MEDICA and COMPAMED 2026 reinforce their status as high-calibre community platforms with a new ticketing structure

With the launch of the online ticket shop for MEDICA and COMPAMED 2026 in Düsseldorf (16 to 19 November), the next phase of the transformation process has begun for both events. The leading international community platforms for the entire medical technology and healthcare industry ecosystem are not only expanding their programme to include exclusive, target-group-specific content, but are also introducing a new ticketing structure.

“This underlines the clear quality standards of MEDICA and COMPAMED and their repositioning. Relevance counts, not size. The focus is on dialogue, knowledge transfer and networking at the highest international decision-making level,” explains Carmen Berger, the Messe Düsseldorf representative responsible for MEDICA and COMPAMED. She and her team are currently working intensively to attract a particularly high-profile visitor: “Nina Warken had already agreed to be patron of MEDICA 2026 and had planned to visit the fair again. We wish her every success in her new role in Berlin and would be delighted to welcome her successor, Federal Minister of Health Carsten Linnemann, to Düsseldorf in November.”

The Premium Ticket will be introduced in 2026. It grants access to selected MEDICA conferences, exclusive masterclasses and the Premium Lounge, whilst also serving as a multi-day pass for the entire event.

The Premium Ticket includes, amongst other things, the MEDICA MEDICINE + SPORTS CONFERENCE (Hall 4), the new Wearable Technologies Conference (Hall 12) and access to the German Hospital Day (Hall 12). The leading event for senior management at hospitals in German-speaking countries will remain organisationally independent with its own participant registration process, but will be automatically accessible to Premium Ticket holders.

The Standard Ticket entitles holders to visit MEDICA and COMPAMED, thereby also providing access to special features such as the ‘Hospital of the Future’ (Hall 12), the MEDICA SPORTS HUB (Hall 4), the Wearable Technologies Pavilion (Hall 12), the MEDICA START-UP PARK (Hall 17) as well as all freely accessible stage and forum events, including, amongst others:

• MEDICA MAIN STAGE (Hall 12)
• MEDICA LABMED FORUM (Hall 1)
• MEDICA INFECTION CONTROL FORUM (Hall 4)
• MEDICA TECH FORUM (Hall 10)
• MEDICA ECON FORUM by TK (Hall 10)
• MEDICA EMERGENCY & CRITICAL CARE FORUM (Hall 11)
• MEDICA INNOVATION FORUM (Hall 11)
• MEDICA MARKET ENTRY STAGE (Hall 15)
• MEDICA DIGITAL HEALTH STAGE (Hall 17)
• MEDICA START-UP STAGE (Hall 17)

The Standard Ticket is available as a day ticket or a multi-day ticket. Tickets for the conferences integrated into MEDICA can also be purchased individually; each of these includes all the options of the Standard Ticket.

MEDICA 2026 sets new standards with programme highlights

The new ticketing structure forms part of MEDICA’s strategic development, which also encompasses the exhibition areas. At the heart of this is a restructuring of content, moving away from pure product presentation towards a holistic view of integrated healthcare systems. “In consultation with many exhibitors, we have allocated their stand locations within a curated overall context, consistently focusing on real-world clinical application scenarios. We are demonstrating how innovations interact in day-to-day healthcare and create genuine added value,” says Carmen Berger, emphasising the conceptual approach.

In line with this, the live programme – comprising both new and established formats – will provide thought-provoking content of high strategic relevance. Thanks to the new Main Stage (in Hall 12), MEDICA will, for the first time, have a central focal point for content – effectively a ‘best-of’ stage. This is where the major future issues facing the healthcare sector will be brought together and discussed by leading representatives from medicine, science, industry and politics. Among the first confirmed highlights are a panel on resilient healthcare systems featuring Prof. Dr Leif Erik Sander (Charité), Dr Shachar Shapira (Sheba Medical Centre) and Dr Thomas Frandsen (Rigshospitalet – Copenhagen University Hospital), a presentation by Prof. David Matusiewicz (FOM University of Applied Sciences) on the use of artificial intelligence in healthcare, and a discussion with Prof. Uwe Nixdorff (European Prevention Centre) and Prof. Mathias Goyen (GE Healthcare) on the future of precision medicine.

The ‘Hospital of the Future’ showcase (in Hall 12) is being completely redesigned and, at MEDICA 2026, will map the entire clinical patient journey across several stations within a forward-looking, integrated system.

The field of wearable technologies is developing very dynamically, a trend that the Wearables Technologies Conference Europe (also in Hall 12) will highlight as a new programme element. The focus is no longer merely on fitness tracking, but increasingly on clinically relevant health data and new forms of care. Dr Karl Sydow, Team Leader for Digital Health/Statutory Health Insurance Care at Pharma Deutschland, sees considerable potential in this: “We expect the conference, held as part of MEDICA, to create a dynamic platform for fostering strategic partnerships between pharmaceutical companies and digital health innovators. Ultimately, we hope to identify new avenues of collaboration to accelerate the integration of state-of-the-art consumer technologies into everyday care.”

Another new programme highlight, the 1st German Health Resilience Conference (in Hall 11), also focuses on a topic of high strategic relevance: the resilience of healthcare systems. This German-language conference addresses strategic and operational issues relating to the resilience of the healthcare system across society as a whole and, for the first time, brings together key players from healthcare provision, politics, industry, and disaster and civil protection for a structured, cross-sectoral exchange.

COMPAMED 2026 strengthens the technological foundation for innovation

Running parallel to MEDICA 2026, COMPAMED 2026 (Halls 8a and 8b) will focus entirely on the technological foundations of innovation in medical technology. The trade fair and stage programme will centre on manufacturing technologies, components, materials, regulation, quality assurance, as well as digitalisation and cyber security.

“Today, major innovations in healthcare emerge from networks. COMPAMED provides the framework for this: it combines development and manufacturing expertise with market access, regulation and industrial scaling. The synergies with MEDICA, which addresses the finished innovation within an integrated care scenario, are unique worldwide,” says Carmen Berger, emphasising the strategic strength derived from the combination of both events.

Networking takes centre stage even more

In line with their commitment to quality, MEDICA and COMPAMED are significantly expanding their networking opportunities. Plans include, amongst others:

• Women in Health by MEDICA
• Hospital Leadership Summit
• Hospital Procurement Summit
• Curated roundtables for political and local decision-makers
• Masterclass meetings and guided tours with limited participant numbers
• Investment & Growth Lounge

The online ticket shop for MEDICA 2026 and COMPAMED 2026 is now open.

Full details on topics, exhibitors, programme formats and tickets can be found at: https://www.medica-tradefair.com and https://www.compamed-tradefair.com.