In short
Ah yes, Düsseldorf, Christmas markets, Cinnamon pastries, tired feet, German beer, crowded buses, more crowded trams. Medica is the big one for the healthcare industry, whether you’re selling casters for trolleys or balloons for angioplasty, Düsseldorf is the place to be this week. So say 4,554 exhibitors (yes really) from 64 countries.
Background
November 14 -17 sees the international health industry descend on Düsseldorf once again for the world’s largest and leading medical trade fair with congress.
As ever, COMPAMED 2012, the rather more B2B end of things, will be running in parallel from the 14 to 16 November. With its own tally of 645 exhibitors from 34 countries it is the leading international market platform for suppliers to the medical technology industry. Medica and Compamed occupy all 19 halls of the Düsseldorf exhibition grounds. Medica is one of the ten largest trade fairs across all industry sectors.
After Germany, the greatest shares of floor space have been booked by exhibitors from Italy, China, the USA, the United Kingdom and France. These countries traditionally provide the highest number of participants.
From among the 134,500 professional visitors to last year’s event every second one came from countries other than Germany.
Clearly structured into segments, Medica 2012 covers the entire spectrum of innovations for increasing the quality and efficiency of medical care in doctor’s surgery’s and clinics, including medical technology and electro-medicine, laboratory technology and diagnostics, physiotherapy products and orthopaedic technology, medical supplies, information and communication technology for health facilities, and medical furniture. No other event in the world can offer this kind of comprehensive and structured overview of the latest medical products for the entire “workflow” of patient treatment.
As a trade fair, Medica is addressed mainly to medical experts, but there are also products especially for patients and their families. Indeed, free patient forums take place on Saturday 17 November (CCD East). They will deal with topics such as the various methods diagnosing and treating heart diseases, tinnitus, and back pain and also “Life with Cancer”.
Then there’s the industry end, represented at Compamed which runs parallel to Medica. Compamed concerns itself with the manufacture of medical products and devices, encompassing the materials sector, production issues, aspects of quality control, innovative procedures for concrete application areas, complete contract manufacturing, and after-sales services for medical technology devices.
“These facts and figures reflect the unrivalled internationality of Medica and thus the trade fair’s leading role as a barometer and platform for the activity of the global medical market,” says Joachim Schäfer, Managing Director of Messe Düsseldorf, who expressed his delight at the number of participants – equal to last year’s record level – during a press conference before the start of the event.
So the healthcare industry’s not too sick then.. at least in Germany
According to a current forecast by the trade association SPECTARIS, the roughly 1,160 German medical technology companies will close the year with a 4 per cent increase in turnover and a total turnover of €22.2 billion, mostly thanks to positive export growth. A similar rate of growth is expected for 2013. At the end of the year, the number of employees at the medical technology companies will be almost 94,000, which corresponds to a growth of two per cent compared with the previous year.
This piece is extracted from Medica’s press announcements, more of which can be found here.
published: November 12, 2012 in: Congresses and Meetings, medlatest Editorial