Editor’s note: The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development led a Medical Device Trade Mission to China and Korea from April 15-21. Participants included medical device manufacturers and other health care companies, which visited Beijing and Shenzhen in China and Seoul, South Korea. Trade mission offerings included introductions to potential customers and partners through Gold Key Matching Services provided by the U.S. Commercial Service and attendance at the China International Medicinal Equipment Fair, the largest exhibition of medical equipment and related products and services in the Asia-Pacific region.
By: Terriance Moody
I recently traveled as a delegate on the State of Tennessee’s Medical Device Trade Mission to China and Korea. Coming from Nashville, one of the world’s top centers of health care industry expertise, I am privileged to be accustomed to accessing more than 40 years of health care experience.
Lucky as I might be to have the benefit of being based in Nashville, nothing prepared me for the scale of what I would see in Asia. Along with 10 other companies specializing in medical device development, I was exposed to some of the region’s established health care industry professionals who addressed the medical device boom in their country, and how it affects U.S.-based companies like mine.
A most memorable part of the trip was our visit to the China International Medical Equipment Fair, one of the largest such venues in the world for exhibiting device innovations. The sheer size of the show and the number of new products initially could be considered overwhelming. But it sent the delegation a clear message about the immense amount of opportunities for American companies in China.
For companies like mine that work in the telehealth space, the experience impressed upon me the amount of growth opportunities for further enhancements of our own product so that we can accommodate and work with the demands of global marketplace.
The trip also reinforced my choice to base Dream Systems in Nashville. Such missions are not only memorable because of the experiences on the ground, but also due to the executive-level support in the middle Tennessee region for such endeavors. With the urging of the Nashville Health Care Council, I applied and was accepted into the mission by the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development.
In fact, this was not my first international experience connected to the Council. As part of the 2010 Study Mission to the U.K. led by the Council and the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, I learned about the health care systems needs in that country, and since then, have opened an office in London to manage international opportunities as far away as Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
Being headquartered in Nashville, the Silicon Valley of health care, has made all the difference in Dream Systems’ success. Nashville offers the opportunity for fostering business growth with support from a diverse set of organizations and world-class executives. There really isn’t anywhere else on earth like it.
Terriance Moody founded Dream Systems in 1999 after seeing the effect of access to information on patient outcomes as evidenced by his wife’s medical research. Dream Systems develops and implements telehealth solutions for local, regional, national and international health care organizations.
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