Abstract
'Big health' is a comprehensive concept to encapsulate the changing world, evolving social needs, and developments in the spectrum of new disease threats. Health-related industries have become a hotspot and focus for global development.
This study is based on the Dimensions database of Digital Science. From the perspective of research output, it combines bibliometric analysis and expert interviews to conduct a systematic analysis of the global big health industry between 2001 and 2021. It examines current research status, research hotspots, technology transfer potential and development trends, compares China’s research competitiveness in big health in the global context, and proposes corresponding suggestions. The study reveals that:
1. Global research in the field of big health is growing rapidly, with nutritional health, mental health, chemotherapy, biotherapy, and surgical therapy receiving extensive attention. In particular, there are substantial research outputs in chemotherapy, surgical therapy and infectious disease control.
2. In general, China is very active in big health research. But compared with countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany, China is relatively lower down the global rankings in terms of average citations, and the research quality needs to be further improved. Specifically, China has carried out the most extensive international collaboration in chemotherapy; the field of disease treatment has the highest number of publications in China’s big health research; relatively high research impact is seen in public health, and disease prevention and control, and health promotion in China's big health research.
3. A relatively higher technology transfer rate is seen in chemotherapy and prevention vaccine. To be specific, anti-tumour and anti-inflammatory drugs are hotspots for industry and the research community around the world. Chemotherapeutic and biotherapeutic drugs are the main areas of fund investment. The United States demonstrates strong capacity for technology transfer of research output in chemotherapy, biotherapy and physiotherapy, while China's prominent contribution in this regard lies in complementary and alternative therapy, biotherapy and surgical therapy.
4. The technology innovation and industrial pattern of the big health industry will undergo continuous changes amid the shift from disease treatment to disease prevention. New technologies, such as novel vaccines, precision medicine, intelligent health management devices, will further strengthen the development of disease prevention and health promotion; the development of new generation information technology makes disease diagnosis more precise, more portable and more intelligent; the deep integration of biotechnology and information technology will not only drive the paradigm shift in drug development, but also further improve public health services.
To meet the development needs in the field of big health, China should consider taking the following actions:
First, China should further refine the deployment of research in movement and sports , nutritional health, mental health, environmental health and in the field of preventive vaccines. China should be more forward-looking in disease prevention, promote the comprehensive integration of scientific and technological innovation with disease prevention and health promotion, and devote efforts to promoting the transfer and application of research output.
Second, China should accelerate research on medical markers that can be used for disease diagnosis, prediction, early warning and efficacy evaluation, and strengthen the development of new technologies and products for disease screening and diagnosis to achieve breakthroughs in accuracy, automation, intelligence and portability.
Third, China should strengthen research on new small molecule drugs such as PROTAC and key technologies of innovative therapies such as cell and gene therapy, promote the application of big data, artificial intelligence and other technologies in drug development, accelerate the clinical application of cutting-edge technologies for disease treatment, and improve clinical treatment.
Fourth, China should strengthen international cooperation in scientific and technological innovation in the field of public safety, actively conduct international joint research in infectious disease control, food safety, tobacco control, health education and health service, and establish a scientific and technological innovation system capable of rapid response and open for collaboration. China should continue to promote the application of digital technologies such as the big data, artificial intelligence and block chain in the public health service system, establish a digital traceability system for food and drugs and other related products, promote the development of digital medical care and mobile medical care, and accelerate intelligent development in disease prevention, clinical decision-making, health management and hospital management.
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