Healthcare and technology professionals have joined business leaders for the second day of a healthcare summit, taking place as part of the BEYOND International Technology and Innovation Expo 2023.
BEYOND Expo is being held at the Venetian Macao and features hundreds of speakers, panellists and exhibitors exploring innovations in healthcare, sustainability and consumer tech.
The healthcare summit is a component event that gathers industry experts, academics and business leaders to discuss topics in the life sciences industry and global solutions to health challenges.
During the morning sessions, Alvis Lo, the head of Macao’s Health Bureau, told delegates that “medical and health services in the Greater Bay Area will surely usher in a healthier and better future”.
Experts meanwhile discussed the approval of new medicines in the Greater Bay Area. Panel members included Raphael Ho, the general manager of Lianbio APAC; Wu Shan, the general manager of AstraZeneca HongKong; representatives from Sanofi and Edwards Lifesciences; and moderator Wang Yanme, the executive secretary of the Shenzhen Life Sciences and Biotechnology Association.
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“We have seen a lot of positive signals in the approval of new drugs in Macau”, Wu Shan said. “Seeing these positive signs, as an innovative company, we are actually very excited.”
The spokesperson for Edwards said that the life sciences firm was also “optimistic about [regulatory] policies in the Greater Bay Area.”
The first half of the day’s sessions concluded with a discussion on healthcare cooperation between representatives of Macau’s Kiang Wu Hospital, the Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong University Shenzhen Hospital, and others.
Making the right choices with technology
In the afternoon, Dalong Hu, the senior vice president of XtalPi gave a presentation on the uses of AI in drug discovery.
“We know that the application of AI in the field of drug research and development is still relatively weak”, he said. “To a large extent, it can assist our thinking, but there is no way to completely replace humans like we do in other fields, such as automatic driving, security, and intelligent transportation”
At the same time, Hu said the company had deployed intelligent computing to great effect.
“We think that the traditional methods and means of drug experimentation cannot meet the needs of our AI drug research and development”, he told delegates, “because we use Al to do molecular reproduction and molecular evaluation. It’s highly efficient and very fast”.
Delegates then heard from Yingrui Li, the co-founder of iCarbonX, and Keith Kwong, the co-founder of DreamTec, on anti-ageing technology.
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Kwong said Hong Kong and Shenzhen were at the forefront of such technology, citing Hong Kong’s universities and Shenzhen’s “very good application scientists”, capable of “integrating their knowledge” and applying research “for real useful technology to help us to know our bodies better”.
Li reminded the audience of maintaining good health to combat ageing. “I hope everyone of us can really pay attention to our own body and make the right choices for our body. That would make a tremendous difference”.
The day closed with presentations and discussions on biotech innovations.
The mission of BEYOND Expo 2023 is to “encourage exchanges of ideas” and “promote comprehensive industrial upgrading, development, and transformation, for a better global innovation ecology”.
The event is being held until 12 May at the Venetian Macao Convention and Exhibition Centre.
—With reporting by Vanesse Chan.
Macao News is an official Macao media partner of BEYOND Expo 2023.
