Frugal healing

摘要

Ninety minutes north-east of Beijing lies what may be the future of medical technology. Weigao, a Chinese firm that started as a state-owned "township enterprise", has built a research and manufacturing centre where the laboratories are surprisingly chilly. Only the clean room, it seems, is fully climate-controlled. And that offers a lesson about frugal innovation. Whereas Western technology firms have plush premises, in China the people shiver while fancy equipment stays warm.