About MEDICA
Every November, Messe Düsseldorf hosts MEDICA, one of the largest international trade fairs for the medical sector. It covers the full range of medical technology and healthcare products, including imaging and diagnostics, laboratory equipment, health IT and digital health, hospital and surgical equipment, physiotherapy and orthopaedic technology, and medical consumables and disposables.
The audience is international and professional. Hospital managers, clinicians, procurement specialists, distributors and industry partners travel from many countries to see new products and meet suppliers, and the exhibitor base ranges from multinational medtech groups to small specialist firms.
MEDICA runs in parallel with COMPAMED, the fair for suppliers to medical device manufacturing, covering components, materials and production technology. The pairing brings engineering and supply chain visitors into the same week and makes the Düsseldorf event useful both for companies selling finished devices and for those selling into device makers.
A programme of forums and conferences runs throughout the fair on several stages, covering topics such as digital health, wearables, laboratory medicine and the future of hospital care. For medtech companies, MEDICA is a recognised launch date in the annual calendar and one of the most efficient ways to meet international distributors. Many exhibitors use it to review their distribution networks country by country, as partners from dozens of markets are present over the four days.
Next edition
MEDICA 2026: what to expect
MEDICA 2026 takes place at Messe Düsseldorf from 16 to 19 November, again alongside COMPAMED. The organiser describes this edition as a significant restructuring. New features include the MEDICA Main Stage for keynotes and high-profile discussions, a redesigned Hospital of the Future format presenting the whole patient journey, the first German Health Resilience Conference, and the WT Conference Europe with a pavilion for wearables and digital health.
According to Messe Düsseldorf, the 2025 edition hosted 4,821 exhibitors from 70 countries and welcomed 78,000 visitors from 160 countries.
The fair is trade-focused and international, so plan for multilingual staff and meeting space for distributor discussions. Messe Düsseldorf sets its own technical guidelines, and stands with equipment demonstrations should check power and any medical device display rules early.