Tens of thousands of healthcare professionals are gathering in Western Germany this week for the world’s largest medical trade fair.

Roughly 5,800 exhibitors from 72 countries will inhabit Messe Düsseldorf’s 17 fairground halls over the next four days to showcase their respective medtech innovations and business platforms at Medica. Last year’s event welcomed 83,000 visiting professionals from more than 160 countries worldwide.

“From Monday to Thursday, we will once again be welcoming visiting professionals from all fields of the international healthcare industry to Medica and CompaMed 2024,” Christian Grosser, director of Health and Medical Technologies at Messe Düsseldorf, said. “The trade fairs will offer an enormous variety of innovations and exciting program formats with a host of highlights, innovations and speakers.”

A new program format this year is themed hall selections (“spheres”) in Medica’s Med Tech & Devices and Digital Health areas, with the accompanying German Hospital Conference to be held at a new location. To date, the flagship event for German hospital managers was held at the Congress Center Düsseldorf; now it has been moved to the center of the trade fair in Hall 12. North Rhine-Westphalian Minister of Health Karl-Josef Laumann jump-start the conference by discussing the changes expected to impact German hospitals under the government’s reform initiative. The reform ends hospitals’ per- treatment payments in favor of guaranteed income for certain services. Hospital-focused exhibitors will be grouped together and surround the conference area.

Various Forums for Varying Interests

Digital Health-themed Hall 13 is hosting the Medica Econ Forum—a discussion of policy and economics pertaining to healthcare’s digital transformation (the latest IT trends and digital innovations are the likely discussion topics). This theme is also a central focus of programming at the Health IT Forum, Innovation Forum (the latter featuring startup pitches on Nov. 11 and 12), the Hospital of the Future special presentation (centered on digital infrastructure innovations in hospitals and data use), the Wearable Technologies Show, and the Medica Start-Up Park, a central hub for networking with new entrepreneurs.

The Medica Innovatioin Forum is set to spotlight women healthcare. A Nov. 12 panel discussion—“Together We Thrive”—features successful women in various healthcare management positions, including Hadas Bitran, partner and general manager, Health AI (Microsoft Health and Life Sciences); Ayelén Fernández, global Orthotics & Prosthetics Segment manager (HP); Audrey A. Sherman, division acientist (Solventum; previously 3M Healthcare); and Nina Wöss, managing partner (Female Founders).

Additional discussion topics at this year’s forums and conferences include current examples of AI and robotics applications, daily medical practice assistance solutions, and increasing connectivity in healthcare provision, specifically related to point-of-care diagnostics/treatment and telemedicine applications that provide the best possible collaboration across sectors and treatment providers. Medica’s forums also are addressing the healthcare industry’s labor shortage.

New Spheres to Explore

Five spheres at Medica 2024 examine innovations in clinical use and outpatient treatment like robotic applications for neurosurgical brain procedures and orthopedic surgeries; and a drive system that can be fitted into most hospital beds. The drive system works similarly to an e-bike and is designed to significantly ease staff workload at healthcare facilities during patient transport. Another new solution on display at the show is a medically certified smartwatch for easily measuring wrist blood pressure. The five spheres at the trade fair are: Lab & Diagnostics, Med Tech & Devices, Disposables, Physio Tech, and Digital Health.

Automotive Health: Cars Replacing Doctors?

A number of sensors and functions are being built into automobiles to help ensure safe and healthy driving. Fatigue detection systems, for example, are already commonplace; there are various other features in development for measuring motorists’ health-relevant data and identifying risk factors that could trigger accident-causing emergencies. At the special exhibition area in Hall 12, the Innovation Institute will demonstrate its proven expertise in the field, exhibiting vehicles such as the VW ID.4, the VW Tiguan, and a vintage Melkus sports car as well as a racing simulator. The institute’s key customers include Audi, Mercedes, Porsche, and Volkswagen.

“What is most memorable about trade fair visits are things that we discover spontaneously,” Grosser stated. “That is why this year, as a pop-up novelty, we and the Innovation Institute have created the Automotive Health special exhibition area.”

CompaMed 2024

Halls 8a and 8b are offering specialist knowledge in development. At CompaMed 2024, 750 supplier organizations are exhibiting across five worlds spheres: Manufacturing & Devices (e.g., components, parts, manufacturing processes), Services & Advice (research, development, services), Materials (plastics, glass, ceramics, metals, composite materials, adhesives, packaging), Micro Tech (such as microcomponents and microfluidics), and IT in Tech (software development and maintenance for medical technology).

Offering a specialized program of accompanying events, the Compamed High-Tech Forum and Compamed Suppliers Forum reflect leading topics within the supplier sector such as artificial intelligence, robotics and automation, microtechnology developments, and material innovations.

The latest in medtech developments is extending well beyond Medica’s expansive exhibition halls. Messe Düsseldorf’s new Trade Talk Today video podcast, which can be viewed on the home page industry portals Medica.de and CompaMed.de, are also sharing important updates on innovations and event highlights during the show.