Taking place in Birmingham, UK, the MedTec UK fair opened its doors on May 23rd & 24th, 2012. The exhibitors displayed their products and technologies serving the Medical industry. Four zones were designed on the exhibition floor to cover this fast growing and innovative industry: Automation, Assembly, Robotics; Packaging; Precision Tec; Plastics Technology.
While walking and discussing with some of the exhibitors one quick and clear statement came to mind: the Medical industry is going very well. It is a fast growing market with many innovations launched every year. The demand is stronger than ever before because of the ageing of population in mature economies and the huge population size and growth rate in some countries, like in the BRIC countries.
Technologies are also much more sophisticated than ever before, allowing for worldwide technology breakthroughs in patient surgeries and treatments. What is also fueling the Medical industry and which is much less enjoyable is the expansion of certain diseases like diabetes. In 2010 around 3.1 million adults were diagnosed as having diabetes in the UK. This number is expected to rise of 25% in 2020.
The National Audit Office (NAO) also identified earlier this year uncontrolled expenses spent in diabetes treatments and diagnosis, which now reached 3.9 billion GBP (€4.8 billion, US$6.4 billion), three times the amount estimated in 2001 by the UK government. This diabetes example not only shows...