CMEF Spring is part of the world’s largest healthcare event: the Health Industry Summit (tHIS)
The Health Industry Summit (tHIS) 2017 hosted by China and organized by Reed Sinopharm, was held in Shanghai at the National Exhibition and Convention Center from May 15th to 18th with well over 200,000 healthcare industry professionals from more than 150 countries and regions in attendance.
Now in its third edition, tHIS has been firmly established as the world’s largest health industry event with over 350,000 square meters of exhibition space and 160 individual events and conferences. It comes at a crucial time as China drives forward its “Healthy China 2030 Plan” initiative to realize among other goals an industry growth target of RMB 16 trillion (USD 2.3 trillion, Euro 1.9 trillion) by 2030 and an increase of average citizen lifespan by 3 years to 79 years.
Key events at tHIS 2017 included China’s three top medical equipment and pharmaceutical exhibitions (CMEF, PHARMCHINA and API China) and the leading healthcare investment forum – Healthcare China 2017. This year’s investment forum was co-organized by Reed Sinopharm, JP Morgan Asset management, CICC and Sinopharm Capital and was attended by more than 1000 CEOs, investors and institutions.
The exhibition featured the entire industry value chain and showcased tens of thousands of the latest technologies and products. Emerging technologies such as VR, AR, wearables and AI featured strongly on the show floor as well as in the key forums. During tHIS 2017, the World Medical Robots Innovation and Development Summit was held to reflect the growing trend for robotics and AI applications.
Over 7000 exhibiting companies from 30 countries were at the show including medical device giants like GE, United Imaging, Siemens, Philips and Mindray as well as major pharmaceutical groups in China including Sinopharm, Shanghai Pharma and CR Pharmaceuticals. The majority of the most innovative companies in the medical field choose CMEF as their global or Asia Pacific new product launch platform and more than 600 new product launches took place during the 4 days of the show. Among the new products released, United imaging launched its uVR 4D vision explorer platform, enabling more detailed dissect structure and spatial information, while GE launched its first cloud-based digital application for medical equipment management APM (asset performance management), which was developed by their China team. BGI also attended with their gene sequencer BGISEQ-500, a benchtop high-throughput open sequencing platform that provides end-to-end solutions.
Natural Health and Nutrition Expo were among the fastest growing segments in the portfolio, helped by the expected population boom in light of the reversal of the single child policy last year as well as a growing health-conscious middle class in China. Popular international brands like Blackmores, Nature Made and Garden of Life made their debut at the show along with 700 suppliers of health food and supplements, bringing with them popular product lines tailored to the Chinese market.
The Health Industry Summit is organized by Reed Sinopharm, a joint venture between the world’s leading event organizer Reed Exhibitions and China’s leading state-owned medical & pharmaceutical group Sinopharm, ranked number 199 on the latest Fortune 500 list released in July. Its next edition will be held in April 2018 in Shanghai while the 78th China International Medical Equipment Fair (CMEF Autumn 2017) is to take place in Yunnan at the Kunming Dianchi Convention & Exhibition Centre from October 29 to November 1.
Visitor profile
The vast majority of visitors naturally came from China, covering all regions and healthcare sectors. However, there was also a growing segment of international visitors. Topping the list of foreign countries was India with a 20% share of international attendees followed by Korea (15%), Pakistan, Japan, USA, Russia and Germany.
Overall, CMEF visitors spanned the entire medical area – both healthcare and medical device industry. Distributors of medical devices constituted the largest single visitor group with 45% of the total followed by hospital build and design (26%) and rehabilitation centre professionals (see detailed visitor composition chart on previous page).
National pavilions
The international participation is increasing, reflecting the growing importance of China’s healthcare industry. Further adding to the show’s attraction, a large number of national pavilions were featured in a dedicated hall where a constant stream of visitors could view the latest products and technology of companies from countries as diverse as Switzerland, Canada, Taiwan or Germany. For the first time the US and Pakistan had country group exhibits while the Spanish Medical Technology Association (FENIN) led some Spanish companies to make their appearance at the CMEF Spanish pavilion and the German Land of Thuringia organized a regional exhibit for the first time.
