Analis, Coris BioConcept and IRE-ELiT, three SME members of the BioWin Cluster, have risen to the challenge and set out to conquer the Chinese market supported by BioWin Shanghai and AWEX.

In 2009, BioWin opted to establish a permanent representation in Shanghai and six years later, the cluster is reaping the rewards of its strategy with a number of technology and trade partnerships signed between Walloon-based SMEs and Chinese companies.

Analis is a Namur-based company specialising in the production and distribution of scientific instruments for laboratories. Analis signed a partnership with the Beijing BioSmart Tech Institute for the distribution of analysis kits and methods using capillary electrophoresis. The number of kits sold in China increased tenfold between 2013 and 2015!

Coris BioConcept is a Walloon company located in Gembloux and specialising in developing, manufacturing and marketing rapid diagnostic tests. Coris BioConcept received CFDA approval for one of its products which is now marketed in China. While Coris BioConcept sells the equivalent of 21,000 of these test kits annually in Belgium, in China, the company began with 400,000 tests and hopes to reach the one million mark within two or three years. Sales that represent a tenfold increase in turnover for this product.

IRE-ELiT, the Institut des Radio Éléments (IRE) subsidiary based in Fleurus, specialises in producing radiopharmaceuticals for diagnosing and treating cancer. The company has signed a first agreement in principle with LAI-TAI for clinical trials, the installation of a radioisotope generator and a partnership that should extend to all IRE products and those of its subsidiary. In 2013, the first generator was delivered, the first patient was treated as part of a clinical trial and a laboratory was set up in Jiading (near Shanghai).