeasures.
Fourth, risk factors
(A) Not yet profitable risk
(2) Risk of sharp decline in performance or loss
(C) core competitiveness risks
1. Risk of infringement of key core technologies or disclosure of technical secrets.
The company is committed to providing global customers with high-performance medical imaging equipment, radiotherapy products, life science instruments and medical digital and intelligent solutions. The product line covers magnetic resonance imaging system (MR), X-ray computed tomography system (CT), X-ray imaging system (XR), molecular imaging system (MI), radiotherapy system (RT) and life science instruments. Through more than ten years of continuous research and development, the company has mastered the core technologies related to the development and production of different product series, and protected the key core technologies by authorizing invention patents, technical secrets and signing confidentiality agreements with R&D personnel.
If the company’s key core technology is infringed or leaked, the output effect of the company’s R&D investment will be reduced, and the technological advantages of the company’s products will not be guaranteed continuously, which will adversely affect the company’s profit.
(4) Operational risks
1. Risk of business cooperation under distribution mode
The company mainly adopts the sales mode of combining distribution and direct sales. During the reporting period, the distribution income of the company’s main business was 5.954 billion yuan, accounting for 65.98% of the main business income. The steady growth of the company’s distribution income and the continuous expansion of the dealer network put forward higher requirements for the company’s distribution system management ability. The company needs to increase the number of sales management personnel, which increases the management cost of performance and payment of distribution contracts; At the same time, if the company can’t improve the management ability of dealers at the same time, once the dealers have their own management confusion, illegal behavior, or interest disputes between the company and dealers, it will have an adverse impact on the company’s distribution revenue growth.
In view of the above risks, the company continuously strengthens the system construction and capacity building of its own marketing team, improves the ability of professional salespeople and broadens the sales mode. In addition, the company has continuously improved the Dealer Management System, and systematically managed and assessed the dealer’s access qualification, classified management, cultivation and development, management and assessment. Due to the high professionalism of the high-end medical equipment industry, the company will regularly carry out sales training, risk management training and annual meetings, in which sales training includes company brand promotion and product knowledge;
Risk management training includes compliance guidance and compliance risk point training; The annual meeting includes industry development trend interpretation, new product release and company policy promotion, so as to realize long-term, stable and sustainable strategic integration with distributors.
2. Risks of international operation and business expansion
The company attaches great importance to the development and sales of high-end medical imaging diagnosis and radiotherapy products in overseas markets, and has achieved sales in the United States, Japan, Europe, Africa and Southeast Asia. During the reporting period, the company’s main business income overseas was 1.078 billion yuan (according to the statistics of the installed location of end customers), accounting for 11.94% of the company’s main business income, up by 110.83% year-on-year, and the overall trend kept increasing year by year.
However, different overseas markets and regions usually have different regulatory policies and regulations on medical devices, the international situation is uncertain, and the regulatory efforts on intellectual property protection, unfair competition and consumer protection are also different. With the further expansion of overseas business scale, the overseas legal environment involved by the company will be more complicated and changeable. If the company fails to respond to the changes in overseas market environment and policy environment in time, it will have an adverse impact on the company’s overseas business development and operation. The details are as follows:
(1) Policy and approval risks: In recent years, the international situation has been ups and downs, various uncertain and unstable factors have frequently occurred, the international trade environment has become increasingly complex, and trade friction disputes have continued. Geopolitical factors may have an adverse impact on the economy and trade of some countries or regions. Some countries have always had strong approval barriers for the licensing of high-end medical devices, and it takes a long time to complete product registration, which makes market access difficult. Different overseas markets and regions usually have different regulatory policies and regulations on medical devices, and there are uncertainties in the political and economic situation, as well as differences in the supervision of intellectual property protection, unfair competition and consumer protection.
(2) Market competition risk: GE Medical, Siemens Medical, Philips Medical and other companies have occupied a dominant position in many fields of medical equipment for many years, and have significant advantages in academic, clinical demonstration, customer awareness, global supply chain integration, product technology development, overseas after-sales service and brand influence. In the face of international market competition, if the company cannot maintain and continuously strengthen its own competitive advantage and core competitiveness, the market share and price of its products may decline due to intensified market competition.
(3) Risk of overseas sales channel expansion: In terms of the overall layout of overseas strategy, the company will promote the development of overseas business from the aspects of overseas product registration, team and network construction, production base and supply chain layout for the target market. By the end of the reporting period, the company has set up overseas teams through 14 overseas subsidiaries, but the overseas sales channels have been set up for a short time. If the company can’t effectively integrate the overseas sales teams and local distributor channels, the company’s products can’t open overseas markets quickly, which will adversely affect the company’s overseas market share and business development.
In view of the above risks, the company will comprehensively strengthen the management and layout of global R&D, production, sales, service and supply chain, make scientific decisions, promote the implementation of the company’s strategic planning and business layout in a reasonable and orderly manner, and further enhance the company’s brand influence and awareness in the international market through effective market activities and cooperation with Industry-University-Research Medical.
(V) Financial risks
1. Risk of tax policy change
The company and some of its subsidiaries are legally recognized high-tech enterprises, and they can enjoy the preferential income tax policies for high-tech enterprises when they meet all the conditions for enjoying the preferential tax policies for high-tech enterprises. In the future, if the above-mentioned preferential tax policies change or the company fails to meet the preferential tax conditions and cannot continue to enjoy the relevant preferential policies, the company’s tax burden will increase, which will have a certain impact on the company’s business operations. The company will continue to pay attention to the trend of tax policy, consolidate and strengthen its own R&D strength, continuously increase R&D investment, and consolidate the qualification recognition of high-tech enterprises.
2. Risk of exchange rate fluctuation
The company’s overseas business is growing rapidly, and the company and some overseas customers and suppliers use foreign currencies such as US dollars and euros for pricing and settlement. Due to factors such as changes in the international situation and environment, the difficulty of exchange rate risk management may increase in the future, and exchange rate fluctuations will directly affect the company’s exchange gains and losses, which may have a certain impact on the company’s business operations. The company attaches great importance to exchange rate risk management, takes both short-term and medium-and long-term measures, and rationally uses financial and operational methods to deal with exchange rate fluctuation risks.
3. Risk of loss of inventory depreciation reserve
With the rapid growth of the company’s business scale, the company’s inventory scale has increased. If there are major changes in the market environment and intensified market competition risks in the future, some of the company’s inventories may face risks such as backlog, damage and impairment, which may increase the risk of provision for inventory depreciation and may have a certain impact on the company’s operating performance. In the future, the company will improve the accuracy of demand forecasting, the scientificity of inventory planning, and implement more efficient and reasonable inventory management system to deal with the possible loss risk of inventory depreciation reserve in the future.
(VI) Industry risks
1, the market competition risk
According to the consulting research report, the market size of medical imaging equipment in China has exceeded 50 billion yuan in 2020, with a compound growth rate of 12.4% from 2015 to 2020. Although building a "healthy China" has become a national strategy, the rapid expansion of China’s big health market, the construction of national medical centers, the construction of national regional medical centers, the improvement of the comprehensive capacity of county hospitals in the "Thousand Counties Project", and the publication of the Catalogue of Management of Large Medical Equipment Configuration License (2023) have all promoted the potential demand for medical imaging equipment, but the company is still facing a fierce market competition environment.
On the one hand, China’s high-end medical imaging equipment market has been monopolized by foreign-funded enterprises such as GE Medical, Siemens Medical and Philips Medical. In the high-end PET/CT, MR and CT products market, imported brands once occupied more than 90% of the market share. After more than ten years of development of domestic medical imaging equipment technology, the import substitution trend of domestic brands has become more and more obvious, and the market share of imported brands has shown a downward trend. However, by virtue of their brand advantages, channel advantages and technical advantages over the past years, imported manufacturers have On the other hand, the company is also facing the competition from domestic medical imaging equipment manufacturers, including (), Neusoft Medical, () and other domestic manufacturers actively deploy products in the fields of XR, CT, MR and PET/CT, and constantly increase their efforts to explore the medical imaging equipment market. In the face of the above-mentioned domestic and foreign brands’ competition, if the company cannot maintain and continuously strengthen its own competitive advantage and core competitiveness, the market share and price of its products may decline due to intensified market competition.
In view of the above risks, the company will continue to strengthen core technology research and investment in next-generation products, and timely judge market trends and demand; Guided by cost management, product quality management and service quality management, the company pays attention to the quality requirements of the whole life cycle of products; The company will carry out talent reserve, technology reserve, product reserve and customer expansion on a global scale, deepen the international strategic layout and enhance the global market competitiveness.
2. Industry regulatory risks
The company’s medical imaging diagnosis and radiotherapy products are mainly used for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. According to the Regulations on the Supervision and Administration of Medical Devices, they belong to the second and third categories of medical devices, that is, medical devices with moderate risks that need strict control and management to ensure their safety and effectiveness, and medical devices with high risks that need special measures to strictly control and manage to ensure their safety and effectiveness. The company’s R&D, production and sales of the above-mentioned products must strictly implement the national supervision and management system in the field of medical devices, including classification management system, production filing and licensing system, product filing and registration management system and business filing and licensing management system. If the requirements for the registration and application of medical devices are raised in the future, the supervision on the production and operation of medical devices will become stricter, which will have an adverse impact on the development and registration of new products and the production and sales of existing products.
In view of the above risks, the company will continue to pay attention to relevant policy trends, actively participate in the formulation of medical industry standards, and consolidate and strengthen its own R&D management.
(VII) Macro-environmental risks
1. Trade frictions and geopolitical risks
In recent years, the international situation has been ups and downs, the international trade environment has become increasingly complex, and trade frictions and disputes have continued. Geopolitical factors may adversely affect the economic and trade of some countries or regions. In June 2018, the Office of the US Trade Representative issued a formal list of goods subject to tariffs, which will impose a 25% tariff on about 50 billion US dollars of goods imported from China, of which about 34 billion US dollars of goods will be subject to tariff increase measures from July 2018, and at the same time, about 16 billion US dollars of goods will be subject to tariff increase to solicit public opinions; In May 2019, the United States announced that it would impose tariffs on $200 billion of listed goods imported from China. According to the list of tariff increase published by the Office of the US Trade Representative, MR and CT products exported by the company to the United States are included in the scope of tariff increase goods; At the same time, China’s Customs Tariff Commission began to impose tariffs on some imported goods from the United States as a counter measure. Parts or materials used in the production of medical imaging equipment, such as X-ray tube components, superconducting wires and scintillation crystals, were included in the scope of tariffs imposed by China on imported goods from the United States, and were continuously and dynamically adjusted in the follow-up.
Therefore, some products exported by the company to the United States face the risk of decreasing market competitiveness due to tariff increase, while the adjustment of import tariff list may lead to the increase of the company’s procurement cost and have a certain adverse impact on the company’s net profit. If the Sino-US trade friction escalates further in the future, it will bring greater pressure on the profitability of the company’s export business to the United States.
In response to the above risks, the company will continue to track changes in trade policies. At the same time, actively promote the diversified layout of the international market, and disperse the risks brought by geopolitics. At the same time, continuously strengthen the exchange of international health systems, broaden the deep integration of Industry-University-Research doctors in the global industry, promote the localization of major markets in various regions, and consolidate the construction of production, sales and service systems.
(8) Risks related to depositary receipts
(9) Other major risks.
V. Discussion and analysis of the company’s future development
(A) the industry pattern and trends
1. The global medical imaging and radiotherapy equipment market has grown rapidly and steadily.
The global aging population is increasing day by day, and people’s demand for prevention and health management of chronic diseases is gradually increasing. Global public health emergencies have made governments realize the importance and urgency of health system construction, and medical and health investment has further increased. According to the statistics of consulting data, it is estimated that the compound annual growth rate of China’s medical imaging equipment market will be 7.3% from 2020 to 2030. In 2030, the total market size of China’s imaging equipment and radiotherapy equipment will reach 114.8 billion yuan, and the global market size of medical imaging equipment and radiotherapy equipment is expected to reach 75.6 billion US dollars.
In China, industrialization, urbanization, aging population, changes in disease spectrum, ecological environment and lifestyle have brought a series of new challenges to the maintenance and promotion of health. The contradiction between the overall shortage of health service supply and the increasing demand is still outstanding, and the coordination between health field development and economic and social development needs to be strengthened. It is necessary to solve major and long-term problems related to health from the national strategic level. In May, 2022, the General Office of the State Council issued the National Health Plan of the 14th Five-Year Plan, which stated that "by 2025, the health and health system will be more perfect, and the basic medical and health system with China characteristics will be gradually improved", and demanded that "the quality of medical and health services will be continuously improved, the capacity of primary medical and health services will be continuously improved, the all-round and full-cycle health service system will be gradually improved, and the pattern of graded diagnosis and treatment will be gradually established".
(1) National Medical Center: integrate and innovate production and medicine, build a national medical peak, and jointly attack the "stuck neck" and "one foot at the door" technologies.
In 2021, the National Development and Reform Commission, the National Health and Wellness Commission, state administration of traditional chinese medicine and the National Bureau for Disease Control and Prevention (hereinafter referred to as the "four ministries and commissions") jointly issued the "Implementation Plan for the Construction of High-quality and Efficient Medical and Health Service System in the Tenth Five-Year Plan", which requires the deployment of several national medical centers to tackle major medical fields and frontier challenges, solve key core technical problems of "one foot at the door" and "sticking the neck", and join hands with national enterprises. Gather the essential resources of "medicine, learning, research, production and politics", establish a platform for clinical research transformation of medical devices and equipment and an innovative technology incubation base, and at the same time, appropriately configure large-scale medical equipment in advance, and build smart hospitals and major disease databases.
(2) Regional medical center: to build a regional medical highland and strengthen the overall construction of the new campus.
According to the plan, we will build national and provincial regional medical centers, build high-level hospital branches, branches and "one hospital with multiple districts", export high-quality medical resources, and promote the overall national and regional medical service level. Support high-level hospitals to build clinical diagnosis and treatment centers for difficult and complicated special diseases and rare diseases, and solve regional critical and severe diseases and difficult diseases. Focus on strengthening the purchase of medical equipment, informatization and scientific research platform construction, establishing telemedicine and education platform, and accelerating the intelligent transformation and upgrading of diagnosis and treatment equipment. National regional medical centers are required to cover all provinces. So far, four batches of 76 medical centers have been announced, and they are still being continuously planned to increase. At present, there are 120 provincial regional medical centers in the country, which has generated a large number of overall construction and equipment configuration requirements for new hospitals.
(3) County-level hospitals: the primary medical capacity will be upgraded, and the serious illness will not leave the county, and more than 1,000 county hospitals will be upgraded to level 3.
County-level hospitals should upgrade their standards and expand their capacity, build specialized centers for chest pain, stroke, trauma and respiration, comprehensive tumor treatment centers and chronic disease management centers, and improve the diagnosis and treatment capabilities of common and frequently-occurring diseases, as well as major diseases such as tumors, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases in the county. Build a platform for medical treatment in the whole county, such as imaging, ECG and pathological diagnosis. On October 27, 2021, the General Office of the National Health and Wellness Commission issued the Work Plan for Improving the Comprehensive Capacity of County Hospitals in the "Thousand County Project" (2021-2025), proposing that by 2025, at least 1,000 county hospitals in China will reach the level of medical service capacity of tertiary hospitals, and then the list of the first batch of hospitals will reach 1,233, and many places will continue to increase. The goal is to make the county hospital become the gatekeeper of county medical health and the leader of resource traction integration through the overall construction, linking the county and urban and rural medical and health service systems, and achieving serious illness without leaving the county.
(4) Counties’ sub-centers: connecting the preceding with the following, and rural revitalization is the most important.
On February 23, 2023, the general offices of the General Office of the Central Committee of the CPC and the State Council issued the Opinions on Further Deepening Reform and Promoting the Healthy Development of Rural Medical and Health System, demanding that rural medical and health work be placed in an important position of rural revitalization, focusing on grassroots units, and accelerating the expansion and balanced distribution of high-quality medical and health resources in counties. Strengthen the standardization of community and township medical institutions, and improve the setting and equipment of clinical departments. Develop community hospitals and county sub-centers, select 1-2 primary medical institutions in each county according to the capacity level of secondary hospitals, build a rural telemedicine service system, promote remote consultation, appointment referral, internet follow-up, remote inspection, promote the application of artificial intelligence-assisted diagnosis configuration, and improve the digital and intelligent level of rural medical and health services.
(5) Construction of digital intelligent medical association/medical association: it will draw a huge market for digital intelligent overall solutions.
Various forms of medical associations will also be formed among medical institutions at all levels. The Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Promoting the High-quality Development of Public Hospitals pointed out that in accordance with the grid layout management, a compact urban medical group led by top-three public hospitals and combined with multi-level medical institutions should be established to be responsible for the integrated and continuous medical services such as prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and health promotion of residents in the grid; In accordance with the principles of county-township integration and rural integration, we will actively develop a close county-level medical community led by county-level hospitals. The 14th Five-Year Plan of National Health Information issued by the National Health and Wellness Commission, the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine and the State Bureau of Disease Control requires the establishment of an information system with integrated management, operation and collaborative service, the creation of a digital intelligent medical community, the acceleration of the construction of basic health information infrastructure and the upgrading of the compact county medical community information system. Intensive construction of national health information platforms at all levels, supporting medical associations, sports and medical communities, will bring huge market opportunities to the overall solution of digital intelligence.
(6) Strategic upgrade of public health system: construction of public health center, national major infectious disease base and emergency rescue base.
In terms of public health, the "Implementation Plan for the Construction of High-quality and Efficient Medical and Health Service System in the Tenth Five-Year Plan" jointly issued by the four ministries and commissions requires the construction of a modern disease prevention and control system, and the construction of several national and regional public health centers based on high-level provincial CDC. All localities have followed suit to build city and county public health centers or improve infectious disease hospitals, and improve infrastructure and equipment; Layout and construction of national major infectious disease prevention and control bases, and renovation and upgrading of infectious disease prevention and treatment facilities and equipment, such as mobile CT, according to the principle of combining peacetime with emergency; The construction of national emergency medical rescue bases will be carried out nationwide by provinces, and information communication equipment, mobile operating rooms and mobile CT will be equipped. At the same time, the National Health Information Plan of the 14th Five-Year Plan jointly issued by the National Health and Wellness Commission, the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine and the State Bureau of Disease Control requires all localities to establish a coordinated regional infectious disease monitoring and early warning and emergency command information platform to enhance the early monitoring and early warning capabilities of infectious diseases and public health emergencies.
(7) Connotation construction of high-quality medical development: integration of diagnosis and treatment, clinical-scientific research-teaching linkage, calling for collaborative and innovative industrial strategic partners.
In addition to configuration upgrading, the theme of the times of high-quality development makes the medical service system pay more attention to connotation construction. The Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Promoting the High-quality Development of Public Hospitals requires continuous improvement of the medical quality management system and standard system, and the homogenization level of medical services in public hospitals in different regions and levels; Strengthen basic and clinical research and promote the output of new technologies, new products, new schemes and new strategies for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of original diseases; Promote multidisciplinary diagnosis and treatment mode, and create integrated diagnosis and treatment, full chain service; Innovative medical and preventive coordination; Strengthen information support and promote the research and development and application of intelligent medical equipment and intelligent auxiliary diagnosis and treatment systems such as surgical robots; And improve operation management, personnel training and so on. The development mode of public hospitals has changed from a single purchase of equipment and ward building to a strategic, comprehensive, long-term, meticulous and high-quality development and planning. Medical institutions are no longer seeking simple equipment suppliers and service providers, but partners for common development and growth.
(8) China’s characteristic integrated medical and health service system: top-level design, regional overall planning, and opening up a new grand plan for healthy China.
Socialism with Chinese characteristics’s medical and health service system will be further improved. On March 23, 2023, the General Offices of the General Office of the Central Committee of the CPC and the State Council issued the Opinions on Further Improving the Medical and Health Service System, demanding that by 2025, the medical and health service system will be further improved, the balance of resource allocation and services will be gradually improved, the ability of prevention and control, treatment and emergency response of major diseases will be significantly enhanced, the development of Chinese and Western medicine will be more coordinated, and the construction of orderly medical treatment and diagnosis and treatment system will achieve positive results. By 2035, an integrated medical and health service system with complete system, clear division of labor, complementary functions, continuous coordination, efficient operation and resilience will be formed. Around this top-level design, the overall regional health planning and medical institution setting planning are carried out, and the construction and development of medical and health service system are coordinated. Under the background of regional medical care and even national medical care, it will create favorable conditions for participating in market competition under the guidance of the company’s integrated layout of diagnosis and treatment, equipment informationization, localized agile response and open innovation.
With the implementation of the above-mentioned policies at all levels, the construction of hospitals in various regions and types of the country will be further promoted, and the demand for the construction of medical diagnosis and treatment capabilities and service capabilities will be fully released, which will further drive the allocation of large-scale medical equipment, information programs and services.
Looking at the world, global medical health still faces a series of problems: First, the global aging problem is prominent. According to the report on population aging released by the U.S. Census Bureau, it is estimated that by 2050, the proportion of people over 65 years old in the total population will be as high as 17%, with about 1.6 billion people, which will bring about a continuous increase in medical demand in the future; Second, the number of patients with chronic diseases is increasing dramatically. According to the statistics of the World Health Organization, the number of people who die from chronic non-communicable diseases is as high as 41 million each year, accounting for 71% of the total deaths in the world, and the number of people who die from cardiovascular diseases is the largest, with about 17.9 million people each year, which puts forward higher requirements for continuous scientific and technological innovation and medical resources investment; Third, high-quality medical resources are insufficient and unevenly distributed. The surge of medical demand brought by global public health events is making medical staff in many countries run at high load, so it is urgent to improve the intelligence level and accessibility of high-end equipment and the popularity of telemedicine information platform. Fourth, there are still shortcomings in the public health system. Public health incidents have exposed that the global health system has strategic development space to make up for shortcomings, so as to ensure the stability of medical service supply in case of major public health incidents; Fifth, the level of digital intelligence of diagnosis and treatment equipment is still not enough, so it is difficult to improve the efficiency of diagnosis and treatment, bring better therapeutic effect and meet the needs of ultra-early screening and diagnosis of major diseases. In order to solve the above problems, the accessibility of high-end medical technology needs to be strengthened, and continuous technological innovation breakthroughs will help high-end technology sink and help the health of a wider range of people. At the same time,The traditional large-scale diagnosis and treatment equipment also needs to be upgraded in order to speed up the processing of image information, improve the accuracy of information processing, and meet the needs of ultra-early diagnosis of major diseases, thus further improving the efficiency of medical services and bringing better treatment results. In addition, governments in various countries and regions have begun to pay more attention to regional coordination and public health system construction, so as to ensure the homogeneity of service capacity and service effect of medical institutions in the region, gradually improve the level of primary medical services, and ensure the stability of pre-medical service supply in case of major public health incidents. These will continue to drive the continuous expansion of the global medical imaging market.
In order to meet the above challenges, more attention will be paid to strengthening the accessibility of high-end medical technology, upgrading the digital intelligence of traditional large-scale diagnosis and treatment equipment, regional coordination and the construction of public health system. The synergy of these factors will continue to drive the continuous expansion of the global medical imaging and information market.
In March 2021, the European Parliament voted to adopt a new health plan-EU4Health. The plan plans to fund 5.1 billion euros to support relevant activities of EU countries, WHO and non-governmental organizations, ensure the availability and accessibility of high-quality medical services and medical devices, promote the development of digital health and disease prevention, strengthen public health safety protection capabilities, and promote sustainable innovation in the field of health. In Latin America, where the population density is high and the population is relatively young, governments in the region are continuously pushing forward and deepening the reform of medical services to improve the ability of prevention and management of public health incidents, and will further expand the scope and improve the efficiency of medical services.
With the continuous implementation and promotion of multi-level policies at home and abroad, the medical demand in the global market will be fully released, and the trend of steady growth of medical equipment will be further clarified.
2. The development of the industry has entered a deep stage, and the substitution trend of high-end and ultra-high-end products is expected to accelerate.
In the past, China’s high-end medical imaging equipment providers were mainly foreign-funded enterprises such as GE Medical, Siemens Medical and Philips Medical. In the market of high-end PET/CT, MR and CT products, imported brands once occupied more than 90% of the market. For example, DSA, as the core equipment of interventional diagnosis and treatment, only has more than 1 million cases of coronary intervention in China every year, ranking first in the world, and the clinical demand is huge. However, according to relevant market statistics, the number of DSA per million population in China is only 6.4, which has a huge domestic substitution market space compared with the number of 45.5 in developed countries such as the United States, while the market share of domestic DSA brands is about 10%. After more than ten years of development of domestic medical imaging equipment technology, the self-research and innovation ability of domestic manufacturers will be further improved, and the import substitution trend of domestic brands will become more and more obvious.
In September, 2022, the meeting of the Standing Committee of the State Council decided that special re-loans and financial interest subsidies should support the upgrading of equipment in some areas to expand market demand and increase development potential. Subsequently, the Health and Health Commission issued the "Notice of National Health Commission to carry out financial discount loans to update and transform medical equipment", and it is planned to use financial discount loans to update and transform medical equipment to "add fuel to the new medical infrastructure".
In March, 2023, National Health Commission released a new version of the Catalogue of Management of Configuration Permission for Large Medical Equipment (2023), which was released. Compared with the 2018 edition, the number of Class A was reduced from 4 to 2, and the number of Class B was reduced from 6 to 4. Since then, PET/MR, Tomo, etc. have been adjusted to Class B, and all CT and MR do not need configuration certificates. The liberalization of configuration certificate has promoted the expansion of high-quality medical resources and balanced regional distribution, improved the graded diagnosis and treatment system, and promoted the high-quality development of health care. Domestic enterprises with deep product pipeline layout and strong R&D and innovation capabilities will further enhance their competitiveness in the mid-to high-end product market.
After years of coordinated development of the global industrial chain and the vigorous development of the domestic medical industry as a whole in the past decade, the integration of medical institutions around the world and the medical device industrial chain in China has been further deepened, and breakthroughs have been made in the core technology research of domestic medical devices in key areas, the global service ability and response speed have also been significantly improved, and the participation and market share in the global market have also been continuously expanded. With the in-depth implementation of China’s "Belt and Road" strategy and "going out" strategy, the price advantage and performance advantage of domestic innovative quality products have been further highlighted, which has become one of the important diversified layout drivers for the development of domestic brands in the international market.
3. Precision medicine has become one of the important clinical treatment trends.
Medical image diagnosis results can improve the accuracy of medical services. For example, orthopedic implants need to measure patients’ joints through CT equipment or XR equipment before operation, and doctors can better determine the surgical site and specific situation of patients through medical image diagnosis results. Under the background of the high cost of personalized medical equipment, if high-end medical imaging diagnostic equipment can provide accurate diagnosis before operation and assist the operation process, unnecessary consumables and operation expenses can be avoided.
4. Technological innovations such as 5G, AI and cloud services bring iterative upgrade of imaging technology.
The innovation of global Internet technology is changing the market of traditional medical device industry. For example, AI medical imaging is booming all over the world, and groundbreaking scientific and technological achievements such as artificial intelligence deep learning and AR telemedicine technology are being combined with medical imaging diagnostic equipment, thus accelerating the processing speed of image information and improving the accuracy of information processing. In addition, the development of 5G networks and cloud services has also accelerated the maturity of the "Internet+Medical" model, and telemedicine related products have become an important development direction of the medical imaging equipment industry. The high broadband of 5G network can effectively solve the problem of large and unstable transmission of medical data (such as CT images, ultrasound images, X-ray images, etc.), which can greatly improve the reliability of data transmission and effectively avoid the leakage of related data during transmission; Cloud services can store patients’ basic information and clinical records, and promote the sharing of information resources between different medical institutions.
5, medical imaging equipment multimodal fusion and diagnosis and treatment integration.
The future medical imaging equipment industry should not only provide high-performance medical imaging equipment for medical institutions, but also assist doctors to formulate integrated solutions for diagnosis and treatment, with the ultimate goal of reducing patients’ treatment costs and improving treatment efficiency. Therefore, multimodal fusion and integration of diagnosis and treatment are the main development direction of the industry in the future, and more medical imaging diagnosis and treatment equipment with multimodal function will be pushed to the market.
Taking the magnetic resonance linear accelerator as an example, radiotherapy is one of the important means to treat cancer. However, the traditional image-guided accelerator system lacks effective soft tissue image guidance, which can not locate tumors in real time during the treatment process, which greatly limits the accuracy and effectiveness of radiotherapy for tumors in all parts of the body, especially the treatment of many kinds of chest and abdomen tumors following respiratory movement. All along, the radiotherapy industry has been pursuing the integration of mr system and medical linear accelerator. However, due to the conflicting design principles of magnetic resonance and medical linear accelerator, there are still many technical challenges in the real close integration of the two devices.
In the future, with the deep integration, innovation and cooperation between leading manufacturers in the industry and upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain, and the continuous increase of core technologies and key technologies, the clinical needs of multi-scenarios and multi-diseases are expected to promote the launch of innovative equipment with multi-modality and integrated diagnosis and treatment, and greatly improve the accuracy and effectiveness of cancer radiotherapy.
(II) Company development strategy
With the vision of becoming a "world-class leader in medical innovation", the company has continued to attack the core technology research and development in the past 12 years, adhered to the market strategy of "holding high and fighting high, covering the whole line", basically realized the independent control of "the whole chain and the whole product line", and continued to expand its market share at home and abroad. In the future, based on the solid foundation of early development, the company will carry out technical reserves, talent reserves, product reserves and customer expansion on a global scale, deepen the international strategic layout, and enhance the company’s competitiveness and resilience in the global market. The specific strategies include:
1. R&D and innovation strategy
The company will carry out forward-looking layout in frontier technology fields such as imaging equipment, continuously and steadily increase R&D investment, and at the same time, proceed from the actual clinical needs of end customers, reserve the next generation of core technologies through independent R&D and product innovation, and fully consolidate the company’s technological innovation advantages.
In terms of product innovation, the company will adhere to the principle of "covering all independent research and development, mastering all core technologies and benchmarking international top standards", and continue to introduce a series of high-end medical equipment with "industry initiative and deep clinical value" to the market, opening up a new imagination space for clinical and scientific research, and realizing the self-requirement from "benchmarking international top standards" to "surpassing international top standards" from "industry changer" to "industry leader".
In terms of key components and underlying technologies, the company will continue to attack the core components and underlying technologies inward, actively promote the deep integration of cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, 5G, cloud technology and new materials with the next generation of diagnosis and treatment equipment, and explore new applications and new scenarios of new technologies in the field of big health, setting new technical coordinates for the industry.
In terms of medical cooperation in Industry-University-Research, the company will grow and create together with the best doctors and scholars in the industry at home and abroad, and make joint efforts in multidisciplinary innovation. With the great traction of innovation ecology, we will open up the whole link of basic research, clinical scientific research and industrial transformation, and promote the accurate diagnosis and treatment of major diseases and the exploration of major medical problems.
2. Marketing and management strategy
The company will build and improve the global production and sales system, and actively expand the market with the advantages of technology research and development.
In the domestic market, the company firmly promotes the transformation and upgrading in the next decade. Through the management strategy of "strong operation, strong marketing and strong service" and the marketing strategy of "setting a benchmark, building channels and strengthening the grassroots", it actively responds to the strategies of healthy China, manufacturing a strong country and revitalizing the countryside, as well as the National Medical Center, the National Regional Medical Center, the "Thousand County Project" and the compact county medical community.
In the international market, the company will further respond to the "One Belt, One Road" policy and the call of "going global", uphold the market strategy of "holding high, fighting high and breaking through all lines", and adhere to the global market strategy of "one core and multi-wings" to further realize the in-depth construction of overseas marketing system and the in-depth breakthrough in the global market. In the early stage, the company will continue to actively carry out resource integration and capacity layout from a global perspective, break the ice in key countries in key markets with high-end equipment, accelerate the construction of localized teams in key countries in the region, strengthen the service response ability before and after sales, and enhance the service quality and the awareness and influence of the company brand in the market. In the mid-term, the company has intensively cultivated in key countries in key regions, strengthened the investment in the construction of existing regional centers and cooperated with local doctors and hospitals for "Industry-University-Research Medical" to build a global Industry-University-Research medical innovation and integration system; At the same time, we will continue to accelerate the capacity building and market expansion of regional centers to achieve full product coverage in key markets in the region. In the later period, ensure the independent operation of subsidiaries and branches of regional centers in the regional market, that is, the mature deployment of localized sales network and after-sales team. At the same time, recruit global talents, strengthen the international market’s cognition and trust in the company’s brand, enhance user stickiness, change the world’s inherent impression of domestic brands, and realize the reverse export of large medical equipment to the high-end markets of the United States, Japan and Europe and the continuous import of emerging market countries.
3. Organization and talent strategy
With the goal of "building an innovative organization oriented by customers’ needs and establishing a value-oriented full-chain cooperative combat mechanism", the company has built a world-class management and expert team, established and deepened a value incentive system, continuously absorbed experts and talent teams in the medical imaging field around the world, and realized the development benefits of the company through an effective incentive system.
In terms of localization and diversification, in order to better adapt to the cultural and market environment of different countries and regions and deepen the construction of global talent system, the company adheres to the talent strategy of localization and diversified operation. In the future, we will further increase platform investment and capacity building in major countries in the strategic region and regional headquarters in the market, and consolidate and enhance the capacity building of major subsidiaries in marketing management, market management, clinical training, after-sales service and supply chain management.
In terms of organizational operation, the company will improve the operational efficiency and innovation ability of the organization by building a value-oriented full-chain cooperative combat mechanism. On the basis of market demand, we will continue to tap the innovative value of product technology and service, pay close attention to market trends, and respond to market demand in a timely manner through "inter-departmental, multi-modal and project-based" team building, accelerate the efficiency of organizational collaboration and information sharing, and enhance organizational resilience and agility.
In terms of personnel training and career development, the company adheres to the core incentive system of "customer-centered, innovation-driven and struggler-oriented", and continuously builds and optimizes a comprehensive salary incentive system that combines basic salary, long-term incentive, welfare and non-material incentives. On this basis, the company has established a performance management system that is "guided by strategy and encourages value creation" and an "open, equal and ability-oriented" talent career development and promotion channel to provide employees with adequate training and career development plans, effectively improve employees’ and organizational capabilities, stimulate employees’ subjective initiative and value creation, and help the company and employees grow together.
4. M&A integration strategy
In the future, the company will dig, explore, research and track related targets on a global scale in combination with the main development trends of the industry, the characteristics of major market regions and the development status quo, so as to obtain advanced technologies, products, channels and other resources. The company will continue to adhere to the principle of "innovation-driven, win-win cooperation", and improve R&D, marketing, management, marketing, talent system and capacity building with a more open attitude, deeper layout and firmer resilience and determination.
(3) Business plan
2023 is a crucial year for the implementation of the "14th Five-Year Plan", the starting point of the new journey after the company went public, and the opportunity year for the rapid development of the industry. After more than ten years of hard work, the company has rapidly grown into a leading enterprise in the industry.
This year, the company will make concerted efforts, be pragmatic, respond quickly and innovate quickly with a tough attitude and vigorous determination, and organize internal and external efforts to further strengthen the research and development of core components and key technologies of products. At the same time, it will also focus on the innovation and R&D upgrade of next-generation products, break through a series of technical problems in the industry, and comprehensively strengthen the company’s core competitiveness in R&D, technology, quality, marketing, service, supply chain and other aspects. Scientific decision-making, reasonable and orderly implementation of the company’s strategic planning and business layout, continuous optimization and upgrading of the global supply chain management system and marketing system, laying a solid foundation for the stable and healthy growth of various financial indicators and social indicators, and providing strong support for the construction of medical service system worldwide.
The company’s business plan for 2023 is as follows:
1. Strengthen the R&D and design upgrade of high-end medical imaging diagnosis products and radiotherapy products.
The company will continue to intensify technology development and independent innovation. On the basis of the existing R&D department, it will increase R&D investment, purchase R&D equipment and expand R&D team, keep up with market demand, and continuously promote the layout and development of new technologies in the fields of MR, CT, XR, MI, RT and US by cooperating with domestic and foreign universities and first-class scientific research institutes, so as to realize the rapid transformation and application of cutting-edge technologies, and enhance the technical barriers of the company through patent protection to ensure the leading position of the company’s core technologies.
In the field of core technology innovation and component autonomy, the company will continue to attach great importance to the research and development of core components and key technologies, further increase the proportion of self-research of various products of the company, and lay a solid foundation for the company to realize independent control of all products and key technologies and enhance the freedom of innovation. The company will continue to actively lay out the forward-looking industry technology direction, devote itself to grasping the new opportunities of industry transformation and development, and focus on the forward-looking technology research and development of related next-generation products and fusion equipment, so as to promote product upgrading and further consolidate the leading position in the industry. On the basis of comprehensive coverage of mainstream technical routes in related fields, the company will further promote the application of integration, intelligence and integration in products, and provide users with more platform-based and diversified solutions, thus creating a complete product ecosystem in the field of high-end medical equipment.
In the field of product design innovation, the company’s design team will further participate in the whole process of product from definition to development, adhere to the design concept of minimalism and people-oriented, promote the profound integration of science and technology, art and humanities through design, and lead and promote the all-round upgrade of design awareness, brand awareness and process standards in the whole industry.
2. Further promote the collaborative innovation of Industry-University-Research doctors and promote the development of the global high-end medical equipment ecosystem.
In the whole process from product design to finalized production, the company has always attached great importance to in-depth collaborative innovation with hospitals, scientific research institutions, universities and other medical circles in Industry-University-Research at home and abroad. Through in-depth understanding of the pending needs of hospitals in the use of existing products and the challenges faced by scientific research institutions and universities in cutting-edge topics, the company has achieved close cooperation and joint product development with customers, promoted the transformation of international advanced technological achievements, and provided direction guidance for the technological development of high-end medical equipment industry in the future. The company will further innovate in the fields of product detection immediacy, detection sensitivity, intelligence, miniaturization, scene, platformization, patient friendliness, etc., launch upgraded products for different departments and different application scenarios, and provide customized solutions for the needs of disease imaging diagnosis and accompanying treatment in different fields and stages, so as to maximize the application value of the company’s products in scientific research and clinic, provide new ideas for early diagnosis and accurate medication of diseases, and provide users for the company’s products to further enter the international high-end market.
3. Focus on the high-quality development of medical institutions and create overall solutions for various medical scenarios.
The company is committed to focusing on the whole process of disease diagnosis and treatment, integrating imaging, intervention, radiotherapy, AI and information technology at the source, and creating an integrated solution for disease diagnosis and treatment, including a digital-intelligent integrated stroke/chest pain/trauma center solution to help emergency treatment of critical diseases, a digital-intelligent integrated tumor center solution to improve accurate diagnosis and treatment of tumors, a multi-modal one-stop brain disease diagnosis and treatment solution focusing on the health management of key populations, and a maternal and child health care solution.
Aiming at the needs of interconnection and diagnosis and treatment collaboration among different medical institutions, innovative technologies such as UIH cloud platform and artificial intelligence are integrated to create regional digital intelligence interconnection solutions, including regional image center solutions that meet regional image interconnection and remote diagnosis, regional image AI quality control platform that helps to control and improve image quality in the region, and a collaborative platform for eight major diseases diagnosis and treatment, scientific research, data management and mining in the medical association is realized.
In view of the public health prevention and control and service scenarios, we will integrate UIH multi-modal intelligent equipment, 5G remote platform and AI clinical application to create a smart public health solution, including a regional mobile lung cancer screening vehicle to help early screening of lung cancer in counties and townships, the industry’s first integrated CT+ nucleic acid rapid screening medical vehicle, and the industry’s first mobile smart health management center to help early screening of cancer, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, respiratory diseases and chronic diseases management, covering two cancer screening, maternal and child physical examination, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and brain diseases.
In order to better cope with the high-quality medical development in China, focusing on radiotherapy, nuclear medicine, breast imaging, mental illness and other fields, the company launched a series of high-quality development specialist alliances with top hospitals and experts, dedicated to tackling serious diseases, multi-center research, standard setting, personnel training, and assistance from lower hospitals, including:
(1) High-quality development alliance of radiotherapy. The company is jointly sponsored by Cancer Radiotherapy Branch of Chinese Medical Association, Cancer Hospital affiliated to Fudan University, Cancer Prevention Center of Sun Yat-sen University, Peking Union Medical College Hospital of China Academy of Medical Sciences, Cancer Hospital affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Cancer Hospital of China Academy of Medical Sciences, General Hospital of Chinese People’s Liberation Army, Ruijin Hospital of Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine and Peking University Third Hospital to jointly develop new radiotherapy products and technologies in a multi-center collaborative manner, expand the application of cloud radiotherapy, and draw up relevant standards.
(2) Remote nuclear cloud platform, which was jointly initiated by the company, together with Nuclear Medicine Branch of Chinese Medical Association, Zhongshan Hospital affiliated to Fudan University, Cancer Center of Sun Yat-sen University, Shanxi Medical University, First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shanxi Medical University, Xijing Hospital of Fourth Military Medical University and Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University. Through remote diagnosis, consultation, teaching and training of nuclear medicine, the ability of accurate tumor diagnosis in 70 hospitals around the country was promoted.
(3) Breast Crescent Alliance, initiated by the company together with Cancer Hospital affiliated to Fudan University, Zhongda Hospital affiliated to Southeast University, Peking University Third Hospital, Sichuan Cancer Hospital and the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, promotes the improvement of accurate diagnosis and treatment ability of breast diseases and related technological innovation, and has nearly 200 member units nationwide so far.
(4) China Psychiatric Imaging Alliance, co-sponsored by west china hospital and the Institute of Brain Science and Brain-like Medicine of Shandong First Medical University, has created an innovative ecology of integrated diagnosis and treatment in the field of mental illness through collaborative innovation of Industry-University-Research Medical.
3. Deepen the distribution of domestic and international sales networks and market promotion.
The company will continue to stabilize existing customers, at the same time increase brand promotion and gradually improve the company’s marketing capabilities at home and abroad. In view of the domestic market, the company will effectively grasp the industry trend of graded diagnosis and treatment, primary medical care development and domestic substitution of medical equipment, and further strengthen the three-dimensional coverage marketing network by continuously building marketing service centers nationwide. At the same time, the company will continue to develop a mature after-sales service system characterized by "quickness, quality and reliability", respond to customers’ needs efficiently, provide after-sales technical services such as installation, repair and maintenance for all high-end medical imaging products, and develop in the direction of equipment remote operation management and one-stop customer training to meet the diversified needs of different types of customers, thus effectively increasing customer stickiness.
In view of the international market, the company will continue to build professional and localized business teams overseas, and build new regional sales centers in key countries to effectively expand the coverage of local service networks and strengthen service capacity building. Under the guidance of overseas sales network construction strategy, the company will continue to improve the layout of overseas regional centers and secondary regional centers, build a multi-level and localized rapid response sales platform, and expand the visibility and market share of the company’s products overseas. By establishing a systematic overseas sales network, the company will realize the perception of overseas market sales, thus effectively improving the company’s management decision-making and operation ability.
In addition, the company will increase investment in brand promotion, show products to customers through the product exhibition center, and continue to organize pre-sales and after-sales expert seminars, customer training activities, customer presentations, regional product marketing, regional channel construction promotion, clinical application training courses and other activities in key cities at home and abroad, and actively participate in international high-end industry conferences such as European Radiology Conference, North American Radiology Conference, Arab International Medical Device Exhibition, Indian Radiography Conference and Japanese Radiology Conference, and hold more high-quality markets close to customers.
4. Continuously cultivate and introduce high-end compound talents with international vision.
In order to maintain the overall stability of the company’s R&D team and the international leading position in R&D level, the company will continue to improve the employee salary scheme, employee performance evaluation system, and employee internal training and management system on the basis of the existing talent training mechanism, and set up R&D centers around the world to recruit high-level technical talents from well-known enterprises and top universities at home and abroad to enhance the attractiveness of the employment environment and talent training system. The company will continue to establish an effective incentive mechanism for technological innovation, improve the comprehensive assessment mechanism such as performance bonus, equity incentive and job promotion, fully mobilize and give play to the enthusiasm, creativity and mission of R&D personnel, and promote the continuous emergence and early application of innovative R&D achievements. At the same time, the company will continue to strategically deploy talents in the whole industrial chain such as core technology research and development, preclinical research, clinical trials, approval and certification, mass production of equipment and quality supervision, product sales, etc., and realize the corresponding talent reserve in each cycle of product development.
5. Improve the company’s internal governance structure and quality system.
The year 2022 is the starting point of a new journey after the company goes public. The company will make full use of the power of the capital market, constantly explore the governance structure that adapts to efficient and flexible operation, improve the platform and professional management system, continuously optimize the daily operation management rules, and improve more scientific and effective corporate decision-making mechanism, market rapid response mechanism and risk prevention mechanism, so as to adapt to the company’s rapid growth and enhance its overall competitiveness that adapts to internationalization and marketization.
The company will continue to optimize the product life cycle management system, build a top-down, lean and efficient organizational system, continuously strengthen quality management and improve product quality, continuously optimize costs and expenses, strengthen operational risk control, ensure that the company’s products meet the advanced quality standards in the industry while leading the technology, and explore the global market through high-quality products.
