Suzhou New District (SND) recently announced a three-year development plan (2020-22) for its medical devices and bio-pharmaceuticals industry, answering the city's call to elevate the entire industry in 10 years.
Development goals
SND set the goal of gathering more than 400 promising medical devices and bio-pharmaceuticals companies and creating an industrial output value of 20 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) by 2020, 600 companies with total output of 30 billion yuan by 2021, and 800 companies with output of 50 billion yuan by 2022.
Main focuses
The district will make concerted efforts in areas including high-end medical devices, original new drugs, cutting-edge diagnosis and treatment technologies, and industries that support the public health emergency management system and industrial chains.
Methods
1) To build a domestic first-class industrial cluster
With welcoming business environment and targeted investment policies, SND will strive to attract industrial leaders and stimulate its headquarters economy. It will also have eyes on local companies and aims to bring up 30 leaders in their respective industries in five years.
It has built a professional carrier, Jiangsu Medical Science and Technology Park, and introduced research and development innovation platforms such as the Suzhou Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Industrial Technology Research Institute of Zhejiang University and the Suzhou branch of Jiangsu Institute of Medical Device Testing. It has also established strategic partnerships with many professional service institutes.
2) To snag a spot on global technological innovation
To encourage more research results being commercialized, SND will vigorously support the research and development of innovative medical devices and original new drugs. For example, for clinical trials and research of new drugs that meet the requirements, the maximum subsidy will be 2.5 million yuan and 4 million yuan respectively, with each enterprise not exceeding 30 million yuan per year.
It will strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights in an all-sided way. A related service center has been set up, offering services such as intellectual property consulting, high-end patent cultivation, and investment and financing instructions.
Talents will play more important roles in the district's development. It will roll out all kinds of plans to bring in talents from across the globe and aims to introduce more than 200 individuals and 10 teams that have led the medical devices and bio-pharmaceuticals industry. It will also work closely with local higher learning institutions and seek more possibilities in industry-education integration.
The district encourages companies to establish international cooperative ties as well as to seek win-win results with domestic counterparts, especially those from the Yangtze River Delta region, where there is geological advantages and rich industrial and educational background.
3) To optimize the industrial supporting services
SND will work hard on improving its clinical service capabilities, such as encouraging coordinated and innovative integrations between medical staff and companies and enhancing the research capabilities of a local clinical trial base.
It will help local companies attract more investments, such as developing an industrial fund group, elevating the financial credit of local companies, encouraging the docking of multi-tiered capital markets, and speeding up the settlement of more preferential policies.
Layout
Considering the carrying capacity of regional resources and environment, industrial base and development advantages, SND will have Suzhou Science and Technology Town taking the lead, and Fengqiao sub-district, Xushuguan development zone and Shishan (Hengtang) sub-district playing as supporters.
The Suzhou Science and Technology Town boasts a rich research and innovation background as being home to the Suzhou Institute of Medical Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Suzhou Institute of Medical Devices of Southeast University, the Suzhou Institute of Industrial Research of Zhejiang University, and the Suzhou Institute of Innovation of Beihang University.
Fengqiao sub-district has the Inspirationpark as the carrier, biotechnology, innovative drug R&D and production as the focus, and the development of cutting-edge diagnosis and treatment technologies as its directions.
Xushuguan development zone has emphasis on in vitro diagnostic reagents, biomedical materials and implant interventional equipment, and aims to build advanced manufacturing bases for in vitro diagnosis and biomedical materials.
Shishan (Hengtang) sub-district has the traditional Chinese medicine, online treatments and health services as its main directions and aims to build an intelligent medical cluster with domestic influence.
