🇨🇳 China's First Global Femtech Summit

FemTech Across Borders Shanghai 2026: Why Asia is the Future of Women's Health

"China cannot be understood from afar."

Those words from Zhu Yihan, Founder of FemTech Weekend and host of the FemTech Across Borders Shanghai Summit, set the tone for four days that challenged assumptions, built new partnerships and demonstrated why China will play a defining role in the future of women's health innovation.

Hosted in partnership with Bayer Women's Healthcare and PwC China and co-convened with the Shanghai Government, the summit brought together founders, investors, clinicians, policymakers and community leaders representing more than 40 countries. But unlike many international conferences, this was designed not simply for networking, rather was built around understanding China's women's health ecosystem through direct access to hospitals, corporates, regulators and investors.

For FemTech Association Asia, one of the greatest highlights was reconnecting with our global FemTech Across Borders (FAB) community. Many of us have spent years collaborating across time zones through virtual meetings and endless WhatsApp conversations. Shanghai gave us the opportunity to strengthen those relationships in person while welcoming new partners committed to advancing women's health worldwide. As our Founder Lindsay Davis reflected, it was a reminder that the global femtech ecosystem succeeds because its community leaders continue to collaborate rather than compete.

China's Transformation Is Reshaping Healthcare

One of the summit's standout keynote presentations came from Dominnique Karetsos from Amboy Street Ventures, who opened with Mao Zedong's famous quote:

"Women hold up half the sky" (妇女能顶半边天).

Whether viewed historically or politically, the phrase introduced a fascinating discussion about China's remarkable social and healthcare transformation over the past five decades.

Among the statistics that captured the audience's attention:

• China's three-tier rural healthcare system, established in 1968, laid the foundations for primary healthcare across the country.

• Average life expectancy has now reached 78.6 years.

• More than 800 million people have been lifted out of extreme poverty in just four decades.

• Healthcare coverage has expanded dramatically through integrated national insurance systems.

• Women now represent 59.5% of China's workforce, highlighting both their economic contribution and the importance of investing in women's health.

• It used to cost US$700 out-of-pocket for the HPV vaccine. Now, the government pays following an impactful market education and disease awareness campaign.

The presentation also highlighted the enormous global commercial opportunity. While the United States alone represents an estimated US$360 billion "ghost market"- the unmet demand created by overlooking women's health - China is increasingly positioning itself as a leader in addressing these gaps through innovation, policy and investment.

Precision Medicine—and Precision Partnerships

Throughout the summit, one message repeatedly emerged: China is not trying to replicate Western healthcare models. This country is at the heart of innovation on its own.

Instead, speakers described a future built around precision medical services, as explained by Stella Fu from PwC China. The focus extends beyond diagnosis towards more personalised, data-driven healthcare that better reflects women's lifelong health journeys.

That ambition is increasingly being supported by policy.

One particularly significant announcement discussed during the programme was China's recent decision to allow certain hospital datasets to be shared across borders to support commercialisation and innovation. For international companies seeking to develop evidence-based women's health solutions, this represents an important step towards greater collaboration between Chinese and global ecosystems.

Innovation Requires Capital

Investment remained a central theme throughout the Summit.

Maryann Selfe presented insights from her book, The Billion Dollar Blindspot, examining why women's health continues to be systematically underfunded despite representing one of healthcare's largest growth opportunities. Her research challenged investors to rethink traditional investment frameworks and highlighted practical approaches for unlocking more capital into women's health innovation.

Equally inspiring was hearing from Ida Tin, widely recognised as the "Mother of FemTech"and Co-Founder of Clue, who shared her latest work exploring continuous hormone measurement through advanced biosensors. Working alongside the German Government's SPRIND initiative, her deep technology research demonstrates how women's health is increasingly moving beyond digital health into frontier science.

Healthcare Systems Need Different Solutions

One of the most thought-provoking sessions featured a fireside chat between Sandy Lv from Bayer China alongside Dr Abraham Nick Morse. Their conversation illustrated why solutions cannot simply be copied between markets.

China's healthcare system faces enormous demand. With approximately 130 major provincial hospitals attracting patients from across the country, clinicians often have little opportunity to spend 20–30 minutes discussing treatment options with individual patients.

The challenge is not clinician willingness, it is system design.

As the speakers argued, healthcare reimbursement structures rarely recognise the value of education, prevention or longer patient conversations, despite the potential to reduce downstream costs, improve adherence and minimise patient trauma.

The discussion reinforced an important lesson for innovators entering China: success depends on solving healthcare delivery challenges unique to the local system.

Breast Cancer Care Beyond Treatment

Another inspiring example of China's evolving healthcare model focused on breast cancer care.

Rather than viewing treatment as ending after surgery or medication, speakers described integrated care pathways that support women physically, emotionally, socially and spiritually throughout recovery.

This more holistic perspective aligns closely with one of FemTech Association Asia's core beliefs: women's health cannot be separated into isolated conditions. Better outcomes require whole-person care.

Understanding China Before Entering China

Several international ecosystem leaders echoed a common message before and during the summit.

Maaike Steinebach described Shanghai as the ideal place to explore East-West innovation, bringing together perspectives shaped by years of experience across both Asia and Europe.

Vanessa Julia Carpenter highlighted something equally important: China should not simply be viewed as "a market to enter," but as an ecosystem to understand. She emphasised that meaningful partnerships require understanding regulation, manufacturing, investment, clinical adoption and local healthcare realities - not simply translating products into another language.

Lindsay Davis emphasised that events like this Shanghi Summit support the next generation of femtech founders. If the industry is under-researched, underserved and underfunded, entrepreneurs need to see a path to success through impactful ecosystems and government engagement.

That philosophy was reflected throughout the four-day programme, particularly during the closed-door ecosystem visits that introduced international delegates to conversations impossible to replicate from overseas.

Looking Ahead

For FemTech Association Asia, Shanghai reinforced what we have long believed: the future of women's health will be built through collaboration across borders.

Innovation no longer belongs to one geography. (The Co-Founder of Dayima, Chai Ke, China's first femtech unicorn, closed the Day 1 sessions!)

Asia is becoming one of the world's most dynamic regions for women's health, with China demonstrating increasing leadership across healthcare delivery, policy, manufacturing, data infrastructure and investment.

The FemTech Across Borders Shanghai Summit showed what becomes possible when founders, corporates, investors, governments and ecosystem builders come together to build shared solutions.

We left Shanghai optimistic.

Optimistic about China's growing commitment to women's health.

Optimistic about stronger cross-border partnerships.

And optimistic that by understanding each other's ecosystems rather than viewing them from afar, we can accelerate innovation for the millions of women still waiting for better healthcare.