From the October 2013 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
In advance of MEDICA 2013, which will take place from November 20 – 23, 2013 in Düsseldorf, Germany, DOTmed Business News interviewed Joachim Schäefer, managing director of Messe Düsseldorf, the company behind MEDICA, the largest medical trade show of its kind, to get the latest updates.
DMBN: Please give us a brief background on how MEDICA got started?
JS: MEDICA started in Düsseldorf, Germany in 1969 with 135 exhibitors and around 4,700 visitors. As a congress accompanied by an exhibition, it primarily addressed laboratory physicians in Germany and was named “Diagnostics Week”. Since 1974, the event is called MEDICA.
DMBN: You’ve expressed the desire for a greater emphasis on Health IT at MEDICA. How will we see that play out this year?
JS: Consequently, the use of IT in the health care sector continues to progress. But the growth impulses are not based primarily on hospital information systems or administration software, but on the integration of IT in the most diverse application disciplines. It is the strength of MEDICA, that it does not address health IT by itself, but demonstrates the relevant links. Examples of this are solutions for computer-based microscopy and laboratory automation (in the field of laboratory technology), computer-based surgery or anesthesia and the interconnection of medical imaging (in the field of medical technology/electromedicine) as well as wireless solutions for real-time monitoring of patients and compact telemedicine applications for the remote use of medical practice and clinic (field of health IT).
With regard to the product developments in the field of medical technology, the "mega trends"— computerization, molecularization and miniaturization — which were identified for the future by a survey of experts by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research as early as 2005, and confirmed time and again by the relevant industry associations, have not lost any of their strength in past years. They could be impressively seen at each MEDICA and will also characterize MEDICA 2013.
The current developments in the field of digital operating room integration are also particularly fascinating to observe. Where many different devices for imaging, intervention, monitoring of vital parameters or even the documentation and video transmission are being used, it is necessary to simplify the handling using standard and central control units and to optimally interconnect the devices. It is interesting to see efforts to replace proprietary interconnection interfaces, which restrict the combination of groups of devices in operating rooms in relation to manufacturer, with open "plug & play" standards. From the perspective of clinic operators, this would increase the flexibility and efficiency of the devices used. One noteworthy project is the "smartOR" collaborative project, which is sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi).
