President Tsai: Navigate healthcare industry development with cross-sectoral resource integration

Source: Office of the President; edited by IBMI

Taipei, 2 December- President Tsai Ing-wen in her speech said that the government has been working to develop Taiwan-led precision health and peripheral services. Tsai called for cross-sectoral partnerships to channel resources into industry development in healthcare.

President Tsai specially thanked Jyn-ping Wang (王金平), Founder of IBMI alongside medical experts for the concept developed five years ago to drive industry development forward with hospitals taking the lead. Hospitals were the key, as per the concept outlined, to unlock the door to medical technology verification, application and commercialisation, bringing together and fostering the healthcare industry and its sector partners from upstream to downstream.

Tsai also recognised IBMI’s work in cross-disciplinary collaborations it had either coordinated or spearheaded. Taiwan has a competitive edge over ICT and biotechnology and its full potential can be reached with two combined, the President added.

The government has relentlessly pressed ahead the development of precision health through policies and cross-sectoral efforts. A strategic plan for upscaling precision health was thus introduced last year, clearly aiming at artificial intelligence, digital technology, Internet of Things, national-wide database creation and health big data sharing. The menu of services this can be expected under the scope of precision health covers from disease prevention to treatment options.

Following years of evolution, a couple of biomedical clusters have taken shape, continued to expand and enabled acceleration in new drugs development, clinical research and medical device innovation. Tsai reiterated that the government will keep up with the work, mainly through funding schemes, regulatory updates, tax incentives and incubation centres, to stimulate and upscale the industry in a few years to come.

After her speech, President Tsai was joined by the Minister You (游錫堃) of Legislative Yuan, Mr Wang (王金平) the Founder of IBMI, Minister Wang (王美花) of Economic Affairs, Minister Wu of Science and Technology, Former Minister Feng (馮世寬) of National Defence, Deputy Minister Shih (石崇良) of Health and Welfare, Minister Chen (陳駿季) at the Council of Agriculture, and IBMI President Wong (翁啟惠), VP Lam (林百里), VP Tsai (蔡長海) and VP Yang (楊泮池) on the tour to Varian/Siemens Healthineers, National Health Research Institutes, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, China Medical University, National Taiwan University Hospital and their technologies in healthcare.