Each year, the medical deice industry comes together in Dusseldorf at Medica. It’s a gigantic trade show, the biggest I know, where device manufacturers from around the world meet distributors, hospitals, and agency representatives. It’s raw capitalism: no science, no instructional seminars, no market research. Just 17+ gigantic exhibit halls filled with backslapping deal-making.
And good German bratwurst.
For us, this as a chance to talk with companies sourcing products that we could improve; companies that might distribute the result. There were luncheon discussions of business models and partnerships, afternoons exploring new monitors and interfaces. The country-sponsored booths were delightful: it’s great to see smaller companies being brought forward with their new ideas. There was the occasional delight of finding a vendor with a really good insight. There was also the disappointment of one who asked for a meeting and then drifted, or of who thought they had a unique idea that was, in fact, replicated a hundred times over among the endless aisles.
It’s a vibrant and delightful industry: this show is all about the energy and creativity that it’s participants bring to patient care.
Even if it gets a bit goofy sometimes.