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| MEDICA 2002 |
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An expanded team of Trendliners made its annual pilgrimage to MEDICA in Düsseldorf, Germany, in November. In addition to myself, Steve Rhodes, managing director of Trendlines International; and Michael Pfeiffer, senior consultant, Trendlines Europe; were also in attendance.
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| See the View from the States archive for Mark Dollinger's view on aspects of doing business in the United States.
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For the past 25 years, I have attended about three to four U.S. trade shows per year across a number of industries. This year's MEDICA was my first trade show in Europe, and it was completely different than any other trade show I've attended. For starters, the sheer size of the show was breathtaking: 17 buildings, more than 3,600 exhibitors, and more than 120,000 attendees. I have been at shows in all of the major convention centers in the United States (Las Vegas, Chicago, Atlanta, Orlando, and New York). None of these centers comes close to the size of the European convention center model.
The European show model is quite different than the United States model. In the United States, shows are more targeted to a specific industry sector such as pulmonology or emergency medicine. In Europe, the shows have a much broader scope, so at MEDICA there were categories as diverse as medical devices, wound care and antiseptics, hospital administration, and pharmaceuticals.
This year Trendlines attended the show in conjunction with several of our clients, including Israeli companies and an American antiseptics manufacturer. The show provided fertile grounds for face-to-face meetings with potential strategic partners and a one-of-a-kind environment to see competitors and identify industry specific trends.
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| New Views...
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Among the many trends that jumped out at me during my journeys through the various halls: image-processing technology, endoscopes, and nebulization equipment. At the General Electric (GE) stand ("booths" in the United States), there were demonstrations of sonographic image processing. (As someone with older teenagers and beyond, I remember looking at a sonogram where the image of my baby resembled an air-traffic controller radar screen. I couldn't distinguish between the foot and the face.) The improvement in the quality of the imaging was startling. New imaging technology produces a visual that is more like a photograph than a radar image. It almost seemed as if you were looking at the fetus through a window!
With the growing popularity of endoscopic surgery, it was not surprising to see the plethora of endoscopic equipment at MEDICA. A similar trend was present with nebulization equipment associated with the almost epidemic growth in the occurrence of asthma.
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| Blue and White
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Israeli companies had a very impressive presence at the Show, including four country pavilions and numerous individual company stands. Astonishingly, with the exception of Germany (the host country) and the United States, it seemed to me that Israel may have accounted for more stands than any other country in the world!
If you are in the medical device arena (or any life science-related business for that matter), a trip to next year's MEDICA is an excellent idea. We would be happy to discuss how Trendlines can help you make the most of the trip.
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If you have any marketing questions that you would like me to address in a future column, or have a comment about this column, drop me a line.
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Mark Dollinger
President
Trendlines America
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