Joachim Schäfer, Managing Director, Messe Düsseldorf, on COMPAMED 2016 (November 14 – 17, 2016, Düsseldorf, Germany)

What medical breakthroughs will the future bring? This is possibly one of the most exciting questions. Year after year, the annual staging of MEDICA, the world's leading medical trade fair and COMPAMED, the top international industry platform for medical technology industry suppliers, takes us a bit closer to finding the answer. This year's concurrently held events from November 14 – 17 in Düsseldorf, Germany will show once again that the products developed by medical technology suppliers can have a huge impact in terms of providing better care to patients in hospitals and the community.

A look at the latest trends and cutting-edge products provides plenty of examples. The basic general trend is in favor of smaller, lower-cost medical devices, with an increasing preference for smart devices with a connectivity option. Accordingly, medical technology companies require suppliers to deliver ever finer, more light-weight yet powerful components, modules, chips and radiofrequency modules, along with the matching energy and data storage systems. Contract manufacturing and outsourcing of services in every element of the process chain (including development, production, supply chain management, quality management and spare parts management) is a growing trend. Whether the medical technology industry customer is a major corporation or small family-run business, suppliers can support them as expert partners.
A closely coordinated approach helps to ensure best practice and efficient processes in the development, manufacturing and marketing of medical devices. Exhibitors – now more than 800 – appreciate COMPAMED so much because of the opportunity to meet the right people – in this case the almost 5,000 exhibitors from the MEDICA trade fair taking place on the same site at the same time, and who represent the suppliers' (potential) customer base. With its special profile, COMPAMED in halls 8a + 8b at the Düsseldorf exhibition center mainly draws technical buyers, R&D and packaging specialists, production managers, engineering designers and process engineers. The fact that 60% of trade visitors – 18,800 at last year’s staging – travelled to Germany from other countries to attend COMPAMED is a good indication of the event's international standing.

Product development inspired by digitization
The increasing pace of digitization in healthcare is dictating what happens in and around medical technology product development these days. In many areas, the hardware has been relegated to the status of merely a deliverer of processing power. The real innovation is in the software. Mobile app-based solutions for medical imaging and cardiology are two good examples. High tech ultrasound transducers, sensors to monitor vital signs – just add a smartphone or tablet connection and you have ready-made fully functional technical solutions for many medical purposes.

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