President Sha Hailin Leads Delegation on Research Visit to AdvaMed Shanghai Representative Office
On January 26, Sha Hailin, president of the Shanghai Public Relations Association, was invited to conduct a research visit to the Shanghai Representative Office of the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed), the world's largest medical device industry association. This visit aimed to establish dialogue channels between the Association and leading international industry organizations, deepen understanding of the international medical technology industry ecosystem, and strengthen exchanges, interaction, and cooperation, jointly pooling momentum for Shanghai's efforts to build a world-class industrial cluster in the biomedicine field. Li Xiaojian, director of the Association's International Exchange Center, and Hu Weifen, deputy director, among others, accompanied the visit.
Liu Xiang, global vice president and China executive president of the Advanced Medical Technology Association, extended a warm welcome to President Sha and his delegation, providing a systematic introduction to the Association's global network and its strategy in China. Founded in 1974, AdvaMed is a renowned global non-profit international industry organization with over 600 member companies, whose products account for more than 80% of the US market and over 40% of the global medical device market share. President Liu elaborated on the Association's three core strategies: "telling China's story well, serving member companies, and enhancing industry influence." He shared experiences in serving members and promoting policy implementation, emphasized the irreplaceable and crucial position of the Chinese market in the global medical technology field, and expressed hope to further leverage the Association's role as a connector and bridge.
President Sha highly commended the positive role AdvaMed plays in linking global innovation with the Chinese market and briefed President Liu on the historical evolution and development of the Shanghai Public Relations Association since its establishment 40 years ago. He noted that as the earliest public relations organization established in China and a member of the Global Alliance for Public Relations, the Shanghai Public Relations Association has consistently adhered to the core philosophy of "exchanging information, enhancing understanding, strengthening connections, and promoting cooperation." It upholds the functional positioning of "serving national strategies, serving Shanghai's economic and social development, and serving member units," continuously organizing high-end international forums, conducting outstanding case evaluations, serving as a grassroots legislative contact point, acting as the rotating chair of the Yangtze River Delta Public Relations Alliance, and continuously improving its performance capabilities, having been rated as a "5A-level social organization" by the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau. Particularly in the past two years, activities such as the series commemorating the 80th anniversary of the victory in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, the “A River Dialogue” between Shanghai and New York, and the Irish Literature Academic Seminar have contributed to strengthening people-to-people diplomacy and enhancing Shanghai's international influence. He pointed out that people-to-people diplomacy relies on internationally influential enterprises, and AdvaMed's experience in serving members' "going global" efforts, overseas compliance, and interest protection is worth learning from. The Association looks forward to strengthening ties with international professional institutions like AdvaMed to play a more active role in promoting policy communication, industry research, and the business environment.
During the exchange, both sides agreed that strengthening cross-border collaboration and complementary advantages is of great significance for assisting member companies in internationalization, enhancing Shanghai's industrial core competitiveness, and fostering new growth drivers. In the future, taking this exchange as a starting point, both parties will maintain close communication and coordination, promote the implementation and translation of consensus, build efficient collaboration platforms, and effectively leverage the bridging role of social organizations to contribute to the high-quality economic and social development of Shanghai.