Singapore: Swissray International, a major developer and maker of medical imaging equipment headquartered in Switzerland, will invest between $20 million and $30.3 million (NT$600 million to NT$1 billion) to set up a medical optical-imaging device R&D center in the Hsinchu Biomedical Science Park of northern Taiwan.

Taiwanese media reported that the company, which signed agreements with several partners in Taiwan, also plans to set up a factory on the island in the future.

Swissray will partner with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), the industrial R&D body on the island, and Taiwan`s top-two thin film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panel manufacturers, AU Optronics and Chimei Innolux.

In 2011, Swissray appointed CHC Healthcare Group of Taiwan as its authorized agent in Greater China. Later in the same year, CHC formed a digital X-ray industry alliance with Swissray and others, aiming to develop high-level medical imaging products to form a comprehensive supply chain on the island.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs in Taiwan is aggressively promoting the local medical devices industry. Recently, it also identified five focus areas for the development of the medical devices segment and boost revenue generation.