Wuxi names AstraZeneca CEO an honorary citizen

The CEO said that everybody on his company's board was very impressed with Wuxi's scientific and technological input and strengths and he was proud to be associated with the city.

Soriot waxed lyrical about Wuxi when talking about his impressions of the city.

"The government of Wuxi is full of smart and nice people, and they are really working very hard to make the city very successful, so the people of Wuxi actually have a good life," he said.

Soriot also highlighted AstraZeneca's IoT healthcare strategy in Wuxi, a powerful force in the country's internet of things sector.

AstraZeneca's innovation in IoT healthcare began in Wuxi. Eyeing the city's advantages in IoT development, the company launched its Healthcare IoT Innovation Center there in 2017. The facility aims to explore the use of new technologies to create holistic disease management solutions for patients, covering prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation.

The company's smart healthcare achievements have been widely adopted in more than 1,400 hospitals in China and many programs were even introduced abroad. In one initiative alone, over 700 pediatric nebulization rooms were established in countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative and cancer screening programs were extended to 11 countries.

Together with stakeholders, including hospitals, wearable medical device makers and the internet, AstraZeneca plans to build a new health ecosystem for all, integrating all the necessary resources available from big data platforms.