MFA and MMA 2016 highlight growth in SEA’s medical, healthcare, and MedTech sectors
Medical technology innovation is slowly taking on a bigger role in Southeast Asia’s healthcare sector, especially in augmenting traditional care management, coupled with the emergence of new, patient-centric, collaborative business models, wellness and lifestyle-themed health services, digital and telehealth initiatives, subscription care models, and more.
According to the 2016 Global healthcare outlook report by Deloitte, Asia Pacific’s spending on healthcare will grow at an annual average of 6.6% through to 2019, largely driven by the rollout of public health programmes, increased private wealth, and the growing grey population. In addition, Asia’s population aged 60 and above is expected to double from 12% to 25% by the year 2050.
A paradigm shift in Singapore’s healthcare sector has been seen recently, represented by the increase in their healthcare budget by over 200% from S$4.7 million in 2012 to S$11 million this year. Recent times have also seen the city-state evolving when it comes to integrated-care approach in providing good and affordable healthcare, as well as in achieving improved clinical outcomes.
“Singapore is also the choice locale for renowned healthcare services companies wanting to drive their business expansion in this region. Singapore’s favourable business environment, strong talent base, vibrant biomedical sciences ecosystem present an optimal setting for companies to tap into the region’s diverse healthcare markets,” saidMesse Dusseldorf Asia Managing Director Gernot Ringling in his welcome speech for the joint opening ceremony of the 11th MEDICAL FAIR ASIA and 3rd MEDICAL MANUFACTURING ASIA 2016 that kicked off at 10:00 AM on August 31, at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Marina Bay Sands in the country.
All these trends make Asia a successful market for global health care investors and service operators, both economically and strategically. This highlights the importance of both events in the growing healthcare and medical sectors in the region.
“In addition to an expansive exhibit range covering the entire spectrum of the value chain from end-to-end, MEDICAL FAIR ASIA 2016 in particular has a strong focus on digital healthcare, sports medicine and rehabilitative care,” Ringling added.
Singapore’s Minister for Trade and Industry, S. Iswaran, officiated the event as the opening ceremony’s Guest-of-Honour.
MEDICAL FAIR ASIA, the largest medical and healthcare trade exhibition in Southeast Asia will focus on the digital healthcare platform where companies will showcase new disruptive digital healthcare solutions such as remote and wireless healthcare, wearable devices, smarter medicine and healthcare analytics and other digital tools that enable the delivery of better and seamless care.
MEDICAL MANUFACTURING ASIA, on the other hand, leverages on Asia’s growing medical technology innovations and Singapore’s existing strengths in engineering, manufacturing and biomedical sciences. It represents the MedTech sector and is modelled after the COMPAMED global series.
Local and international exhibitors opened up the fairgrounds to an all-encompassing range of leading-edge innovations – covering A&E (accident and emergency), electromedical, laboratory and rehabilitation equipment, communication & information technology, diagnostics, medical consumables, orthopaedic and pharmaceutical supplies, to new components, materials and substances for medical technology, micro and nanotechnology, as well as MedTech testing systems and services tailored to the needs of the medical and healthcare industry.
This year, the exhibitions accommodated a 30% growth in floor space to include some 1,000 companies from over 40 countries, national pavilions and country groups including first-time participation from Saudi Arabia and Turkey and numerous visiting delegations from the region.
The inaugural Asian editions of DiMiMED, the International Conference on Disaster and Military Medicine and the MEDICAL FAIR ASIA Medicine + Sports Conference will also be held synergistically with the exhibitions. They will be presented by industry thought leaders such as Dr. Ben Tan, Head of Changi Sports Medicine Centre and Exercise is Medicine Singapore and Dr. Raymond So, Director of Elite Training Science and Technology ofthe Hong Kong Sports Institute (HKSI), taking place on September 1.
Addressing topical subjects, DiMiMED will present issues on natural disasters and vector-borne diseases, including earthquake disaster relief, management of radiation leaks, threats from Dengue and Zika virus, as well as technical subjects on SATCOM (satellite communications) based telemedicine and aeromedical evacuation. The Medicine + Sports conference, on the other hand will centre on topics around disease prevention through physical activity and the latest innovations in sports medicine and wearables.
Jointly organised with Messe Dusseldorf Asia’s partner, Singapore Precision Engineering and Technology Association (SPETA), the exhibitions will feature some 200 international companies covering the upstream and downstream processes, including over 30 home-grown Singapore MedTech manufacturers, as well as a series of concurrent forums such as the MedTech Business Forum, IVAM High-Tech Forum, workshop and technical presentations.
The sessions include the MedTech Business Forumled by keynote speakers from SPETA, Frost & Sullivan, Ernst & Young and SIMTech, the Medical Innovation and Technology Forum (MITF), High-Tech for Medical Devices Forum by IVAM Microtechnology Network, a MedTech SME Workshop, as well as a series of technical presentations and in-booth activities that are of free admission for registered visitors to MEDICAL FAIR ASIA and MEDICAL MANUFACTURING ASIA 2016.
“Against this backdrop, we are expecting more than 15,000 targeted trade visitors from all over Asia, with 40% of them coming from outside Singapore. The internationality of both exhibitions and growing number of companies from event to event clearly signify their positions as authoritative platforms,” Ringling said.
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