Connect medicine at MEDICA

Connect medicine at MEDICA

Insightsfrom industryChristian GrosserdirectorMEDICA / COMPAMED

NewsMedical spoke to Christian Grosser, director of the MEDICA and COMPAMED trade fairs will take place in Düsseldorf this November. In the interview we talk about the importance of trade fairs in the healthcare industry and what MEDICA has to offer visitors.

Can you please introduce yourself and tell us about your role at MEDICA / MEDICAlliance?

My name is Christian Grosser and as managing director I am responsible for the MEDICA and COMPAMED trade fairs at the Düsseldorf location. In this role, I also coordinate Messe Düsseldorf's global medical trade fair activities, which we market uniformly under the umbrella brand MEDICAlliance.

MEDICA is part of the MEDICAlliance, which brings medical trade shows to a global audience by providing conferences and resources worldwide. What ambitions led MEDICAlliance and MEDICA to such a globally oriented approach?

In addition to the world's leading trade fairs MEDICA and COMPAMED, which bring together visitors from 150 nations and exhibitors from around 70 countries at the Düsseldorf location every year, our approach is to also offer companies in the medical technology and healthcare sectors suitable platforms for good business in other booming continental and regional markets. Here, for the benefit of our exhibitors, we bring in our entire know-how and our decades of experience in marketing and implementing health events, building on a global network of foreign representatives and subsidiaries.

Image source: Messe Düsseldorf/ctillmann

First founded in 1969, MEDICA has been bringing together global experts to accelerate healthcare delivery ever since. How has the healthcare industry changed since your first trade fair?

As in other industries, the healthcare business has become significantly more international and the market structures have also changed. Companies in the medical technology industry are active in significantly more countries than in previous years. This also includes entering into cross-border collaborations in the production and distribution of devices and products.

At the same time, the intensity of competition has increased. The healthcare market has been a competitive growth market for many years, based on an aging society coupled with increasing prosperity in industrialized nations and most emerging countries. On the one hand, this results in price pressure, but on the other hand, there is also an increased focus on innovation in order to be able to avoid (at least partially) excessive price competition through product performance, equipment and, above all, customer-oriented service.

On the demand side, there was a concentration in many countries. In Germany, for example, the number of clinics is declining. At the same time, public hospitals are usually organized in large purchasing groups and private hospital groups have also become important market participants. A comparable situation can be observed in the laboratory area. A high proportion of services are carried out by a manageable number of large laboratories. All of this is also reflected in the development of medical trade fairs.

The strong growth in visitors has given way to increased decision-making. The specialist audience that comes to our events has more decision-making authority and a much more concrete interest in certain topics than in previous years. The so-called “general walking public” is therefore becoming increasingly rare; Instead, targeted business with the right partners and suppliers is required.

How works MEDICA the World Forum for Medicine, which took place in Düsseldorf this November, promotes research and innovation by promoting the latest technologies and companies?

MEDICA is not just a product show. A varied program of accompanying conferences and specialist forums integrated into the trade fair ensures that current trends and news from research, science, politics and companies are examined in more detail and discussed in an exchange of experts. One example is the MEDICA CONNECTED HEALTHCARE FORUM, which includes two exciting pitch competitions for the start-up scene: the MEDICA START-UP COMPETITION and the “Healthcare Innovation World Cup”.

Image source: Messe Düsseldorf/ctillmann

In addition, with our new digital format MEDICA DEEP DIVE, we have already focused on particularly relevant trend topics in moderated online discussion groups in the run-up to the trade fair. These included, for example, the diagnosis of infectious diseases, current innovations and developments in the area of ​​point-of-care diagnostics or “artificial intelligence/big data in medical applications”.

In 2021 they had over 3,000 exhibitors from over 70 countries. Which medical product categories or services does MEDICA highlight through its exhibitors and conferences?

The MEDICA and the parallel supplier trade fair COMPAMED, in their globally unique combination, offer specialist retailers a comprehensive overview of the latest medical products and services for modern treatment in doctors' practices and clinics, including all relevant process steps in product development and production. The main segments of the MEDICA trade fair are laboratory technology and diagnostics, medical technology and electromedicine (imaging and diagnostics/medical devices and devices), consumer goods and consumer goods, physiotherapy and orthopedic technology as well as IT systems and IT solutions.

Who do you think would benefit from attending MEDICA?

Both exhibiting companies and the visiting specialist audience benefit equally from participation in MEDICA. Because especially now, in turbulent times, the medical technology industry needs strong platforms for important exchange, cooperation and business. Companies currently have an increased need to coordinate delivery and manufacturing partnerships in order to ensure their own ability to deliver in times of sharply rising prices and scarce components. In addition, the specialist audience receives an overview of current trends, innovations and reliable procurement options.

Registration and tickets for MEDICA 2022

MEDICA 2022 will take place in Germany, a country with a growing medical technology economy. Although Europe is crucial to accelerating the medical sector, a positive investment infrastructure is required to continue its growth. What more should governments and policymakers do to continue Europe's success in medical technology?

In addition to important cross-sector framework conditions (e.g. ensuring an affordable energy supply), industry associations see the increasingly complex product approval process in the EU as a growth risk. It is increasingly preventing small and medium-sized companies from entering the market or expanding existing market activities.

In addition to your international trade fairs, you also offer a variety of resources on your website, including a magazine, a weekly newsletter and current monthly topics. Why do you offer such a wide range of resources to your customers for free on your website?

The goals are diverse. The first priority is of course “community building”. The greater the reach of our industry portals for MEDICA and COMPAMED in the relevant target groups, the more our exhibitors benefit. When you take part in our trade fairs, you book more than just square meters. You can present yourself with your exhibitor profile in the database of this community, which offers various functions.

The matchmaking tool is also worth mentioning. Here, our exhibitors are brought together with suitable people from the community based on their interests when searching for products and services. And beyond that, the community forms the core of the specialist audience, which is present in the truest sense of the word at runtime. The integration of digital content and services with the trade fair offering ultimately determines the relevance and acceptance of the event from the perspective of the relevant target groups. In this sense, free content pays off.

Image source: Messe Düsseldorf/ctillmann

Why do you think in-person trade fairs and conferences are so important for the medical field?

Through the Corona pandemic, we have all learned how important personal encounters and the “real” live experience are. Man feels with all his senses. New products can be tried out directly at a trade fair and a direct personal conversation creates a completely different basis of trust than encounters in the digital space. Additionally, chance encounters expand horizons and can be of enormous value.

What's next for MEDICA?

After the event is before the event. After the trade fair has ended, all results will be evaluated in detail and, based on this, we will continually work to update the program in line with current trends and developments in visitor interest. By the way, with the conclusion of MEDICA 2022, the registration phase for next year's MEDICA begins again. But for now, the MEDICA team is looking forward to exciting trade fair days with many interesting encounters at MEDICA 2022.

Where can readers find more information?

Registration: https://shop.messe-duesseldorf.de/cgi-bin/bms_visit/lib/pub/tt.cgi/To_the_ticket_shop.html?oid=30190&lang=2&ticket=g_u_e_s_t#/

https://www.medica-tradefair.com / https://twitter.com/MEDICATradeFair / https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/medica-international-trade-fair/

About Christian Grosser

Christian Grosser studied economics, is well connected in the medical technology industry and has extensive international professional experience. Grosser started his professional career in 2008 as a trainee at Messe Düsseldorf. He then held various sales-oriented management positions in Germany and initial project management positions abroad at the subsidiaries Messe Düsseldorf China (Shanghai) and Messe Düsseldorf India. In 2016 he returned to Germany and took on management responsibility alongside Horst Giesen as deputy director of Health & Medical Technologies. With the retirement of Horst Giesen, Christian Grosser became Director Health & Medical Technologies and has since led the team for MEDICA and COMPAMED as well as the umbrella brand MEDICAlliance.