HealthCare Business News connected with Joachim Schäfer, managing director of Messe Düsseldorf, to learn more about fast-approaching MEDICA 2017. Here’s what he had to say.

HCB News: I understand that MEDICA is seeing an increase of attendance from developing nations – particularly Asian countries. Roughly, what percentage of attendees come from developing countries and how much has that number increased?
Joachim Schäfer: Over 15,000 trade visitors from Asia, more than 4,300 from the African continent and 3,200 from South and Central America attended MEDICA 2016. A great number of prominent delegations were among these attendees. The number of international visitors has increased consistently over the last few years. Sixty percent of our visitors currently come from foreign countries. This impressive figure is evidence of MEDICA’s leading status worldwide.

HCB News: There has been a lot of political turmoil around the globe over the course of the past year, including countries that are typically stable. Has that impacted attendance or exhibition at this year’s show in any way?
JS: Political unrest, and specifically restrictions in trade policies, present obstacles for all industries and threaten to hinder growth. Overall, however, the health care industry has proven to be stable and a driver of growth globally. Europe and the U.S. are still the main export countries for medical technology companies. Based on the registration numbers, we expect over 5,000 exhibitors from 68 nations to attend again.

In addition to the traditional target markets in Europe and North America as well as Japan, service providers are also focusing on threshold countries despite various uncertainties there. As wages rise in threshold countries, the people are more willing to spend more on health care. An increase in diseases and illnesses relating to prosperity and a rising life expectancy in these countries has also created a further need for medical products and modern therapeutic procedures. The significant increase in visitors and exhibitors attending the medical trade fairs organized by the Messe Düsseldorf Group in continental markets which offer huge opportunities - Medical Fair India and Medical Fair Asia deserve to be mentioned here, among others - demonstrate the attractiveness of the key markets for medical technology and good business prospects there. This is particularly true of the strong, innovation-oriented, privately financed sectors of outpatient and inpatient care.

Regardless of this, the following applies, particularly during periods of political unrest: Companies, whose international business has a wide base and can thus compensate well for temporarily declining business in certain countries, have an edge in this situation. MEDICA offers them the best opportunity to get contacts from all over the world, with its high proportions of international visitors and exhibitors. At least 4,000 exhibitors are international companies. Our visitors come to Düsseldorf from 120 nations.

HCB News: What do you estimate the mix to be between medical equipment on display versus software and apps and how has the mix changed over the course of the last few years?
JS: Anyone who’s had an eye on the tech trends and the innovations for them at MEDICA over the past few years can see that significant development is happening here. It’s not that the proportion of medical technology vs. software applications that we’re seeing presented has changed. Rather, there is a close, interdependent relationship between the two. Here, dematerialization and miniaturization are the buzzwords. Medical technology is becoming smaller and more compact, but retains its high level of efficiency and performance. It is therefore ideally suited for being used on the go, outside the traditional medical settings. At the last MEDICA, an ultrasound device was presented that consisted solely of a combination of a transducer, a smartphone and an app. This example shows that innovation in medicine is increasingly driven by developments in software, and less by hardware innovation.

Thus, the health economy is undergoing fundamental revolutionary change, similar to what is occurring in the automotive industry. This dynamic is reflected at MEDICA, both in the innovations from our thousands of exhibitors as well as in the content of the accompanying conferences and specialist forums.

Digitalization has affected all aspects of health care and such buzzwords as “networking” and “artificial intelligence” are characterizing technical discussions and are already specifically influencing product development. Any professional in the field will be able to see this change for themselves in the presentations and talks at the MEDICA Connected Healthcare Forum, the MEDICA Health IT Forum, the new products being shown by the exhibitors and the exciting MEDICA App Competition. More and more health applications for smartphones, tablets and wearables are presented here, in their specific medical context.

HCB News: What is MEDICA’s greatest strength as a show and conference?
JS: In a worldwide unique collaboration, MEDICA and the supplier trade fair COMPAMED (approximately 800 exhibitors), which runs concurrently, work together to represent the entire process chain and the full range of medical products, devices and instruments. Together, they occupy the entire Düsseldorf trade show complex. The complete workflow for patient treatment is the focus at MEDICA, in one place and at a set time: every year in November. The diversity of products on display is unique worldwide.

HCB News: What event, presentation or technology are you most eager to see at this year’s MEDICA?
JS: The topic of artificial intelligence is incredibly exciting and has also taken the health care industry by storm. Consequently, it has secured a place on the agenda at this year’s MEDICA Health IT Forum (Hall 15). A robot programmed to place needles for infusions or biopsies has already stunned our professional audience by demonstrating its skill at MEDICA 2016. It was clear for all to see that what we once considered science fiction is currently at the threshold of being used in concrete applications. This is also true of the medical imaging sector. The first applications created from a foundation of artificial intelligence in order to automatically detect potential tumors using digitally generated image data from CT or MRI systems are about to be launched on the market. In addition, there are many innovations in the wearables sector, which are used to capture a huge range of vital signs, working in conjunction with apps designed for these purposes. The Wearables Technology Show, the sessions in the MEDICA Connected Healthcare Forum and the MEDICA App Competition are highly recommended for all interested in getting more information.

HCB News: Are there any other updates about the show that you would like to share?
JS: This year, there’s a new English speaking MEDICA Labmed Forum in Hall 18. Four themed days offer a range of exciting presentations and panel discussions on the following highlights: screening for cancers, cardiac and circulatory disorders, innovative diagnostic tools for diabetes and infection and migration. The events all start at 11 a.m. and end at 4 p.m. and are free for trade fair visitors who have MEDICA tickets. The MEDICA Academy is also celebrating its premier this year, constituting a highlight of the MEDICA conference program. It focuses on “blockbuster” topics within medical practice. Updates on imaging processes, the latest surgical procedures and an ultrasound refresher course are all included in this. You can go online to find out which sessions will be simultaneously interpreted into English before you arrive at MEDICA.

Creative start-ups play an important role in the digitalization of the medical world. They have been awarded their own “platform” for the very first time at MEDICA 2017, the new MEDICA Start-Up Park. Up to 40 start-ups will be ready to go in Hall 15, taking over a space of 500 square meters (5,382 square feet). There, they’ll meet potential business partners, investors and distribution partners from all over the world.