10th MDT show proves a hit with visitors

Despite growing concerns over a general decline in UK manufacturing exhibition attendance figures, last month's Medical Device Technology (MDT) show attracted 5% more visitors – mostly design engineers – than the previous year. And of the 132 exhibitor companies at the show, according to the show organisers, more than half have already booked a stand for next year. The show, now in its 10th year, covered all areas of medical design and manufacture, including materials, pumps, valves, packaging, CAD and CAE, mould making, adhesives, filtration, thermoforming, testing, quality control, medical design consultants, parts assembly and in-vitro diagnostics products. The UK medical equipment and supplies market, now worth a staggering 3.19 billion euros a year, is proving a very attractive sector to many manufacturing, design and services companies. And there's no doubt that co-staging MDT alongside eight other closely related shows, including MTEC (sensors, measurement and instrumentation), Machine Vision and Machine Building, helped to maximise the visitor experience. Dr Anita Clark, regulation & systems manager at the JRI, and visitor to MDT, commented: "The conference was very well organised and featured influential and expert presenters. Attendance was high reflecting the fact that all the current topics of interest were addressed." Conference manager Sian Winston, agreed: "This year's show has provided informed, objective and relevant comment from leading authorities. The presentations from the FDA [Food and Drug Administration] and NICE [National Institute for Clinical Excellence] proved particularly popular, but increasing the topic areas to five this year meant that we had a packed schedule covering a very wide range of issues." Next year's MDT show will be staged at the NEC, Birmingham from 11-12 February.