The 2022 Taiwan Healthcare+ Expo kick-off event was held onsite and online on April 26, attended by Minister Shyi-kun Yu of Legislative Yuan, who is also the head of the expo’s organizing committee; Chi-Huey Wong, President IBMI; Pan-Chyr Yang, Vice President IBMI; Wei-Chao Chen, Supervisor IBMI; Chuan-Neng Lin, Vice Minister of Economic Affairs; Tzong-Chyuan Chen, Vice Minister of Science and Technology; Tien-Shou Chen, Vice Minister of Council of Agriculture; Yang-Chih Shih, Senior Technical Director of Health and Welfare.

Minister Yu noted in his speech, that this year marks the 6th Taiwan Healthcare+ Expo and the Expo has become the most influential one in APAC. Last year, even with the pandemic, the expo exceeded 15% growth in terms of event scale, which attracted more than 600 exhibitors and 180,000 visitors. He extended special thanks to Ministry of Health and Welfare for promoting Healthcare+ B2B Online, to Ministry of Economic Affairs for expanding international business, to Ministry of Science and Technology for supporting medtech start-ups, and to Council of Agriculture for leading bio-agricultural advancement. Held simultaneously by way of the event was a presentation ceremony, where minister Yu issued the letter of appointment to 25 professionals who had been appointed as advisor for a mission to further develop the Expo.

Connect the globe: A four-side approach

Not only will the Healthcare+ Expo be held in-person, it will also go online this year, said Chi-Huey Wong, IBMI’s president. He highlighted the Expo will take a four-side approach to broaden its international links: (1) bringing Taiwan’s experiences, technologies, and products specific to digital health transformation into designated markets in line with the “One Country, One Centre” project as part of the New Southbound policy, (2) expanding Taiwan’s footprint in precision medicine in combination of strength areas such as cancer treatment, diagnostics, cell therapy and proton therapy, (3) reaching out to 50+ industry associations worldwide through Ministry of Economic Affairs to develop healthcare supply chain partnerships, and (4) inviting World Medical Association to the Expo with Taiwan Medical Association’s assistance to facilitate the country’s participation and collaboration in healthcare.

▲Chi-Huey Wong, President, IBMI

2022Expo’s theme of the year: Smart health, precision medicine and health for all

Pan-Chyr Yang, VP of IBMI, addressed to the audience with a presentation showed that the global “precision health” market size is expected to rise from 1.7 trillion to 3.1 trillion by 2025, making up the largest portion of the 15-trillion health industry- thus precision health would be a key area of focus in near future. Back in Taiwan, the amendment to the Act for the Development of Biotech and Pharmaceutical Industry in 2021 had new addition to “precision medicine”, “digital health”, “regenerative medicine” and innovative technology platforms, on top of new drugs and class III medical devices that the act previously covered. With an arsenal of healthcare assets and an established supply chain we have, Yang expected that, via Healthcare+ Expo, Taiwan’s capabilities and innovative technologies can be better presented and adopted by health systems, pressing the process of clinical validation forward and toward global markets.

▲Pan-Chyr Yang, VP, IBMI

keynotes: What is new in medtech, business and international cooperation

Ming-Shiang Wu, superintendent of NTUH, shared Taiwan’s advancement in digital health in the kick-off event: “Taiwan’s health system and digital competitiveness are among the best of the world, which makes it a desirable place to develop digital health. If we can fully tap into those strengths, Taiwan can surely gain unparalleled digital competitiveness in health. The achievements in smart health, digital health and AI-assisted diagnosis from NTUH will also be displayed in Healthcare+ Expo at the end of the year.”

Tai-Yuan Chiu, president of Taiwan Medical Association mentioned in his keynote: “World Medical Association (WMA) has sent a letter publicly to support Taiwan's participation in WHA. TMA will also hold international symposium during the expo, and seek to make contributions in Covid-19 control and prevention on the international level through global networks and the expo.”

Terry Tsao, president of SEMI Taiwan noted the use of semiconductor technology seen in Neuralink brain-machine interfaces, and in test chip produced by a domestic company Molsentech, demonstrated what the technology and health sectors together can be achieved. He looked forward to seeing a complete electronic supply chain inclusive of sensors, semiconductors, AI and big data will make Taiwan a front-runner, and more health tech cooperation and innovative applications can be brought by the Expo.

Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association Vice President Jerry Hsu mentioned their focus on cross-field collaboration among the industry, government, and academia. The association has called for members’ participation in the expo and encouraged them to strengthen cooperation with health system, hoping to facilitate the use of electronics and ICT technologies in the health industry and further turn Taiwan into a hub of digital health transformation.

Two themes below were also purposed during the kick-off event as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and ageing populations.

Po-Ren Hsueh, who heads the dept. of laboratory medicine at China Medical University Hospital, shared a total of 40 domestic and international companies have signed for exhibiting at a pavilion dedicated to “precision diagnostics”. This year, the exhibition will expand its scale and become a precision health platform, incorporating areas ranging from cancer, biomarker, microbiome diagnostics, cytotoxicity, CTC, to the use of artificial intelligence to advance smart diagnostics.

Liang-Kung Chen, Superintendent of Taipei Municipal Gan-Dau Hospital, shared that ageing populations has brought about many challenges and also opportunities. The Healthy Ageing & Age Well exhibition includes age-friendly and anti-ageing services and products for everyday use. The participation from Acer, Asus, Laurel and Orient EuroPharma over the last few years started to bear fruit. More academic and clinical efforts will be showcased during the expo at the end of the year.

The 2022 Healthcare+ Expo will be held in TaiNEX1 from 1 to 4 December 2022, and the 24/7 online expo will be debuted on Healthcare+ B2B online business platform.

The 2022 Healthcare+ Expo will be held in TaiNEX1 from 1 to 4 December 2022, and the 24/7 online expo will be debuted on Healthcare+ B2B online business platform.