Tianfu Software Park: It Requires a Joint Effort for Medical Start-ups to Find a Way Out

CHENGDU, China, Jan. 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Tianfu Software Park, one of the largest tech parks in China, selected a batch of excellent enterprises which developed in the park, and visited their founders or CEOs. The face-to-face communication allowed them to learn more about the latest thoughts, analysis and outlooks of the enterprises about the internet industry. Their words represented the real side of the Chinese Internet industry, bringing inspiration to people who hope to one day enter the Chinese Internet industry.

The idea of "Internet Plus" has been widely accepted in various industries in recent years. But is it possible to develop a product featuring "Internet Plus" in the medical industry, which is closely associated with people's livelihoods, and can bring revolutionary changes to traditional medicine? To answer this question, an exclusive interview was conducted with Wang Shirui, the founder and CEO of Chengdu Yiyun Technology Co., Ltd., which is a start-up successfully hatched by Tianfu Software Park Lab. Wang Shirui made it to Forbes' 30 Under 30 List for 2016. From a medical professional's perspective, he analyzed the development of "Internet Plus" in the medical industry in China.

80% of Medical Start-ups Focus on the "Doctor-Patient" Link, Still Striving to Improve the Productivity of Referral

The large amount of participants in the medical industry, including doctors, clinics, patients and pharmaceutical enterprises, can form various links, and the link a medical start-up focuses on determines its business model. "80% of medical start-ups in China focus on the 'doctor-patient' link." The "doctor-patient" link is the most straightforward one. It represents a vast amount of traffic and addresses the demands of the people. However, it also makes many entrepreneurs get lost in the sea of data.

"It is extremely difficult to find target users in the medical industry, so medical start-ups tend to concentrate on how to improve conversion rate," says Wang Shirui. "Medical start-ups can extract more value from their products as long as they can better integrate online diagnosis with offline medical services."

Understanding the Demands of Doctors, Medlinker Achieves Initial Success after Two Years of Hard Work

"Traditional industries that involve enormous links can hardly be reshaped by the Internet. So instead of overturning such industries, we optimize them on a current basis," added Wang Shirui. He and his team specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of severe diseases, rather than focusing on the "doctor-patient" link, "We focused 30% to 40% of our efforts on constructing a community for doctors in the initial stage of development. At present, among the 400,000 doctors who have registered at Medlinker with their real names, 16,000 are active on a daily basis and 120,000 are active on a monthly basis. Offering access to 130,000 cases, the segment of case analysis is the most popular one."

As a medical professional himself, Wang Shirui understands doctors' plights and demands. "The earnings doctors receive are out of line with the investments they make. With the issuance of national policies regarding the building of a hierarchical medical system, there is an increase in the demand for multi-site practice. For this reason, in succession to Medlinker, a product that aims to help doctors with home visits will soon be hatched by Tianfu Software Park. "We are now narrowing our losses every month. It is predictable that we will have a balanced budget eventually."

It Requires a Joint Effort for Domestic Medical Start-ups to Find a Way Out

Wang Shirui recommended several types of Internet products which are now available in the medical industry, including those which rely on big data analysis to give users an insight into diseases, those that function as private doctors that can offer users medical advice over the phone, as well as those which are designed to improve the accuracy rate of diagnosis by inviting professional doctors to review the results of imaging tests online.

Medlinker has achieved remarkable results, although the road towards "Internet plus Medicine" and innovation is full of challenges. Headed by Wang Shirui, Medlinker was born and will continue to grow in Tianfu Software Park, not only because of the high-quality medical resources in Chengdu but also because of the superior business environment and diversified industrial ecology in Tianfu Software Park.

"I hope that the medical market can be more diversified. Players in the market are rivals and friends. Considering the difficult situation in front of us, we should work together to drive the growth of the whole market and see if we can find a way out."

SOURCE Chengdu Tianfu Software Park