MEDICA Healthcare Forum to Present New State-of-the-Art Solutions

Visitors to this year’s MEDICA trade fair will be presented with groundbreaking innovations for tomorrow’s medical progress. MEDICA is the world’s largest medical trade fair with more than 5,300 exhibitors from 70 countries, and will be held from November 18 – 21, 2019, in Düsseldorf, Germany. As part of the event, the MEDICA Connected Healthcare Forum (MCHF) will be presenting state-of-the-art solutions and hold sessions on the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT). For instance, Zimmer & Peacock offers biosensors that analyze pH values, glucose, lactate and uric acid. These sensors are implemented in wearables for direct use on the body and thus, assist in smart diagnostics of health parameters

The 10 finalists of the 11th Healthcare Innovation World Cup will also present their developments at the MCHF. An international jury will select the winner from these finalists, who have been selected from several hundred applicants.

The MCHF will focus on augmentations to the human body, such as bionic eyes, intelligent implants and exoskeletons. There will be a talk about the possibilities of using 3D printing processes to create body parts - from printed hips to knee joints. Attendees will be presented with exoskeletons offering valuable robotic support for stroke patients during their rehabilitation process. These exoskeletons are also helpful when it comes to exercise for people with spinal injuries and rehabilitation of people with limited mobility.

The MCHF will also focus on mobile monitoring to improve healthcare at home and in hospitals. For example, Biovotion uses the medically certified Everion 22 solution to measure various vital parameters, such as heart rate, heart rate variability, temperature, oxygen saturation, movement intensity and quality of sleep. This innovation has already been adopted by pharmaceutical company Mundipharma for developing their digital platform, Painfocus. The result is a combination of Biovotion’s Everion with an AI-based health analysis platform that uses machine learning and combines several physiological biomarkers to calculate the existence and level of pain. The system, which consists of an app and hardware, can capture, monitor and analyze the data that is created by the patient and can then share this data with care staff in real time via a web-based dashboard. This provides exact details on a patient’s health condition, including the level of pain and general physiology – which is particularly invaluable when it comes to patients who are no longer responsive.

The 8th MEDICA App Competition will take place on the MCHF stage to choose the world’s best health app solution from the 10 finalists who have been selected in advance and will compete in their final pitch. The competition will be followed by the Health Accelerator Reverse Pitch, where companies such as Bayer G4A, Merck and Roche Diagnostics will present their funding programs for start-ups. The session will also take a closer look at new solutions in the remote treatment of patients and monitoring their movement activities for physiotherapy clinics and orthopedic hospitals.

When it comes to artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine, a large amount of reliable 11 am on November 20, Thorsten Gau, Chief Technology Officer Healthcare and Life Sciences at IBM Europe, will explain how connections and data from various sources can contribute to improving healthcare. This will be followed by Tiasha Renganathan, Head of Wearable Tech at MAS Innovation, who will take a look at how textiles can be used to capture health parameters. Markus Meier, Market Director Life Sciences at PTC, will explain how augmented reality can help them make the most of Big Data and use this as a basis for therapy decisions. Dr. Stefan Taing, co-founder and Managing Director of M3i, will take a closer look at how capturing clinical data can be accelerated in the MCHF session, which will also focus on Big Data and AI.

M3i is an industry-in-clinics platform that connects companies to research and development resources in clinic, such as a medical technology manufacturer requiring access to clinics to conduct a clinical study or a doctor having an innovative idea and looking for an industrial partner to realize it. Omnidermal’s AI-based app Woundviewer reduces the time required for monitoring, documenting and classifying wounds from 20 to two minutes. Woundviewer objectively and quantitatively evaluates wounds in a standardized manner, guarantees a subsequent and comparative study of cutaneous ulcer healing and informs medical personnel immediately if the condition worsens.

The MCHF and its program offer over 100 health start-ups a platform for presenting their products. MEDICA Disrupt is one part of this program where start-ups will present their creative ideas, including medically-certified wearables, diagnostics, health monitoring, women's health, mental health as well as the treatment and therapy of chronic diseases and Big Data and AI in the healthcare field. A start-up named MOIO will present the latest on its innovative smart care patch for use in out-patient care as well as at home that increases the quality of life for care givers and patients alike. Solutions for clinics and care centers as well as digitalizing the point-of-care will also be presented at MCHF in the final session.