On September 5, 2023, the Pharmaceutical Industry Smartization Summit of the 2023 China International Smart Industry Expo was held at the Lijia Intelligent Hall in the Liangjiang New Area. Experts and scholars gathered to discuss and exchange ideas about the digitization of the pharmaceutical industry.

The theme of the summit was "Harnessing the Power of Digital Innovation to Lead Industry Development." It featured a main venue and three parallel sub-venues aimed at leading the policies and technological trends in the pharmaceutical industry, promoting the integration of the pharmaceutical industry with the digital economy, and driving transformative growth in the pharmaceutical sector.

Professor Ma Dawei, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a researcher at the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, highlighted the importance of source innovation in the pharmaceutical industry. He emphasized that true innovation involves opening up new paths rather than simply imitating and following others. He also stressed the need for careful planning and preparation for potential successes, along with the readiness to face failures.

Wang Xuegong, Vice President of the China Association of Pharmaceutical Enterprises, delivered a keynote speech titled "Development Trends and Digital Transformation in the Pharmaceutical Industry." He emphasized that digitization is the direction for the high-quality development of the pharmaceutical industry and a means for companies to compete effectively. He noted that digital transformation should be tailored to a company's specific processes, management, business characteristics, and conditions, with a focus on optimizing management processes. Wang also highlighted that going online with information systems is just the beginning of digital transformation, not the end.

Chen Ming, Director of the Pharmaceutical Development Division at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's Consumer Goods Industry Department, presented a report on "The Development Situation and Tasks of China's Pharmaceutical Industry." He pointed out that since the beginning of the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China's pharmaceutical industry has been running steadily. Innovative domestic drugs and medical devices have gained approvals and some have even been listed overseas, reflecting significant improvements in the industry's innovation capabilities.

Dr. He Huoyi, Chief Medical Officer of Rongchang Biotechnology and Chief Scientific Officer of China National Innovation Medical Health, discussed the potential of AI (Artificial Intelligence) in revolutionizing drug development. He mentioned that AI in pharmaceuticals, based on medical big data, uses AI technologies like machine learning and deep learning to replace numerous experiments, enabling rapid analysis of drug structures and efficacy. This approach aims to shorten trial periods, reduce costs, facilitate new drug discovery, and improve trial success rates. AI has become a vital tool for international pharmaceutical giants, with over 700 AI pharmaceutical companies worldwide and nearly 80 AI startup pharmaceutical companies in China.

The summit also saw the release of the "2023 Blue Book on the Digitization Development of China's Pharmaceutical Industry," which systematically analyzes the current state of digital transformation in the Chinese pharmaceutical industry. It outlines the development trends in the industry and technology and analyzes the driving factors behind this transformative growth.