The LISAvienna and AUSTROMED host organizing team warmly welcomes you to The MedTech Forum in Vienna!
Join us for the Welcome Cocktail Reception at the Vienna City Hall, featuring informal networking, delightful Viennese cuisine, and the enchanting ambiance of the festival hall. We look forward to seeing you in Vienna, where a blend of rich cultural heritage and excellent business prospects awaits you!

Directions: Vienna City Hall, Lichtenfelsgasse 2, Feststiege 1, 1010 Vienna, Austria
 

This practical panel session will address the immediate challenges faced by stakeholders during the transition to the MDR and will focus on short-term, actionable solutions designed to alleviate the hurdles hindering SMEs and bigger companies from navigating this regulatory shift smoothly.

Against the backdrop of COVID-19, geopolitical strains and the recent ENISA threat landscapes (both for healthcare in May 2023, and for the general state of cybersecurity in November 2023), healthcare is increasingly becoming a priority target for State and non-state actors, as well as a lucrative target for would-be cyber-criminals. The panel would bring together stakeholders from across the sector, as well as a cybersecurity agency expert, to discuss the cyber-readiness of the European healthcare sector.

Despite a challenging environment for M&A and fundraising amidst an evolving EU regulatory landscape, this panel features strategics, investors and start-up CEOs who are doing deals in spite of these obstacles, and are here to share their strategies in achieving these goals.

Is Europe leading in women’s health innovation? As a new EU policy cycle approaches, policymakers should reflect on initiatives to prioritize women's health on the agenda. This entails fostering interaction with innovators, and Hologic is eager to address this critical issue for millions of EU women.

This interactive session will address strategies for preparing for and handling FDA inspections, response strategies, and compliance requirements. Topics will include common deficiencies identified in FDA inspections and developing an effective remediation plan.

This session will be an opportunity to discuss various ways countries are going about localisation policies, to what extent localisation of manufacturing actually improves access to medical supplies and what makes companies tick when it comes to investment decisions, whether or not to localise their production/presence in different markets.

Health system transformation requires a multi-stakeholder approach, yet it remains unclear how e.g. providers, patients, payers and industry may support the transition. Panellists from the European Alliance for Value in Health will discuss what each stakeholder may contribute, and what is expected from the others.

The panel explores EU's response to rising cardiovascular disease, affecting 60M Europeans daily. Amid aging population and non-communicable diseases, how can the EU ensure equitable access to prevention, early detection, and treatment? How can MedTech foster sustainable change for CVD patients?
 

In a competitive, regulated medtech landscape, how can organizations innovate swiftly while ensuring patient safety? This session explores strategies with industry leaders, addressing barriers to innovation, leveraging tech for product availability monitoring, and streamlining operations for faster regulatory approvals.
 

This interactive session will address key challenges manufacturers may face in the EU when promoting their device at conferences, on their website or on social media and when interacting with healthcare professionals during clinical, scientific, and marketing activities.

For selected highly innovative technologies a Member States driven EU regulation is being implemented in 2024. The application of JSC start in 2025. JCA reports will be ready in 2026. To know how this impact your business and have the lastest intelligence, a panel of the key actors will tell you.

Join this session to explore Austria’s medtech sector and the reasons why Vienna plays a key role in the regional innovation ecosystem. Discover key companies, thriving SMEs, emerging start-ups, key players in academia, and funding opportunities and support structures driving innovation.

Explore the draw of European medtech investments, and weigh its vast market and innovation prowess and stability, versus challenges like regulatory environment and bureaucracy. Discuss recommendations and gain insight into Europe's innovation edge, and prospects for a competitive future.

Medical device manufacturers must meet growing demands for integrated and sustainable healthcare applications. Explore the IEEE 11073 SDC standard for service-oriented, cross-vendor device communication and how its adoption can promote scalability in medical device development and maintenance.

Achieving regulatory compliance and business agility is a key challenge. A ‘digital thread’ along the product lifecycle can help automate compliance and manage risk end-to-end. Deloitte and PTC experts will discuss benefits of digital thread throughout design, manufacturing, service, and improvement.
 

Climate change increasingly impacts citizen’s health. How can the medtech sector contribute to decarbonizing healthcare and what is needed for building resilient, sustainable healthcare systems? Speakers will share their views on how to prevent the climate crisis turning into a next health crisis.

How to overcome the barriers to procurement of innovations and to transform procurement culture into one that encourages added value for citizens and market innovation. Promoting innovation procurement through knowledge sharing, matchmaking, and influencing EU policy on innovation procurement.

The expert panel will discuss the current state of the IVDR transition:  recent progress, challenges and impact on stakeholders. What do the latest learnings and time extensions mean for stakeholders now  - and in the future?

Anticipate shifts in European regulatory landscape, aligning with U.S. litigation trends. Navigate proposed liability changes, safety regulations, environmental litigation, and pan-European class actions. Join the panel to strategize and discuss proactive measures for companies to prepare.

On the backdrop of the ever-increasing focus on Cybersecurity in MedTech from a regulatory and risk perspective, join us in this interactive session to explore a different angle – Cybersecurity through the lens of your customers and how to leverage Cybersecurity to gain a competitive edge in the market.

GenAI is transforming MedTech, unlocking significant value through scale and productivity. How can you apply GenAI for growth, process simplification and efficiency gains? Join us to explore successful GenAI use cases and discuss the next steps for fast-tracking GenAI benefits for your organization.
 

Amidst critical healthcare workforce shortages, hospitals face capacity challenges, necessitating innovation in processes, technology, and mindset. With the Belgian Presidency prioritizing an EU health workforce strategy, the MedTech Industry must foster consensus on innovation's role in addressing shortages. This session explores reconciling urgent care needs with workforce gaps, defining the industry's role, and initiating mindset shifts for sustainable change.

There is an increasing need for medical device data: in patient medical records demanded by hospitals, in supply chain demanded by customers and in tenders and reimbursement demanded by regulators. How and when EUDAMED and UDI will play a role in supplying reliable information about devices?

Several MedTech Europe corporate members are partners in IHI consortia running medical research and innovation projects. They all share something: the transformation of an idea into a project that will soon advance the medical research and impact the healthcare system. Get inspired to be the next one !

Get the chance to ask your specific questions regarding a successful implementation of the IVDR and contact other IVD manufacturers. Learn from the experience from different projects and get the answers you need.

This discussion explores the crucial transition to digital transformation in healthcare and the necessary adaptations in incentives and perspectives to enhance patient care. Leveraging insights from industry leaders, we analyse existing obstacles and past failures and present practical solutions. Additionally, we examine how recent legislation can revolutionise healthcare through comprehensive digitalisation, fostering innovation, streamlining processes, and enhancing patient satisfaction.
 

A value-based agreement is a reimbursement model that links payment for an intervention (medical device or service) to the achievement of predefined outcomes. The session will discuss the barriers to application and how to overcome together with a framework supporting companies considering VBAs.

The adoption of medical technologies has been lacking behind, despite significantly affecting patient outcomes and benefiting healthcare systems across the care continuum. Recognizing their value can enable equal patient access, sustainable funding and advance Europe's cancer care commitment.

Labels have become overcrowded in recent years with information unrelated to identification, handling and safety of the medical device.This session will explore how an e-label concept could help manage this challenge and whether there is a potential for future regulatory acceptance.

By participating in IHI projects, MedTech Europe corporate members can access EC funding for cross-sectorial research and innovation that associate SMEs, global companies and public partners in pharma, medtech and biotech. The session will explain how to proceed and what are the benefits.

This session will discuss the transformative journey and prerequisites required to support the pivotal shift from generative AI being applied to enhance internal processes and functions to external usage, enabling patient-centric solutions.

In the rapidly evolving landscape of healthcare technology, the responsible and secure use of health data is paramount. The European Union (EU) has been at the forefront of shaping regulations to facilitate the exchange and utilization of health data while safeguarding individual rights and privacy. This panel session aims to delve into the complexities of EU regulations, including the AI Act, the Data Act, and the European Health Data Space (EHDS), and explore key considerations for medical technology companies in complying with these regulations and the potential of the EHDS to create a unified European market for digital health data.
 

Explore start-ups' views on collaborating with large firms and major customers in social insurance. Gain insights from successful SMEs sharing experiences in R&D partnerships, product development, and sales collaborations. In addition, learn more about sought-after future partners.

China is a vast and dynamic country with a rapidly growing economy, diverse cultures, and a significant global impact, especially when it comes to manufacturing, and healthcare. In this session, we will zoom in on the dynamics, trends, and unique opportunities shaping the landscape of medical technology in China and their impact beyond.
 

Meeting complex regulatory requirements for Medical and In Vitro Diagnostics Device Manufacturers, especially with Eudamed, is crucial. Incomplete submissions and disorganized technical documentation cause common delays in market approval. This presentation delves into a data-driven, componentized content management approach, ensuring consistency, and expediting documentation for device registration.
 

From fostering agile governance structures to streamlining operations, reducing bottlenecks, simplifying approval processes and establishing clearer guidelines, our panelists will brainstorm on actionable recommendations aimed at shaping more efficient and future ready MDR and IVDR regulatory frameworks.

Healthcare delivery in Europe faces unprecedented challenges, as observed with the continuing struggles with backlogs, and long-term healthcare staff fatigue. This has led to hospital facing rising recruitment and retention challenges and increasing HCP demonstrations, demanding better working conditions. This session will explore these challenges and the solutions industry can support.
 

Strong regulatory capacity is essential for a well-functioning healthcare system and implementation of reliance practices has been a topic of growing interest internationally. In this panel discussion, we are going to explore examples of reliance and discuss what it takes to facilitate reliance in practice.

Today, medical devices are accelerating their growth into a digital ecosystem that facilitates continuous data exchange between patients and healthcare providers. A group of experts will explore how the industry is managing the complexity of this ecosystem and discuss patient readiness for technology adoption, as well as cybersecurity implications.

As Europe‘s net zero transformation is fully on, each sector has to contribute. What challenges and opportunities does the medical technology sector face in the transition? Is Circularity fact or fiction? How to succeed in the transition to more sustainable materials and chemicals? What should a Green Deal 2.0 look like?

In this session, our panel will dissect the MDR and IVDR challenges that have inadvertently triggered an outflow of innovation from Europe's vibrant ecosystem and discuss potential solutions and reforms aimed at steering medical technology innovation back to the heart of Europe.

In this session we plan to explore different approaches to collecting clinical evidence for medical devices worldwide. Specific focus will be given to the opportunities and challenges of Real World Evidence (RWE), particularly how it could be leveraged for the MDR.

Traditional reimbursement schemes struggle to incorporate innovation. Alternatively, innovative payment schemes (IPS) can provide timely patient access to innovative medical technologies and procedures. This panel will discuss the latest updates on the 17 main European IPS and share stakeholders’ perspective on their current implementation.

Post Market Surveillance, such as complaint handling, adverse event reporting and regulatory reports have gotten burdensome, complex and a lot more visible with MDR and IVDR. Some of these functions are also extensions of customer service. Join us to see real world examples of how MedTech companies have applied modern AI and automation to transform post market surveillance.
 

During the COVID-19 pandemic many heroic efforts were made by health systems, including MedTech companies at the heart of the crisis. So how is the MedTech sector preparing for the next pandemic? Global commitments are being discussed but in practice will we be ready when the next pandemic comes?

70% of global emissions are tied to material handling and use while extraction and consumption are growing at almost unprecedented rates. This session will discuss the opportunities of circular business models to improve people’s health and well-being, the barriers to and enablers of more circular, resilient health systems and concrete policy needs.
 

Join Jochen Tham, CMO at ZEISS Meditech, and experts from BCG for an immersive workshop on GenAI in marketing. Learn to craft campaigns with GenAI, enhancing creativity and efficiency, and gain insights from a leading marketing executive on how to scale AI and evolve the marketing operating model.

Recent trends in IHI, HTA and R&D have made patient engagement both an obligation and a commercially astute initiative for MedTech.
This session will bring together industry and patient group leaders to look at Patient Engagement in healthcare.
 

Medical device sector is a very dynamic sphere, where it is of paramount importance to have reliable information to make strategic decisions. Please join this session to learn more about the Market Data team, uniqueness of our surveys and what we can offer to meet your information needs.

Explore opportunities and challenges for the use of Real-World Data (RWD) for the development of medical technologies. How does the European Health Data Space act as an enabler? What are the challenges that innovators face?

This session examines the state of the diagnostic market in Europe, considers its strongest trends, the outlook for key technologies and where the sector will evolve in the future.

Innovation likely to be subject to joint clinical assessment, has an opportunity to undergo a parallel expert panel – joint HTA Joint Scientific Consultation (JSC). A panel of Expert Panels MDR/IVDR, Notified Bodies, Member States JSC representative and the European Commission

Securing reimbursement and funding for digital health solutions has been a barrier to their adoption. Can we harmonise their evaluation across Europe? This session convenes experts in digital health for discussions on the potential and limitations of coordinating efforts at the European level.

Discover Partners in Research, MedTech Europe’s dynamic new membership category that supports SMEs and startups to tap-in to the many exciting opportunities available in the R&I space. Partners in Research can connect with MedTech Europe global medtech companies at the Research & Innovation Committee, join other R&I activities, share their experiences, and access future cooperation opportunities; at the same time, they can get support to navigate the EU funding programmes, and have the possibility to join IHI projects from the industry side.