Medtronic, a medical device company, has gained much by participating in the annual China International Import Expo.

The company has showcased nearly 300 innovative products and treatments over the past editions of the CIIE, with nearly 50 of them making their market debuts.

One of them is Micra, the world's smallest cardiac pacemaker that weighs only two grams, which made its debut at the inaugural CIIE in 2018.

Micra quickly gained popularity and was available in China half a year after the expo. In May 2022, the new generation dual-chamber Micra AV also entered the Chinese market. To date, the Micra products have been used in about 10,000 surgeries on patients with cardiovascular diseases.

In the past six years, nearly 10 products developed by Medtronic have been launched in China.

"We have felt the strong industrial influence of the CIIE. Many of Medtronic's innovative technologies have been turned from exhibits to commodities," said Alex Gu, Medtronic's senior vice-president and president of Medtronic Greater China.

In July this year, Medtronic's Percept™ PC, an advanced intelligent perceptible brain pacemaker that was showcased at the fourth CIIE, was successfully implanted in a patient in China for the first time.

That same month, the Stealth Autoguide™ cranial robotic guidance platform, which provides stereotactic positioning and trajectory guidance for cranial procedures, entered the Chinese market.

The Hugo robotic-assisted surgery system that attracted much attention at last year's CIIE has also been used to provide support for minimally invasive surgical training.

Medtronic's Percept™ PC, an advanced intelligent perceptible brain pacemaker, is showcased at the fourth CIIE. [Photo/CIIE Bureau]

Gu said that the CIIE not only provides a display platform for multinational companies, but also for industry partners to gather, share and promote cooperation. 

The company will next accelerate the transition from product imports to localized manufacturing, continue to improve the local value chain layout, and complete its transformation from a CIIE exhibitor to an investor, Gu said.

In 2023, construction of the Medtronic Kanghui Changzhou Science and Technology Park project commenced. In October 2021, Medtronic signed an investment agreement with the Lin-gang Special Area of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone. In June 2023, the construction of Medtronic's first production line in the special area commenced.

This year, Medtronic will continue to showcase its innovative technologies at the CIIE. It will give one new product its global debut, one its Asia-Pacific debut and six others their China debuts. The company will also launch an artificial intelligence-driven orthopedics and neurosurgery innovation ecosystem at the sixth CIIE.

By Zhao Guangmei