MEDICA 2020 and COMPAMED 2020 announced they will take place in virtual format only from November 16 – 19, 2020.
Within the framework of 'virtual.MEDICA' and 'virtual.COMPAMED', decision makers from all areas of the healthcare industry can expect a comprehensive range of products and services consisting of three focal areas: The Conference Area (conference and forum program), the Exhibition Space (for exhibitors and product innovations) and the Networking Plaza (networking/ matchmaking). Next year, MEDICA 2021 and COMPAMED 2021 will be held in a hybrid concept consists of a combination of live platforms for trade visitors at the fairgrounds in Düsseldorf, Germany plus digital offerings.
“Our hygiene and infection protection concept was positively received by the exhibitors and the successive relaxation of international travel regulations in early summer made the successful and safe staging of both trade fairs appear realistic. However, the development of the worldwide pandemic situation now had to be reassessed. Against the background of numerous travel restrictions and the very international demographic of MEDICA and COMPAMED on the exhibitor and visitor side, we had to decide to focus solely on the virtual format this year,” explained Wolfram Diener, President and CEO of Messe Düsseldorf.
Wolfram Diener added: “The essence of the MEDICA and COMPAMED brand is the intercontinental appeal for exhibitors and visitors This central core is still present this year, just not in the form of an event that demands physical presence, due to the pandemic. However, with the annual rotation of MEDICA and COMPAMED, we are now staying in touch with our customers by creating a comprehensive virtual and globally accessible marketplace for the community with a high-profile program. This is a good starting point for the joint launch in the trade show year 2021, when we will again offer the successful combination of live platforms for trade visitors at the Düsseldorf Exhibition Center and digital offerings.”
In recent years, over 80 percent of the exhibitors came from abroad - from around 70 different nations. The visitors travelled from about 170 nations, with the proportion of international visitors at 70 percent. Together, MEDICA and COMPAMED attracted more than 6,300 exhibitors and 121,000 trade visitors last year.
“Over the past few years, we have continuously expanded our digital offerings and therefore have established internet-based industry platforms in form of our MEDICA and COMPAMED web portals. We can now implement these in order to offer our customers the appropriate tools for networking and facilitating the valuable knowledge transfer, even in these challenging times” stated Horst Giesen, Global Portfolio Director for Health & Medical Technologies at Messe Düsseldorf.
“We will work with the associations and partners involved to find the best streaming solution from the 600 sessions of the expert forums and conferences planned so far. Participants can expect to see highlights with high relevance to Coronavirus in particular in these virtual formats. In addition, there will be wide variety of web presentations from exhibitors on their innovations and an online matchmaking area for making valuable business contacts, including a video web meeting function,” said Horst Giesen.
The MEDICA digital program items will include technical, economic and healthcare policy trends and issues. The MEDICA forums will include: the MEDICA CONNECTED HEALTHCARE FORUM, the MEDICA HEALTH IT FORUM, the MEDICA LABMED FORUM, the MEDICA TECH FORUM, the MEDICA ECON FORUM, the COMPAMED HIGH-TECH FORUM and the COMPAMED SUPPLIERS FORUM.