The first year of innovation for China's medical robots begins, and we seek local innovation leaders - the first Medtronic China Fund-BV Baidu Venture Capital Medical Robot Competition is officially launched

On April 16, 2019, the first 2019 Medtronic China Fund BV Baidu Venture Capital Medical Robot Competition, co-organized by Medtronic China Fund and BV Baidu Venture Capital, was officially launched in Shanghai. This competition will focus on medical robots and related fields, and will be open to start-ups, teams, universities, and research institutions. It will seek innovative application solutions for medical robots for specific application scenarios, promote the integrated development of "technology + capital + talent + application" in the field of medical robots, and provide high-quality projects with strong incubation and transformation industry cooperation opportunities and capital power, encourage and promote the development of China's medical robot innovation, and use China's smart manufacturing to promote the advancement of medical technology and benefit the majority of patients.

Medical robots are mainly service robots used in medical scenarios such as hospitals and rehabilitation centers, such as surgical robots, rehabilitation robots, auxiliary treatment robots and non-therapeutic auxiliary robots. They can assist doctors and expand their capabilities. They have the characteristics of medical applicability, clinical adaptability and good interactivity.

Technically speaking, medical robots mostly use MEMS sensing technology, new materials and intelligent algorithms to achieve smaller, smarter and more sophisticated development, and can provide higher quality medical services. At present, more than 600,000 robotic surgeries have been successfully carried out in more than 800 hospitals in 33 countries around the world, covering urology, obstetrics and gynecology, cardiac surgery, thoracic surgery, hepatobiliary surgery, gastrointestinal surgery, otolaryngology and other disciplines.

In China, medical robots are an important part of the country's implementation of the Industry 4.0 strategy and intelligent manufacturing upgrades. Since 2015, the country has issued a series of important policy documents to support the development of the medical robot industry, including "Made in China 2025", "National Standardization System Construction and Development Plan (2016-2020)", "Robotics Industry Development Plan (20162020)", etc.

The Robot Industry Development Plan (2016-2020) clearly states that it is necessary to break through the ten iconic products such as surgical robots and intelligent nursing robots, and to promote and apply them in subdivided industries in the industrial field and service fields such as disaster relief and medical rehabilitation. In the future, robot companies will focus on the development of rehabilitation robots, robots for the elderly and the disabled, and surgical robots, and develop advanced medical robot products such as upper limb rehabilitation robots, lower limb rehabilitation robots, intelligent rehabilitation robots, nursing robots, accompanying robots, and intelligent wheelchairs.

At the end of 2017, there were 7.94 million beds in medical institutions across the country, an increase of 7.15% over the previous year. At the same time, since 2010, the number of patients and hospitalizations in my country's medical institutions has been on the rise. From the perspective of population structure, my country has entered an aging society, with the annual compound growth rate of the elderly population reaching 3.54%. In addition, the number of people who have lost their labor force due to stroke, trauma and other reasons is also rising. These people have an increasing demand for minimally invasive, efficient and high-quality clinical services, and the huge market demand will drive the rapid development of the medical robot market in my country.

Driven by multiple factors including policies, demands and technologies, the domestic medical robot market holds enormous potential. According to PwC data, the global medical robot market will reach US$7.6 billion in 2020.

In 2014, my country began to introduce surgical robots. At this stage, the medical robot industry chain continues to improve, and new cross-disciplinary technologies are also constantly penetrating, reflecting more and more new forms: from ultra-microscopic DNA nanorobots, to microscopic in vivo sampling robots, to macroscopic surgical robots for various diseases; from in vitro sensing technology, to new distribution and feedback systems, to portable in vitro monitoring; from intelligent formulation of preoperative plans, to more minimally invasive, automated and personalized implementation during surgery and innovative postoperative repair and medication plans.

Overall, the application of medical robots in my country's medical field is still in the introduction stage. Both technology and market conditions are mature and it is in a period of rapid development and cultivation. From the perspective of application effects, the large-scale use of medical robots will be a trend in the future medical technology field.

Regarding the current status and future development trend of medical robots, Zhao Xu, a professor at the Institute of Medical Robotics of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, said: "Medical robot research involves multiple disciplines such as engineering, medicine, materials science, and artificial intelligence. The entire medical process is complex and requires the gathering of talents from many aspects to make the industry bigger and stronger. In summary, the current challenges of the industry are: first, automation, how to make diagnosis intelligent, rather than just providing auxiliary functions for doctors; second, miniaturization, so that medical robots can be biocompatible, put into the human body to perform certain functions, and eventually be applied to clinical practice."

In the future, medical robots may appear in the form of innovative solutions, and system integration, human-computer interaction, structural design, perception recognition and cognitive learning capabilities will become key areas of development in the future medical robot industry.

As a global leader in medical technology innovation, Medtronic has nearly 70 years of experience in the medical field, with operations in 150 countries around the world, covering more than 70 disease areas, and has rich experience and unique insights into the healthcare market. In 2016, the Medtronic China Fund was established, focusing on providing innovative technologies or new treatment methods in Greater China. In March 2019, the "Medtronic Medical Innovation Accelerator" was officially launched in Shanghai, dedicated to empowering early-stage medical technology startups with clinical and market potential, and promoting the rapid transformation of their technological achievements into valuable medical products and services.

Medical robots are an important R&D and innovation strategic development direction for Medtronic. Globally, Medtronic is actively deploying in the field of surgical and orthopedic surgical robots. In China, Medtronic has carried out a number of related local R&D in the fields of surgical robots and artificial intelligence in recent years, and promoted the application and transformation of technology through joint R&D projects with universities and medical accelerator platforms.

Shi Yonghui, Managing Director of Medtronic China Fund

Shi Yonghui, Managing Director of Medtronic China Fund, said: "The current Chinese medical technology field is a hotbed of innovation. The purpose of establishing Medtronic China Fund is to make full use of Medtronic's insights and professional capabilities in the medical technology market, discover and support medical technology innovation projects with clinical and market potential, and meet local medical needs by promoting technology transformation. Medical robots and artificial intelligence technologies are important directions for the development of medical technology. We are very much looking forward to discovering excellent projects with both technological leadership and clinical transformation value through this competition co-organized with Baidu Ventures."

Biomedical technology has always been one of the directions of BV Baidu Ventures' in-depth investment layout. From AI drug development to next-generation surgical robots, from single-cell sequencing to in vivo sensors, BV has visited countless laboratories in China and the United States in the two years since its establishment, invested in more than 30 cutting-edge biomedical companies, and happily witnessed their rapid growth.

Ren Bobing, Vice President of BV Investment

Ren Bobing, Vice President of BV Investment, said: "We believe that medical robots are not just equipment, but also a new business system in the AI ​​era. Although there are some relatively large companies in some directions, we believe that with the help of high-granularity or multi-data axis perception, and stronger computing and cognitive capabilities in the AI ​​era, the equipment form and business form of medical robots will change greatly. We hope to use this competition to find innovative solutions with imagination and technical strength, and we also want to find the team behind the solution to change the future of medicine, accelerate the formation of a medical robot entrepreneurial ecosystem, promote cross-border integration and resource aggregation of this emerging discipline, and help entrepreneurs in this field."

When talking about the sub-sectors of medical robots that they are concerned about from an investment perspective, Shi Yonghui said that he is more concerned about surgical robots, navigation systems, and algorithms, while Ren Bobing is more concerned about surgical robots, rehabilitation robots, and equipment related to surgical robots.

The State Council proposed in subsequent guidance documents such as Made in China 2025 that it is necessary to focus on the development of high-performance diagnostic and treatment equipment such as medical robots and actively encourage innovation in domestic medical devices. We expect that surgical and rehabilitation robots will become the focus of national efforts in the next five years. Therefore, the national ministries and local governments have provided policy guidance on the establishment of medical robot testing and application platforms, the deployment of key industrial 4.0 projects, and the establishment of robot industry demonstration bases and standards. The policy direction is clear.