The world’s largest and leading medical trade fair MEDICA and the international No. 1 event for the medical manufacturing supplier market, COMPAMED, will take place completely virtually for the first time this year from November 16-19, due to the pandemic, and will also underpin their global format in digital format Leadership roles. More than 1,000 exhibitors from 50 nations have already registered for virtual.MEDICA 2020 ( https://virtual.MEDICA.de ) and virtual.COMPAMED 2020 ( https://virtual.COMPAMED.de ) since the start of registration (mid-September) ( 150 of which are virtual.COMPAMED).
“This underlines the industry’s trust in its flagship events and the urgent need for platforms for exchanging ideas with customers and potential business partners. The companies are offered a cross-border accessible stage for the presentation of the latest products and services. And the top decision-makers in the healthcare industry gain orientation in challenging times through a comprehensive overview of reliable delivery options and alternative providers, ”says Wolfram Diener, Chairman of the Management Board of Messe Düsseldorf, looking forward to virtual.MEDICA and virtual.COMPAMED.
International online visitors from all healthcare sectors can look forward to an extensive program consisting of the three central areas: Conference Area(Conference and forum program), Exhibition Space (exhibitors and new products) and Networking Plaza (networking / matchmaking).
Full conference program – trends under the sign of Corona
In the conference area, a four-hour German-language and six-hour English-language stream will be running on all event days. The provisional agenda can now be researched online via the event database and includes 215 items on the program and 268 top speakers, including Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (November 16, 3 p.m.) and virologist Prof. Hendrik Streeck (November 18, approx. 12:10 p.m.) ).
“In particular, the participants are offered topics with a high Corona relevance. The program streams of the military medicine conference DiMiMED, the MEDICA MEDICINE + SPORTS CONFERENCE and the 43rd German Hospital Conference, which also take place completely virtually, are also integrated into the conference area. In addition, there are web sessions, virtual conferences and events of the exhibitors on their innovations and current developments ”, Horst Giesen, Global Portfolio Director Health & Medical Technologies / Messe Düsseldorf, gives an outlook.
Highlights in the Exhibition Space
The combined exhibitor database of virtual.MEDICA and virtual.COMPAMED is also already online in the Exhibition Space, providing access to the company’s online showrooms. KUKA is one of them. The robotics and automation specialist will use its participation in virtual.MEDICA to choose the winners of the “KUKA Innovation Award 2020” from five finalists under the motto “Medical Robotic Challenge” (November 18 / from 12:40 pm / online showroom from KUKA). All research and development teams were provided with the lightweight construction robot “LBR Med” in advance in order to integrate this robotic component into their own concept for medical product development. One of the finalists is the CONEEBot team from the Hamburg University of Technology. Your goal is to make smart needles (e.g. for biopsies) ready for use.Connected to the robot arm, needle applications of this type are intended to support doctors in correct needle placement – regardless of soft tissue deformations that can make targeting the needle difficult.
Meanwhile, CompuGroup Medical (CGM), as one of the world market leaders in eHealth, will address “tangible” issues for everyday medical practice. “For known reasons, personal contact and advice directly at the MEDICA booth are unfortunately not possible this year. CGM would nevertheless like to offer customers and interested parties the opportunity to find out about current and new products. The virtual.MEDICA offers itself as a suitable and welcome alternative ”, explains Arne Westphal, Senior Vice President Physician Information Systems DACH at CGM Germany. Networking and the telematics infrastructure (TI) are in the foreground of the virtual presence. “The current pandemic shows how helpful digital solutions can be in healthcare.With the CLICKDOC video consultation solution, doctors can, for example, coordinate further treatment with patients in quarantine or potentially infected patients without exposing themselves or the practice team to the risk of infection, ”continues Arne Westphal.
Networking Plaza – “Classic” with a new option The
third central area of ??virtual.MEDICA and virtual.COMPAMED, the Networking Plaza, deals with maintaining customer contacts, acquiring new customers, generating leads – in short: target-oriented networking.
The matchmaking tool used for this is a true “classic” in the MEDICA and COMPAMED program. Because it has already been used successfully for the past three years. Registered users store personal profiles as a basis (including interests, product areas, specific inquiries about products), through which exhibitor contacts and online visitors can be matched based on matches. Every matchmaking participant is given contact suggestions – using artificial intelligence software. Are both interested in each other, they can z. B. get in contact via chat function. Matchmaking has been possible since October 21 and beyond the event until May 21, 2021. New this year: On the virtual event days (16. – 19.November) the video meeting function is activated – for a particularly personal touch of the matchmaking encounter in digital space.