Gary Guthart, CEO of Intuitive Surgical Inc. shares his thoughts of Shanghai's business environment and its future growth in an interview, on Sept 21. [Photo by Gu Yingjie/english.shanghai.gov.cn]

Gary Guthart, CEO of Intuitive Surgical Inc., a new member of the International Business Leaders' Advisory Council, stressed on Sept 21 that a forward-thinking attitude is key for Shanghai's growth ahead of the 36th annual meeting of IBLAC for the Mayor of Shanghai.

The IBLAC was founded in 1989 and has transformed into a think tank for Shanghai mayors over the years. Global industrial leaders and experts gather every year to provide suggestions for Shanghai's development.

"Shanghai has a good and healthy environment for healthcare companies, a good industrial base," the CEO of the American company that focuses on robotic surgical systems said. "And a forward-looking, forward-thinking health administration to adopt those into Shanghai hospitals for the benefit of patients here."

He said that moving forward, three key elements will be crucial for multinational companies to grow, and the growth will be reciprocal to Shanghai's own development. The three things are namely great staff, forward-thinking customers and forward-thinking authorities.

The company's signature da Vinci robotic system was firstly introduced to Chinese hospitals in 2006, and by September, 2024 there were more than 400 da Vinci systems put into use. Its production and innovation base at Pudong New Area's Zhangjiang became operational in June this year.

"We are happy to be in Shanghai," he said, adding that the company is seeking to facilitate localization by building a strong and advanced manufacturing base in two ways. On one way, it plans to attract more talents and on the other way, building a localized supply chain. It will help the company realize the step-by-step progress in improving the availability of the robotic surgical system in China.

Regarding the development of AI globally and in China, which offers a lot potential in healthcare, he underlined several aspects of AI in order to further leverage it.

High-quality, cyber secure and privacy compliant data comes first. And the next one is to utilize machine learning to help physicians understand data. And last but not least, it's crucial to do clinical validation to prove insights are meaningful for patients and safety, according to Guthart.

"We've pursued this for many years, and you'll see us continue to do so, including through our base in Shanghai as we aim to serve the whole Chinese market," he said.