China News Network Suzhou, December 31 Title: Suzhou's "Heart" of Taiwan's Learning Bully Sisters wants to succeed
Zhong Sheng, reporter of China News Network
If you want to use a word to describe your achievements in 2023, Xu Boling and Xu Jiahao will choose "to be". This year, NyokAssist, a small implantable artificial heart jointly developed by the two sisters, successfully won the certification of "breakthrough medical equipment" granted by the US FDA, becoming the first batch of implantable artificial hearts in China. For the Xueba sisters from Taiwan, living and starting a business in Suzhou is just like this.
Xu Boling and Xu Jiahao, whose ancestral home is Yancheng, Jiangsu Province, were born in a scholarly family. Their father used to be the top student in Taiwan's "college entrance examination", and their mother was a Chinese teacher. The sisters inherited the learning gene of their elders. Sister Xu Boling was a double doctor of Cambridge University in England and Aachen University of Technology in Germany. Sister Xu Jiahao also received a doctor's degree from Cambridge University.
Xu Boling said that as early as the 1990s, his father began to invest in the mainland. Since junior high school, the sisters will use the holidays to help their father's factory with circuit boards, welding electronic components, drawing design drawings, writing code, etc. This experience planted the seeds for Xu Boling to start his own business in the mainland. She said with a smile, "My father believes that there are broad opportunities in the mainland, and he has always encouraged us to develop in the mainland. He supported my first venture capital. My sister Jiahao used to work in Taiwan, but he also persuaded her to go to Suzhou to start a business with me."
In 2013, in order to take care of his parents who have settled in the mainland, Xu Boling was employed as a full-time professor of Suzhou University and deputy director of the Institute of Artificial Organs, engaged in the design of artificial heart system and the physiological research of bio electromechanical system. In 2017, Xu Boling used his professional knowledge to establish Xinqing Medical in Suzhou, "hoping to develop short-term and medium-term extracorporeal artificial heart products that are the first in China and beyond the international level, so as to better help patients with cardiovascular diseases." In 2020, Xu Jiahao also came to Suzhou, adding to Xu Boling's career.
Even though the two sisters are brilliant, the road to entrepreneurship is still hard. The research and development of small implantable artificial heart is a recognized problem in the industry. A small company just established will launch a challenge. The voice of doubt and pressure come from all sides. Xu Boling recalled, "When we proposed to develop this product, we drew a dragon on the report. What we want to do is like a dragon. Everyone has heard of it, but no one has seen it, and we don't know whether we can do it. But we firmly believe that if we do it, it will be a very exciting thing."
In this way, the two sisters were responsible for one line and began to tackle key problems day and night. The extroverted and aggressive sister, the introverted and cautious sister, formed a perfect balance between them, with their own competition, mutual help, and mutual ridicule and encouragement when encountering setbacks.
One day in August this year, at five o'clock in the morning, Xu Jiahao was awakened by his sister's phone call. Xu Boling, who was always positive and optimistic, cried and told her that the small invasive artificial heart jointly developed by the two had just passed the FDA certification. "I was surprised at that time, because I don't usually hear my sister crying like that, and my parents thought that something had happened to her. But I could understand her mood, and our efforts were finally recognized."
Speaking of his success, Xu Boling believed that the strong support of his family and the mainland's policy of benefiting Taiwan compatriots contributed greatly. She said, "The mainland has launched a series of incentive measures to encourage Taiwanese youth to start businesses. Because of the equal treatment for Taiwanese, we can also enjoy the talent policy and scientific and technological achievements rewards of the mainland. More importantly, the Taiwan Affairs Office and other departments will interpret the new policies for us in a timely manner and assist us in the declaration, so that we can eliminate the worries about starting businesses and living in the mainland and devote ourselves to research and development. "
Now, three artificial hearts of Xinqing Medical have been put into clinical use. The first product has completed clinical trials and is being reviewed by the State Drug Administration. It is expected to enter the domestic market soon. Not long ago, the company was awarded the 2023 Suzhou High tech Zone Key Innovation Team, and the two sisters have also been selected into Forbes China's "100 Young Returned Elite", the 21st National Young Job Proficiency List, etc.
In addition to growing in business, the whole family also settled in Suzhou, where everyone enjoyed themselves. Xu Jiahao said: "I used to work in a relatively fixed job in Taiwan. After I came to the mainland and started my business with my sister, although it was difficult, I felt very happy that I could constantly contact new things, constantly challenge my own limits, and have my whole family around. That is, my boss was always around. Sometimes when I wanted to be lazy on holidays, my sister's boss would catch me working overtime together." Complaining comes from complaining. In the new year, these two sisters will join hands to embark on a new journey.
