My CIIE Story • Great Opportunity: Expo shores up GE Healthcare's rapid development

Editor's Note: The fifth China International Import Expo will open in less than a month. In October, several participants of the CIIE will tell their stories themed around "great opportunity" to showcase the positive changes the expo has made to the world and how it has helped build a community with a shared future for mankind over the past five years.

GE Healthcare has been rapidly developing its business in China due to the spillover effects of the CIIE.

Many companies visited our booth and showed intentions to purchase products or cooperate over the past four editions of the expo. At the second CIIE, we signed more than 100 deals. In 2020 and 2021, over 50 groups of government representatives and partners visited our booth and a few hundred medical institutions clinched deals with us.

In addition, many 3A-level hospitals in China signed agreements to buy our imaging equipment, ultrasound machines, and life support systems at a signing ceremony organized by the National Health Commission of China.

At the third CIIE, we debuted our Apex CT system, the world's first artificial intelligence-powered CT system that received clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration. The system attracted much attention from industry insiders and was soon approved by China's drug regulator.

During the fourth expo, we displayed the CT system again but with many clinical trial results. More than 30 Chinese hospitals have been equipped with the system to date. One of them, the West China Hospital of Sichuan University, said the equipment is used at nearly maximum capacity every day to help its emergency and outpatient departments with treatment of complex medical conditions.

Another client, Shanghai Ruijin Hospital, has been using the CT system to carry out clinical science research and published many articles on authoritative academic journals. The hospitals' feedback resulted in us attaching greater importance to the CIIE.

The expo has also offered us a platform to communicate with governments, clients, partners, and industry experts from across the world. For example, when we debuted a solution that can detect Alzheimer's disease 15 years earlier before it's diagnosed at the fourth expo, a large number of experts talked about their experiences and patients' needs at our booth.

Our achievements at the CIIE have encouraged us to increase investments in China. We currently have four production bases in China and the one in Beijing is our largest medical equipment manufacturing plant in the world.

Our cooperation with Chinese partners has also yielded tangible results. For example, the CT system used at the Zhangjiakou Winter Olympic Village during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics was developed by our Chinese team and manufactured at the Beijing production base.

The Noah series of solutions, which has helped build a preventive public health system in China and been exported to overseas markets, was also developed by our Chinese teams.

Our booth size and the number of our exhibits at the CIIE have been increasing through the editions. At this year's expo, we will expand our booth at the medical equipment and healthcare products exhibition area to 500 square meters to showcase more innovative products.