MEDICA and COMPAMED 2013 Emphasize Internationality

Only manufacturers of medical technology and products that are well positioned at the international level are able to balance weaknesses in individual markets and profit in the long run from a growing global market.

That is the key message conveyed at MEDICA 2013, the world’s largest medical trade fair, and the COMPAMED 2013 trade fair for the supplier market for medical technology manufacturing, both held on November 20–23, 2013. More than half of about 132,000 visitors, arriving from more than 120 countries, obtained information on the entire spectrum of new products for high-quality, efficient medical care. To accommodate the growing number of international visitors, the conference program was completely revised, and it included the inauguration of the MEDICA Education Conference, which provided courses and advanced training on selected topics for general practitioners (GPs), as well as practical training on devices, including German and European continuing medical education (CME) certification. High-level scientific workshops on focus topics which were held bilingually (German and English), and featured current aspects relating to gender medicine, infectiology, hygiene, and personalized medicine.

Other events aimed at an international audience—and thus held in English—were the International Conference on Disaster and Military Medicine (DiMiMED), and the MEDICA Medecine+Sports Conference addressing the special concerns of sports medicine. Both conferences were extremely well attended and succeeded in closely knitting a transfer of medical knowledge on the one hand, and presentations by MEDICA exhibitors of related product innovations on the other. Such products include wearable applications for recording vital body data, “anti-gravity” treadmills that support gentle rehab training, mobile medical imaging systems, and emergency equipment for on-site first aid.

In terms of the innovations presented by the 4,641 exhibitors representing 66 countries at MEDICA 2013, a special trend was seen towards compact telemedicine applications for patient monitoring and to compact devices for measuring various body parameters, which were supported by matching health apps running on smartphones or tablet PC platforms. A vast number of innovations in the area of medical imaging, with a rising emphasis on ultrasonic technologies, were also seen.

“We have observed a growing number of visitors in recent years particularly from those emerging countries that are especially promising for the medical technology industry, namely from among Asian countries, from India, Russia as well as South America and China,” said Joachim Schäfer, managing director of Messe Düsseldorf (Germany).

COMPAMED 2013 (Düsseldorf, Germany), which was held parallel to MEDICA, hosted 681 exhibitors from 37 countries, a new historical record for the international trade fair for the supplier market for medical technology manufacturing. The exhibitors presented to over 17,000 visitors an abundance of technology and service solutions for use in the MedTech industry, including new materials, components, preliminary products, packaging and services, and complex micro systems and nanotechnology.

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MEDICA 2013
COMPAMED 2013
Messe Düsseldorf