Exhibition News

New medical show for Asia, in December
Research firm Frost & Sullivan forecasts a growth of 12.7% in 2012 for the medical device sector in Asia, twice that of the rest of the world. Taking this cue, an international sourcing event for medical device design, Medtec Southeast Asia, is making its way to Asia for the first time and will be held from 1-2 December at the Suntec convention centre in Singapore.

It joins similar Medtec events already held regularly in China and Japan as well as Europe and the US. The organiser, Canon Communications, says that the growing influence of Singapore and its neighbours in the medical equipment and device segment is why it is bringing the Medtec event to Asia.

Key indicators backing up this decision are that in 2009, Singapore's medical technology sector's output was valued at about S$3 billion, double that in 2000. The target for 2015 is S$5 billion, representing 11% per annum growth. Singapore is also home to 35 manufacturing plants of global medical technology companies; 26 operate R&D centres and 29 have their regional headquarters based in the Asian country. Some of these are Affymetrix, Baxter, Becton Dickinson, Bio-Rad, Biosensors, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Medtronic and Siemens.

Plus, across the border, Malaysia has strong growth potential in integrated medical imaging technology such as Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS), a sector valued at US$5.6million in 2010. It comprised 8% of the total US$81million value of the medical imaging market in Malaysia and is expected to grow at 12% into 2012, says Frost & Sullivan.

The medical device and equipment industry in ASEAN also enjoys strong government support. Southeast Asia spends an estimated US$2 billion annually on medical devices and equipment and countries such as Singapore and Malaysia have made it their priority to boost local production, reduce reliance on imports and indeed play significant roles in global exports markets moving forward.

The supporting industry for medical devices in Singapore is proactively moving to win more business through establishing the MedTech Manufacturing Consortium, which aims to overcome entry barriers so that local firms can tap the burgeoning worldwide medical technology sector and the proper supply chain can be put in place at the local level. Many local companies in both Malaysia and Singapore are also leveraging their expertise in the electronics sector to successfully diversify into medical device component manufacture.

It is with this in mind that Medtec Southeast Asia will showcase the latest in technologies, components, solutions and other inputs for medical device design and manufacture. Exhibitors include:

Acme Monaco (guidewires and archwires)
Tessy Plastics (custom moulding of medical devices)
Qosina (valves, filters, stopcocks, clamps, etc.)
Prent (medical packaging)
Etigam (biological and chemical indicators)
Dukane and Hermann Ultrasonics (ultrasonic welding)
Specialty Coating Systems (parylene conformal coatings)
Indo-MIM Tec (metal injection moulding)
Purac Biomaterials (resorbable polymers and monomers)
Lasag and Laserage Technology (lasers for precision machining)
Tornos Technologies (high precision machining)

Running concurrently will be a two-day conference and workshop focusing on topics of particular relevance to the region's medical device sector.

More details can be found at Medtec