Messe Düsseldorf reaches first milestones in reshaping its Asian business

MEDICARE ASIA unites nine healthcare trade shows under one roof

Since April 2024, Singapore serves as the headquarters of the “Messe Düsseldorf for Asia” network (MDfA), which is gradually integrating Messe Düsseldorf’s Asian busi­ness. In the same year in September, Marius Berlemann, new Chief Operating Officer, announced the unification of the company’s nine Asian healthcare trade fairs under the umbrella of MEDICARE ASIA headquar­tered in Singapore.

With MEDICARE ASIA, Messe Düs­seldorf is creating an Asia-wide platform for the continent’s growing medical tech­nology and rehabilitation market, com­prising nine trade shows in China, India, Singapore and Thailand. The portfolio includes MEDICAL FAIR ASIA (Singa­pore), MEDICAL MANUFACTURING ASIA (Singapore), MEDICAL FAIR THAILAND (Bangkok), MEDICAL FAIR CHINA (Suzhou), REHACARE CHINA (Suzhou), MEDICAL FAIR IN­DIA (Mumbai, New Delhi) and FAM­DENT Show (Mumbai, Hyderabad).

Driving the Change
Marius Berlemann, Chief Operating Of­ficer of Messe Düsseldorf Group, empha­sizes the necessity of a strong position in Asia: “MEDICARE ASIA reinforces our global and strategic leadership in health­care trade fairs. Building on the success of internationally renowned exhibitions like MEDICA, COMPAMED, and RE­HACARE in Düsseldorf, Germany, we are now leveraging our expertise in Asia to establish a strong trade show network in the region. With this step, we address the needs of the market and our custom­ers, and secure Messe Düsseldorf’s inter­national pole position for the benefit of both our partners and our shareholders.”

Messe Düsseldorf has actively shaped the development of the Asian trade fair landscape for decades. Of its current 81 trade fairs outside Düsseldorf, 53 take place in Asia – and this number is grow­ing. Additionally, Messe Düsseldorf oper­ates five Asian subsidiaries in four of the world’s largest economies: China, India, Japan and ASEAN/Southeast Asia. All these markets are characterized by high double-digit growth: According to the International Monetary Fund, India will grow by 81% between 2023 and 2030, In­donesia by 66%, China and Thailand by 46% each, Singapore by 36%, and Japan by 29%.

Focus on Healthcare
In particular, the healthcare market holds significant potential: Asia represents nearly half of the world’s population, with increasing wealth and demands for healthcare services. In India, health­care expenditures are expected to rise by 182.3% between 2022 and 2030, in Indonesia by 71%, in China by 52.4%, and in Japan by 35%. For this reason, “Messe Düsseldorf for Asia” has focused on healthcare exhibitions from the be­ginning. A team of highly specialized exhibition experts, guided by Shirley Lim, Portfolio Director of MEDICARE ASIA, centrally coordinates sales and visitor marketing from Singapore – for both the MEDICARE ASIA portfolio and the MEDICA, COMPAMED, and REHA­CARE exhibitions in Düsseldorf.

Shirley Lim explains the benefits of this network: “The demand for healthcare is in­creasing across Asia, and at the same time, the topics of care and inclusion are gaining relevance. We provide the marketplaces to meet this demand and advance these im­portant issues. With MEDICARE ASIA, we will continuously enhance and expand this portfolio. Customers will benefit from harmonized offerings in Asia that are tai­lored to regional needs, central points of contact and even stronger business plat­forms – both in Asia and Düsseldorf.”