For the top decision-makers, MEDICA once again presented the latest state of medical technology and OR organisation in 2019 with short distances in a concentrated space.

However, the fragmentation of the international trade fair landscape with the emergence of numerous regional trade fairs makes it increasingly difficult for exhibitors and visitors to decide which trade fair to attend. There has been a shift in the number of exhibitors and visitors at MEDICA in recent years. “Some well-known, large medical device manufacturers are no longer represented in Düsseldorf”, describes Ron Singer, 1st Chairman of the GHE.

Among the visitors the number of users seems to decrease. Exhibitors also have to calculate sharply from a financial point of view by cutting back or reallocating budgets. There are manufacturers who now prefer specialist conferences with an associated industrial exhibition in order to meet their target group of potential users and customers there.

“For us, less is more. We can use 1-2 large trade fairs a year as a platform to present our innovations to our premium partners,” says Maik Greiser, Atmos MedizinTechnik GmbH & Co. KG.

Trade fair companies must react to the changed conditions. This year, MEDICA changed the allocation of topics to the exhibition halls. Based on the increasing convergence of software and hardware, especially in the field of medical technology, the MEDICA segment of information and communication technology has been regrouped from Hall 15 to Hall 13 and is thus directly connected to the halls for medical technology and electromedicine. Manufacturers of surgical instruments, on the other hand, have moved from Hall 13 thematically closer to suppliers of imaging procedures and complete solutions for modern hybrid operating theatres in Halls 10 and 11.