MEDTEC Takes Stuttgart by Storm

Originally Published MDDI April 2002

NEWS & ANALYSIS

Norbert Sparrow

Stuttgart is Germany's answer to Motor City. Capital of the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart is home to both DaimlerChrysler, the oldest automobile factory in the world, and to Porsche. But the automotive industry is not the only force driving the regional economy: Stuttgart is also a hub of medical device manufacturing.

More than half of all medical products consumed in Europe—the second largest medical device market in the world—are produced in this region, according to the GWZ-Baden-Württemberg Agency for International Cooperation. It should come as no surprise, then, that following a four-year run in Amsterdam, the Medical Equipment Design & Technology Exhibition and Conference (MEDTEC) moved to Stuttgart. More than 3200 people attended the March 5–7 show, a 41% increase over the previous year.

MEDTEC, which is hosted by Canon Communications llc (Los Angeles), included a comprehensive three-day conference program. The well-attended sessions tackled a host of issues related to the design, manufacture, and marketing of medical products, from a primer on the DRG system being implemented in German hospitals to the unbridled potential of microtechnology and wireless patient area networks in device design. A German- language track on quality systems and risk analysis was the clear favorite of attendees, drawing a capacity crowd. The complexity of the subject matter lent itself to a presentation in the national language of the host country, said conference manager Mary Gordon.

Among the other highlights: A supplier of medical packaging and fabricating machinery and related contract services, Doyen Medipharm Inc. (Barton, Cambs, UK) unveiled several enhancements to its 4SS packaging machine that will minimize machine downtime and product waste. Furukawa Electric Europe Ltd., a Japanese firm with its European headquarters in London, demonstrated a high-stiffness guidewire with no yield point or superelastic plateau. And the French firm Arthesys (Gennevilliers) will soon make available its catheter manufacturing expertise to U.S. OEMs, according to Miroslav Secerov, director of marketing and sales.

These are just a few of the highlights. To get a more complete picture of Europe's premier medical subcontracting event, consider experiencing springtime in Stuttgart next year, when MEDTEC returns March 18–20.

Copyright ©2002 Medical Device & Diagnostic Industry