MEDICA 2019, the world’s largest and leading medical trade fair, runs today to Nov. 21 in Düsseldorf, Germany. It expects visitors from 170 countries and record participation of 5,500 exhibitors from 69 countries.
The increasing digitalization of processes in healthcare that directly includes the patient is once more a leading topic. This prevailing trend will not only be represented by exhibitor innovations at MEDICA 2019 but is also reflected in the programs of the accompanying conferences and forums.
“Three quarters of the exhibition space has been booked by international participants. After Germany, the largest share of bookings come from China, Italy, the USA and South Korea, and then we already see bookings from Turkey, followed by France and Great Britain,” explains Horst Giesen, Global Portfolio Director Health & Medical Technologies at Messe Düsseldorf. Accordingly, Horst Giesen sees that MEDICA is well-positioned across international borders. "No other event in the world offers such a comprehensive, international offer of innovations that covers the entire spectrum of needs for outpatient and inpatient care,” says Horst Giesen.
This year, once more in parallel to MEDICA, COMPAMED will take place for the 28th time, with around 800 exhibitors. COMPAMED, a supplier trade fair, has become the ultimate hotspot for complex high-tech solutions and services throughout the entire value-added chain for the medical technology industry and is now the international leading event in its segment.
Robotic applications are also still on the rise in the healthcare sector. KUKA, one of the leading providers for robotics and automation solutions, for example, will be taking the opportunity to choose a winning team of developers from five finalists for their “Innovation Award”. The award topics range from a robot platform with magnetic capsules for early detection of bowel cancer to an application that provides robot-supported laser treatment for varicose veins and robot-assisted, personalized back massages. The ‘temi’ home-care robot is another innovation at MEDICA. It is manufactured by Medisana and is a digital everyday aid that aims to help people live in their own four walls into old age.