25 - 27 April 2017, Berlin, Germany.As conhIT, which took place from 25 to 27 April in Berlin, came to a close, 500 exhibitors, 9,500 participants from around the world, the German Association of Healthcare IT Vendors (bvitg) and Messe Berlin all gave a positive assessment of events.
Dr. Christian Göke, CEO of Messe Berlin, mentioned: "Even in its tenth year conhIT continues to expand. A ten per cent increase in exhibitors and a significant rise in participants are proof that conhIT, in its role as Europe's leading event for health IT, is the place where the industry comes together. The concept of a Trade Fair, Congress, Academy and Networking once again attracted a wide audience, from hospital IT heads, doctors and app developers to newcomers to this sector."
Federal Minister of Health Hermann Gröhe took the opportunity to meet with representatives of the Healthcare IT industry: "The distances one covers at conhIT get longer every year because exhibitor numbers continue to rise. It is nice to see that on the tenth anniversary of conhIT the market, which offers so many opportunities and where so many good ideas are exchanged, has developed so well."
Observing the developments of recent years, Matthias Meierhofer, chairman of the board of the German Association of Health IT Vendors (bvitg), saw a bright future for conhIT: "Nowadays, a healthcare system without IT would be inconceivable. This was echoed by Federal Minister of Health Hermann Gröhe, the patron of conhIT - Connecting Healthcare IT 2017, in his speech at the opening of the event. The digital transformation of the healthcare system not only addresses the current challenges, such as demographic change, it can also provide solutions to problems that will confront us in the future, such as multidrug-resistant organisms, or supply shortages in rural regions. Nor does it stop at international borders. As a result, conhIT is attracting participation well beyond German-speaking countries from all over Europe. The speed at which conhIT has grown over the last ten years is quite impressive. As its organizer bvitg is proud of that and is already looking forward to conhIT 2018."
Taking as its slogan '10 years of conhIT - combining health and innovative IT', the Congress focused on eHealth. The topics discussed included IT security and regulation as well as mobile health, robotics and the Internet of Things. At Trade Fair more than 500 exhibitors from 19 countries displayed their products and innovations in four halls. Switzerland, Austria and Estonia were represented with their own pavilions. Other European countries, as well as the USA, Saudi Arabia, Chile, Taiwan and Israel also exhibited at this year’s event. The International Networking Lounge, organized by conhIT in cooperation with Germany Trade and Invest, hosted a special program for international visitors. Among the topics were market opportunities at national and international level. The presentations by startups on special displays such as the mobile health ZONE attracted considerable interest from trade visitors.
Comments by participants in conhIT
Dr. Thomas Berger, managing director of Cerner Deutschland: "For Cerner conhIT 2017 was an all-round success. There were even more visitors on our stand than last year who came to find out about our solutions. With conhIT now in its tenth year, the reality of the digital transformation of the healthcare system has finally sunk in. We look forward to continuing the digital journey with everyone involved."Arndt Lorenz, head of Marketing and Sales, Telekom HealthCare Solutions: "conhIT has expanded noticeably. IT operations, mobility, networks and the cloud are exactly the topics that need to be addressed. Our portfolio provides answers to the challenges that customers must confront. Our group's products offer the right solutions, particularly in the field of cybersecurity, a topic of increasing importance to all hospital operators."
Julia Rühle, manager of Digital Health at Germany's federal economic development agency Germany Trade & Invest: "The eHealth law represents a healthy, structured move towards a clear and achievable vision of a fully functioning eHealth market. That makes this year's conhIT particularly relevant. Now that some of the recent challenges have been overcome it is time to tap this market and its vast potential."
Winfried Post, general manager and managing director, Agfa HealthCare DACH: "Looking back, conhIT was a great success. With an outstanding congress, a balanced program of Academy events, more than 500 exhibitors and thousands of visitors it has established itself as the meeting place for the Health IT industry in German-speaking countries. This year we noted there was great interest in safe drug treatment and the IT-assisted, closed-loop medication process, ranging from medical prescriptions to the distribution of hospital beds. This closed loop is something that ORBIS can guarantee, and which the EMRAM Level 6 certified medius KLINIK NÜRTINGEN has proved can work."
Dr Kai Uwe Bindseil, cluster manager, Gesundheitswirtschaft Berlin-Brandenburg, Berlin Partner: "Within Europe, Berlin/Brandenburg is a place of healthcare excellence and a hub of the digital economy. This is where innovative eHealth solutions are developed and tested for regional and international markets. At conhIT, the industry event for Healthcare IT, we bring the local healthcare industry into contact with international players. At the stand, at networking events, and on excursions to the industry and users, visitors can see how eHealth is put into practice in Berlin/Brandenburg."
Anne Wewer, ZTG Zentrum für Telematik und Telemedizin GmbH: "Since organizing a combined ZTG/NRW stand and enabling companies and projects from North Rhine-Westphalia to present their innovative solutions at conhIT, our co-exhibitor numbers have more than doubled. It clearly shows the growing importance of this industry in North Rhine-Westphalia and how significant conhIT has become as Germany's leading Health IT event. We are already looking forward to next year."
Mario Fischer, Dorner Health IT Solutions: "We have valuable meetings and gain lots of information at every conhIT. The combined Swiss stand, on which we were represented as well as our main stand, let us target Swiss customers directly. As the person responsible for the Swiss market I was able to achieve excellent results. Everyone welcomed the opportunity for a get-together in the Swiss Embassy, which proved to be a special occasion."
Lars Grieten, CEO FibriCheck (Belgium), winner of the AppCircus with an app, sold only on prescription, which enables users to detect atrial fibrillation and collect data for future treatment: "We applied to take part in conhIT because it is a fast-growing industry event and has huge potential. We had lots of feedback, and winning the AppCircus opens up the opportunity to make our product accessible to a much larger market."
Kristina Hoffmann, head of Marketing, Grundig Business Systems GmbH: "In my view the eHealth Slam is an innovative and outstanding format. I was very pleased to be there and actually win. As head of marketing at Grundig Business Systems for 12 years voice processing solutions have become part and parcel of my work. As someone who enjoys poetry in their spare time it was great fun to put the ‘power of the spoken word' into verse."
For further information, please visit:
http://www.conhit.com
About 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 Trade Fair, Congress and Networking Events that are of particular interest to this sector. Launched in 2008 by the German Association of Healthcare IT Vendors (bvitg) as the meeting place for the healthcare IT industry and organized by Messe Berlin, this event recorded more than 480 exhibitors and around 9,000 visitors in 2016 and has now become Europe’s leading event for the healthcare IT sector.
conhIT is organized in cooperation with the following industry associations: the German Association of Healthcare IT Vendors (bvitg), the German Association for Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology (GMDS) and the German Medical Informatics Professional Association (BVMI). The German Association of Hospital IT Managers (KH-IT) and the Chief Information Officers of University Hospitals (CIO-UK) provide contributions on the subject matter.