12-Apr-2018
Once again this year, industry innovators came together in Nuremberg for the twin events MT-CONNECT, exhibition for suppliers and manufacturers of medical equipment, and the international medical technology congress MedTech Summit, which were held concurrently on 11 and 12 April 2018. Roughly 150 exhibitors from 13 countries presented their latest developments, while roughly 40 speakers at the MedTech Summit and 1,580 trade visitors took advantage of this opportunity to network at the highest level. “Again this year, our innovative exhibitors, including both established suppliers and start-ups, presented impressive new products and developments. And the Exhibition Forum, which offered an even broader program this year, proved to be a real visitor magnet”, said Alexander Stein, MT-CONNECT Exhibition Director at NürnbergMesse. “Congress and exhibition visitors were especially thrilled with this unique combination of trade exhibition, congress and partnering event”, said Dr. Matthias Schier, Managing Director of Forum MedTech Pharma e.V., the honorary sponsor of both events. “This way, we successfully focused attention on both the complete medical technology value chain, and the technologies and challenges related to the innovation process.”
The exhibition visitors were just as international as the exhibitors. They came from 25 different countries, though mainly from the German-speaking countries, as well as the Czech Republic and the Netherlands.
Successful MedTech Summit
The new Medical Devices Regulation (MDR) and the trend of digitalization were certainly focal topics of the exhibition and congress, but not the only ones. Other topics of current interest addressed at the Summit included frugal innovation, personalized medicine, reimbursement and business models. Small and medium-sized manufacturers and suppliers in particular feel that they are under great time pressure to get their products approved for distribution under the new regulatory requirements of the MDR before the effective date in May 2020. The MedTech Summit proved to be an excellent opportunity to obtain practical and useful information about the upcoming changes.
Innovations for all kinds of applications
A broad range of suppliers was represented at the MT-CONNECT, including precision parts suppliers like Loew Präzisionsteile, plug connector manufacturers like Franz Binder Elektrische Bauelemente, and developers and manufacturers of electronic components like Bebro Electronic. The changes resulting from the digitalization of healthcare were impressively demonstrated by researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits (IIS), who demonstrated a multi-channel “cardio shirt” that produces an ECG and a “fitness shirt” that measures the vital signs of the person who wears it. The Austrian IT firm KML-Vision is betting on digitalization and artificial intelligence to perform diagnostic evaluation of image data. With this technology, medical images can be analysed automatically.
Even more diversity at the Innovation Market Place
The Innovation Market Place, a special space for start-ups, young entrepreneurs and service providers, including those involved in the certification of medical products for example, was even more diverse in 2018. The start-ups pitched their new developments with the partial support of Medical Valley und EIT Health. For example, the start-up MOIO GmbH offered a glimpse into the future of in-home senior care. The “care patch” can be used to monitor the movements of care-dependent persons in their own homes.
Future topics at the exhibition forum
The exhibition forum featured presentations by exhibitors on future topics. Thirty one presentations on topics ranging from the use of blockchain to virtual reality and big data, and even a live hacking exercise provided fascinating insights into companies and trends. The sessions organized by Bitkom and the German accelerator Live Sciences, among other organizations, provided much food for thought and stimulated many interesting discussions.
Successful networking
Again this year, the always popular MedTech Summit Partnering attracted numerous participants. Hundreds of talks were scheduled in advance of this event. Researchers, manufacturers, suppliers, consultants and service providers were able to converse in numerous face-to-face encounters. The exhibition party on the evening of the first exhibition day provided the perfect setting for lively exchanges among all visitors, congress participants and exhibitors.
2019: New “MedtecLIVE” exhibition to be launched
At MT-CONNECT, world-leading exhibition organizer UBM and NürnbergMesse, one of Europe’s fastest-growing exhibition organizers, announced their intention to create a new medical technology exhibition –MedtecLIVE. The new exhibition will replace the previous formats Medtec Europe (in Stuttgart) and MT-CONNECT (in Nuremberg), beginning in 2019. The cooperation plan has been submitted to the Federal Cartel Office for review, and is therefore still subject to approval by the competition authorities. Assuming a positive outcome of the review process, NürnbergMesse and UBM intend to pool their experience and expertise in the medical technology sector. This stronger platform, which will foster networking among industry experts and showcase cutting-edge medical innovations, will provide genuine added value to the industry.
About MT-CONNECT and the MedTech Summit
The MT-CONNECT trade fair in conjunction with MedTech Summit – Congress & Partnering is the networking platform for the international medical technology scene. Clearly focussed on the supply and manufacturing sectors of medical technology, MT-CONNECT is where manufacturers come together with suppliers, service providers and developers. Suppliers and service providers will showcase their products and solutions for manufacturers and will meet representatives from purchasing, product management and R&D departments. At the MedTech Summit, experts from the research, development and user communities hold interdisciplinary discussions on future developments in the industry.
The unique combination of trade fair, congress and partnering event was designed in consultation with industry insiders and is supported by numerous industry associations. The honorary sponsor of MT-CONNECT and the MedTech Summit is Forum MedTech Pharma e.V., the largest network for the health sector in Germany and Europe. The organiser of the MedTech Summit is the Bavarian State Ministry for Economic Affairs and Media, Energy and Technology, with Bayern Innovativ GmbH responsible for production and coordination.
Contact for press and media MT-CONNECT
Jens Fuderholz, TBN Public Relations GmbH
Benno Wagner, Simon Kögel, NürnbergMesse GmbH
T +49 9 11 86 06-89 02
simon.koegel@nuernbergmesse.de
Contact for press and media MedTech Summit
Marlene Klemm
T +49 9 11 206 71 333
klemm@medtech-pharma.de
For all press releases, further information and photos please visit:
www.mt-connect.de/en/news
For information about the MedTech Summit please go to:
www.medtech-summit.de
For information about MedtecLIVE please go to:
www.medteclive.com/en