Over 1,500 visitors descended upon Nuremberg this week for two medical technology exhibitions, MT-Connect and MedTech Summit.
Taking place at Nuremberg Messe, the events featured around 150 exhibitors presenting their latest developments and 40 speakers who took to the stage at MedTech Summit.
Speaking about the shows, Alexander Stein, MT-Connect exhibition director at Nuremberg Messe, said: “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.
Visitors were particularly thrilled by the “unique combination of trade exhibition, congress and partnering event”, according to Dr Matthias Schier, managing director of Forum MedTech Pharma, who said: “This way, we successfully focused attention on both the complete medical technology value chain, and the technologies and challenges related to the innovation process.”
Two trending topics at the exhibitions were the new medical devices regulation (MDR) and the trend of digitalisation. In particular, small and medium-sized manufacturers and suppliers feel they are under pressure to get their products ready for distribution under new MDR requirements in 2020.
Digital health was represented 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.
A range of talks gave insight into the emerging topics related to medical technologies. Topics ranged from the use of blockchain to virtual reality and big data, and even a live hacking exercise provided fascinating insights into companies and trends.
Perhaps the biggest news came with the announcement of MedtecLive, a new exhibition between UBM and Nuremberg Messe which will replace previous shows, Medtec Europe and MT-Connect. The two organisations intend for the show to be a platform which will foster networking among industry experts and showcase cutting-edge medical innovations, will provide genuine added value to the industry.