Made in China 'for the world'

Multinationals establish more research facilities as nation's reputation for R&D and design increases

The global giant Siemens Healthcare has just delivered its 1,000th Magnetom Essenza, made in Shenzhen, to Tokushukai, a hospital group in Japan.

So far, more than 70 percent of the market-leading imaging devices - one of the German company's most competitive products in the international market - have been exported from the factory to markets around the world.

A Siemens AG magnetic resonance imaging system at a trade show in Beijing in March. For the past five years, nearly 60 percent of China's medical equipment exports have been from multinational companies and Sino-foreign joint ventures. [Photo/China Daily]

"Created and developed in China, and made by Siemens," said Bernd Ohnesorge, CEO of the MR business unit at Siemens Healthcare, adding that the company's powerful 1.5-tesla magnetic resonance imaging system was globally launched five years ago by Shenzhen Siemens Magnetic Resonance Ltd.

The Shenzhen facility is one of Siemens Healthcare MR's three R&D and manufacturing headquarters around the world, the other two being in Erlangen, Germany, and Oxford, in the United Kingdom.

The Shenzhen base recently also developed the company's latest MRI system and sent the first products to sites in Germany, Japan and China for clinical trials, according to Ohnesorge.

"Our clients are very satisfied with it, and we hope the machine can also be used in China soon with SFDA (State Food and Drug Administration) approval."

China has fast become the manufacturing center for a growing list of multinational medical equipment manufacturers, producing sophisticated imaging systems which can compete with anything produced elsewhere in the world.

But now it is also growing its reputation as an R&D hub.

Multinational medical device providers are exporting products not only made in China, but also designed in China, according to Cai Tianzhi, director of the medical device department of the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Medicine and Healthcare Products.

And he predicts the proportion of China-designed exports will continue to rise.

Statistics from the General Administration of Customs show that for the past five years, nearly 60 percent of China's medical equipment exports have been from multinational companies and Sino-foreign joint ventures.

The nation's medical equipment exports were worth $15.71 billion last year, an increase of 17.36 percent year-on-year.

"We have seen more and more foreign medical device companies setting up R&D facilities in China, or even moving their regional R&D centers to China," added Liu Ximei, an analyst with the research company Forward Business Intelligence Co Ltd.

"Their exports are becoming more sophisticated, and more products are being developed in China for global use."