MicroPort's strong research and development capabilities, and growing intellectual property portfolio reinforce our brand and will continue to enable MicroPort keeps ahead of the constantly evolving technologies in our industry.

Most of our products are developed internally, and we have many new innovative products in varying stages of development. We have created a large intellectual property portfolio, particularly in the minimally invasive interventional device area, and diligently monitor and defend our intellectual property. We have received a total of 78 patents in China, including 24 invention patents, 52 utility patents and 2 design patents, and 2 patents in the European Union. In addition, we have 129 patent applications pending in China and 39 patent applications pending in the United States, the European Union, Japan and other countries. We also have 58 applications for priority dates pending under the Patent Cooperation Treaty.

We believe we maintain one of the largest highly skilled teams of research and development engineers in the medical device industry in China. The cornerstone of MicroPorts research and development endevours is a core team of highly experienced engineers, many of whom were trained and held leadership roles at many of the major medical device companies in the world.

Each of our engineers focuses primarily on one product application and is involved in the entire research and development process from product design to testing and regulatory approval. Our engineers also have regular contact with the major hospitals which use our products, providing them with real-time information regarding their needs. This understanding of the entire product development process and customer needs provides a strong, flexible engineering platform which can be used to quickly develop innovative products for a wide range of medical device applications.