The UK's Med-Tech Innovation Expo has an array of different exhibitors ready to show off their products and services. The services / support companies made up the majority of businesses and included contract manufacturers, test houses and multitude of other product design consultancies. This article will cover our experience of exhibiting at Med-Tech 2024 (positives, negatives and insights) to help inform your decision on whether to attend in 2025.
As a product design consultancy, exhibiting at events is great way to further our brand exposure and keep up to date with the latest innovations / trends. From a business development perspective, it presents the best organic opportunity to demonstrate our credentials and to network with existing and new clients.
Over the 2 day event in Birmingham's NEC, you can expect to network with a concentrated field of medical tech companies and personnel. There was a fantastic range of people in attendance, from startups to CEO's. It was noticeable thought that there was at least a 3:1 ratio of service companies to medical device manufacturers. Whilst this was a frustration since our team was keen to meet medical device manufacturers, this 3:1 ratio is likely a representation of the actual distribution of device companies to the wider support ecosystem in the UK.
We had taken a 5 year break from exhibiting at this and other medical device shows like Medica to focus on our online engagement channels. What we've seen is that there is still nothing quite like the targeted brand visibility that can be achieved by person exhibiting. In most cases, it's far easier to digest and understand the position of a client prospect by having a face to face conversation. LinkedIn messages and catch up email exchanges still hold a place, however, it's very relevant to show up to industry events in person. Everyone at the show has a reason to be there so conversations generally come easily.
Conveniently, the Med-Tech Innovation Expo is held alongside three other Manufacturing, Engineering and Technology based events.
Events on 5th & 6th June at the NEC
Here's a short overview for each event followed by a walkthrough video of 2024's events.
Med-Tech Innovation Expo is the UK's largest medical technology event. Expect a frequent schedule of talks from industry experts, B2B and B2C exhibitors, and start up projects / products looking to soak up information and opportunities. For further details see our previous blog post.
TCT 3Sixty is an industrial 3D printing and additive manufacturing event. It could be argued this show is the most visually interesting with a plethora of demonstrations and products on show.
Smart Manufacturing and Engineering Week focusses on end to manufacturing and engineering services and solutions. Expect to come across offerings and insights from global brands like SMC, 3M and Megger.
Subcon focusses on the subcontract manufacturing supply chain. More than 150 manufacturing subcontractors exhibit, with specialist services for automotive, aerospace, defence and medical.
An important note if you're considering exhibiting - be prepared to give and receive sales pitches. If you nail your exhibition stand, you can expect the following two things to happen.
A) You're attracting informed prospects who quickly understood your offering and are showing an interest in your company.
B) You're attracting salespeople who quickly understood your offering and are showing an interest in selling to your company.
The latter can be interesting from the perspective of building your network / supply chain but it can get tiring when you can see people unable to speak with you who are genuinely interested in your offering. It can also help you to refine your sales pitch / value proposition as you will hear plenty from suppliers who visit your stand.
The Med-Tech event space boasted two stages with a packed schedule of interesting and insightful talks. There was a notable focus on AI, cyber security and neurotech, often prompting some interesting follow up Q&A sessions. There were 20 talks per day with speakers from industry giants such as HP and Johnson & Johnson, all the way to exciting start up concepts. The talks garnered good attendance and we noticed seats were more consistently filled for the Med-Tech Expo's stages than the other three paired exhibitions.
We made use of the opportunity to conduct some market research. As previously mentioned, the event was abundant with service companies and suppliers, so it was good to see the latest industry advancements and note them for forthcoming projects.
If you're selling a product or service in the medical technology space – yes. The event is at the very least worth your attendance. Exhibiting can have a hefty price tag depending on the size of your stand and how you will populate it. As a visitor however you don't actually have to pay to be at the event. Visitor tickets are free for the Med-Tech event and all the other affiliated exhibitions.
Med-Tech Innovation Expo is undoubtably an excellent opportunity for networking and learning, though you will need to distinguish yourself from the crowd of other suppliers! If you decide to exhibit, you can be confident that your brand is present among very relevant people. You never know where an impromptu conversation might lead.
If you’ve got a new product or idea you would like to develop, book a call to speak to one of our experienced engineers to discuss the next steps towards accelerating your product development.
To have a look at a selection of previous projects, please have a look at our portfolio of medical device case studies.
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