Italy is participating for the first time at the China International Medicinal Equipment Fair (CMEF) in Shanghai, the largest fair in the medical sector in Asia-Pacific. The event will showcase over 10,000 products, ranging from diagnostic imaging equipment to electro-optical devices for first aid medical treatment.
Italy is present with 15 exhibitors hosted at a pavilion organised by the Italian Trade Agency (ICE). The pavilion covers 300 square metres and includes an institutional desk run by ICE, and a lounge for seminars, press conferences and meetings. The fair will schedule events at which companies will present their products and several workshops, one of which will be dedicated to women’s health, organized by Italian institutions in China, along with a working group of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in China.
The last edition of the fair was attended by 2,800 exhibitors from 26 countries on an exhibition area of 1300 square metres, drawing over 92,000 visitors. China’s health care expenditure increased at a rate of 17 percent per year between 2008 and 2013, reaching an estimated 700 billion euros in 2015. The health care expenditure was pushed up by China’s ageing population and by a health care reform launched by the government, which also boosted domestic fixed capital investment by an annual 36 percent between 2008 and 2013, reaching 48 billion dollars in the final year. China is the fourth-largest market in the world in the MedTech sector, after the U.S., Japan and Germany. Continuously climbing up the ranking even if it still lags behind the top three countries, it is expected to exceed 49 billion dollars in 2015.