For more than 40 years, Düsseldorf has hosted MEDICA, the world’s leading trade fair for medical technology companies, medical device manufacturers, software and information systems development companies, and other experts from all over the world.
MEDICA 2016 took place on November 14–17 and gathered under one roof nearly 128,000 visitors and 5,000 exhibitors (the largest number of exhibitors to date) from roughly 70 countries. The event program featured five conferences and five forums, while seven main product categories were represented in the trade fair’s 17 halls. Digitalization, interoperability, and “connected health” were the dominant trends featured at this year’s event along with IoT, mHealth and telemedicine, sports medicine and wearables, M2M and Big Data, laboratory technology, and medical education.
The latest mobile health applications for hospitals, doctors, and patients were presented at the MEDICA App Competition. Developers worldwide submitted over 50 apps, but only 15 of them made it to compete at the live pitch at MEDICA 2016. Some of the best medical mobile solutions included an app that allows remote physical examinations, an app that immediately identifies suspicious areas in guided biopsies, and an app that connects to a smart device on a person’s body, tracks their posture, gently vibrates when they slouch, and thus trains them to sit and stand up straight.
In parallel to the main event, MEDICA’s visitors could also explore COMPAMED, the trade fair for suppliers and manufacturers of medical technologies, which occupied two more exhibition halls. Over 750 exhibitors from 40 countries showcased their high-tech solutions for the healthcare industry, including smart sensors, 3D printed wearables, lab-on-a-chip systems, lasers, and miniaturized components. The COMPAMED program also included two forums and the product market “High-tech for Medical Devices” section focused on cutting-edge technologies like microsystem technology, nanotechnology, photonics, and advanced materials.
With more than 13 years of experience in the MedTech industry, dozens of successfully completed projects, and recognition of the international community, Auriga is an acknowledged expert in software development for the healthcare domain. A few years ago, 100% of our medical projects involved embedded software development for medical devices (patient monitors, respiratory medical devices, infusion pumps). Today, more and more clients are turning to us to develop mobile solutions, health information systems (HISs), and electronic management record (EMR) systems as well as provide interoperability for their devices—all examples of global healthcare digitalization in action.
Events such as MEDICA and COMPAMED allow us to network with top decision-makers in the healthcare business and receive relevant industry information firsthand from trendsetters, gurus, and key players in the healthcare market. The opportunity to quickly recognize new trends, adjust in-house training courses, and feel at home with the technologies and standards of tomorrow—this is what our experts bring back from these trade shows.
Marc Schlackman, Auriga’s Sales Director, made the following comment:
Exploring the opportunities of healthcare digitalization is an exciting task. The latest technologies and innovative solutions are transforming the entire healthcare industry, making medicine more mobile, precise, accessible, and personalized. With our vast eHealth, cloud, and mobile expertise, we are happy to be a part of this process.
MEDICA once again impressed us with its size, level of organization, and wide variety of technologies presented. We had a number of fruitful meetings with potential customers, established several new contacts, and enjoyed seeing colleagues we met last year. MEDICA 2016 has absolutely lived up to our high expectations.
