5 - 7 April 2011, Berlin, Germany.The healthcare IT sector is meeting for the fourth time at conhIT in Berlin. From 5 to 7 April 2011 a total of 241 exhibitors are presenting IT solutions for clinics, medical practitioners and new forms of healthcare at this comprehensive event which is a combination of Industrial Fair, Congress, Academy and Networking.
The slogan of this year's conhIT is: "Healthcare IT - secure, networked and efficient". Once again the Federal Minister of Health, Dr. Philipp Rösler, is acting as patron of conhIT.
This meeting for the entire sector leads the field, and has been designed to meet the needs of specialists and executives involved in the development, application, operation or procurement of IT solutions for the healthcare sector: hospital IT managers, as well as financial controllers in the medical sector, the chief executives of clinics, physicians, software developers and producers, associations and politicians.
Moreover conhIT serves as a platform for communication and an informal exchange of information: the two all-day Networking areas and the many Networking Events provide relaxed surroundings where visitors and exhibitors can meet with one another. The fair is taking place in cooperation with the German Association of the Healthcare IT industry (VHitG), the German Association of Medical Computer Scientists (BVMI), and the German Association for Medical Informatics, Biometrics and Epidemiology (GMDS) and with the active involvement of the National Association of Hospital IT Managers (KH-IT) and the Working Group of the Heads of Medical Computer Centres of University Clinics in Germany(ALKRZ). The event is organized by Messe Berlin GmbH.
20 per cent more exhibitors compared with 2010
This is the largest and most important, dedicated Industrial Fair in Europe, where 241 companies are exhibiting their products and services, a 20 per cent increase over the previous year. Compared with the first conhIT, which took place in 2008, this represents a 67 per cent expansion. This year there are 48 exhibitors from Berlin and Brandenburg. The proportion of exhibitors from abroad continues to rise and they now account for just under 15 per cent of the total. There are 208 exhibitors from Germany and a further 33 from other countries: the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Italy, Finland, the United Kingdom and Taiwan.
Trade visitors will find software for hospitals, rehabilitation clinics and homes, IT solutions for medical practices, laboratories and radiologists, medical technology and telemedicine in a display area covering 12,000 square metres.
Ursula Baumann, conhIT Project Manager: "Many well-established companies are making the most of the marketing opportunities presented by conhIT. They include some of the market leaders such as Siemens, Tieto, Agfa, MEIERHOFER, ID and mediatixx, which are acting as Gold Partners of conhIT this year, as well as many small and medium-sized companies."
Several times each day there will be one-hour guided tours of the Industrial Fair, focusing on some of the current issues of particular importance for healthcare IT. The two hospital tours - to the German Heart Institute Berlin (DHZB) and Paulinen Hospital – will provide visitors with an opportunity to learn more about the use of IT in clinics. Participation in these tours is free of charge to visitors attending the fair.
New: Innovation and EU Pavilions
The Industrial Fair again includes various themed pavilions, and among the new additions this year will be an Innovation Pavilion and an EU Pavilion, featuring healthcare IT projects that are being supported by the European Union.
Netherlands is the partner country of conhIT 2011
This year conhIT has a partner country for the first time, the Netherlands, and the Benelux nation will be represented in all areas of conhIT on the Berlin Exhibition Grounds. Seventeen exhibitors will be presenting their solutions at the Industrial Fair.
Referring to his country's participation in conhIT, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, H.E. Marnix Krop, stated: "I am delighted that, as the partner country of conhIT 2011, the Netherlands will have an opportunity to intensify cooperation amid competition for the best ideas. (...) Networking the various service providers within the system is another aspect to our innovation strategy for the medical sector of the future. Nowadays this type of networking no longer stops at national borders."
On a combined stand, commissioned by the Ministry of Economics of the Netherlands and organized by the German-Dutch Chamber of Commerce (DNHK), visitors and exhibitors at conhIT can establish contacts with colleagues and professional associates, as well as obtaining more in-depth details about cross-border business opportunities.
Raimund Hosch, Chief Executive Officer of Messe Berlin GmbH, referred to the participation by the Netherlands as follows: "We are delighted to be able to expand our international dimension at conhIT, attracting the Netherlands as the official partner country for the first time, where it can present its outstanding expertise at the largest commercial meeting place for the healthcare IT sector."
High standards of professional advancement at the Congress and Academy
The conhIT Congress is an outstanding source of information about the current state of healthcare IT and the challenges facing the healthcare sector. It focuses on the opportunities that innovative IT solutions present in the highly competitive healthcare industry. The twelve contrasting congress sessions will feature the characteristics and the added value of IT solutions for economic, administrative, medical and nursing processes, in both an organizational and a decision-making sense, from the viewpoints of science, industry, users and politics. This year the organization representing the medical profession in Berlin, the Berliner Ärztekammer, is again awarding three points per day for the conhIT Congress programme as part of its certification process.
Taking place parallel with the Congress, each day the conhIT Academy will be providing interactive, practical seminars that will offer users and suppliers some tangible solutions and innovative strategic approaches to selected questions about many aspects of healthcare IT. "How to Design an IT Master Plan", "How to Successfully Migrate an HIS", "How to Put Mobile IT to Appropriate Use in Hospitals" and "IT Systems and Medical Products" are the titles of the subject matter that will be investigated in detail at the conhIT Academy.
For further information, please visit:
http://www.conhit.com
conhIT - connecting healthcare IT
conhIT targets decision-makers in IT departments, management, in the medical profession, nursing, doctors, doctors' networks and medical care centres who need to find out about the latest developments in IT and healthcare, meet members of the industry and make use of opportunities for high-level advanced training. As an integrated event, over a period of three days conhIT combines an Industrial Fair, a Congress and Networking Events which are of particular interest to the industry. Launched in 2008 by the German Association of the Healthcare IT Industry (VHitG e.V.) and organized by Messe Berlin, this event recently recorded 200 exhibitors and 3,500 visitors and has now become Europe's leading event for the healthcare IT sector.