The Importance Of Source Innovation
Only innovation at the source can break through the problem of "choking the neck" in the field of medical devices.
From medical masks, electronic thermometers, protective clothing to ventilators... the production and application of various medical devices have made great contributions to the prevention and control of the new crown pneumonia epidemic and the protection of people's health. During the epidemic, anti-epidemic materials made in China were continuously exported to all parts of the world to support the global fight against the epidemic. This situation is inseparable from years of industrial accumulation.
At the same time, shortcomings in the development of high-end medical devices in my country are still outstanding. Public information shows that imported CT equipment, magnetic resonance diagnostic equipment, surgical robots, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), etc. occupy the main market of tertiary hospitals in my country. Although some medical devices are domestically produced, their core components and raw materials still rely on imports.
As an important strategic emerging industry related to the national economy and the people's livelihood, the situation where the high-end medical device market is monopolized by multinational companies and the key core technologies are controlled by others is urgently needed to be broken.
The Central Economic Work Conference held at the end of last year proposed to enhance the independent controllability of the industrial supply chain. It is also due to the improvement of independent innovation capabilities in the field of medical devices.
The market scale of China's medical device industry is large and continues to grow.
However, in terms of industrial development level and innovation capabilities, the gap between us and developed countries is still very large.
A typical manifestation is that ranging from blood pressure monitors and stethoscopes to nuclear magnetism, ultrasound, surgical robots, etc., almost all modern medical devices were invented abroad.
Not only that, most of the modern medical technologies were pioneered abroad, such as heart transplantation and joint replacement. Moving forward, the theoretical system of modern medical science also originated from the West.
In other words, although we can achieve domestic production and manufacture of many medical devices, the invention patents, core production line equipment, inspection equipment, and core raw materials are all from other countries. If this situation is not changed as soon as possible, it will be extremely detrimental to the long-term sustainable development of the medical device industry and even the construction of a "healthy China".
Therefore, how to narrow the gap in source innovation with developed countries in Europe and the United States is an urgent problem we need to solve.
