As industry insiders it always amazes us that the clinical world and its commercial medtech cousin exist almost in parallel universes. If you’re a medical professional are you even aware that each year Medica, the worlds largest medical trade fair takes place in Düsseldorf? We’re not for a second suggesting you should be by the way… much of the event is “business to business” with the opportunity to meet distributors and component suppliers taking precedence over content aimed at the clinical community. That said, many small to medium sized entities with new and interesting technologies also appear and may provide an insight into some of the technologies you will encounter in years to come. Anyway, to spark your interest here’s an excerpt from the Medica website:
In the week ahead, from 16 – 19 November 2011, the attention of health and medical care professionals from around the world will once again focus on Düsseldorf, as the world’s largest medical trade fair, MEDICA 2011, World Forum for Medicine, and COMPAMED 2011, High tech solutions for medical technology, the leading international trade fair for the suppliers market in medical manufacturing, get underway.
Three quarters of the MEDICA exhibitors are from abroad and account for 60% of the total floor area reserved. The greatest demand for space at MEDICA 2011 was from German exhibitors (approx. 46,190 m²) followed by Italy (approx. 11,126 m²), China (6,726 m²), the USA (5,950 m²), the United Kingdom (4,890 m²), France (4,457 m²) and the Netherlands (3,172 m²).
“These facts and figures not only reflect the highly international nature of MEDICA, but also that of the market as a whole. It is characterised by a great degree of global exchange of goods and international competition between vendors. More than half of the medical devices, products and instruments produced worldwide are made for export”, emphasises Joachim Schäfer, Managing Director of Messe Düsseldorf GmbH, highlighting MEDICA’s importance as a central international hub of supply and demand.
The MedTech industry remains buoyant
According to recent information from the trade associations SPECTARIS and ZVEI, German manufacturers of medical technology have seen business remain buoyant, in spite of a slight “cooling off” anticipated for the second half of the year. For the 2011 fiscal year as a whole they expect growth of six percent, with total sales amounting to €21.1 billion. “We are able to compensate for the health sector cuts being made in some countries due to the global economic and financial crisis with growth in sales in other countries and regions, such as Asia and North America, for example”, explains Jan Wolter, head of the SPECTARIS trade association Medical Technology, highlighting the manufacturers’ very high export ratio (65%). German vendors are striving to boost domestic business by offering innovative service packages to set themselves apart from the competition and thus build long term customer loyalty, he added.
Source: medica-tradefair.com
published: November 14, 2011 in: Congresses and Meetings, News, Products, Technology