June 25, 2024 by Janetsy Lugo Advertisement
The Florida International Medical Expo opened at the Miami Beach Convention Center last week, attracting exhibitors and visitors from around the world to view the innovative technologies and products on display.
“This year we have 1,300 exhibitors and 15,000 visitors,” Jill Alejo, exhibits director for Informa Markets, said at the show.
Additionally, it included pavilions from 15 countries: China, Taiwan, Poland, Germany, Argentina, Brazil and India.
Alejo said Colombia was organizing a country pavilion for the first time. “We have between eight and 10 companies from Colombia, most of them specialized in infrastructure and hospital equipment, some of them disposable. Colombia is looking for dealers and distributors in different parts of Latin America, mainly in the United States.”
Bisonte, which translates to “bison,” started in Colombia and now serves all of Latin America, said Andrea Baron, account director at Bisonte.
The company’s name comes from the bison’s unique tenacity.
“Bison don’t run from the storm,” Baron says. “We are a very strong company, a very wild company. We started as an advertising agency in Bogotá, Colombia, eight years ago. We develop digital and audiovisual content for the pharmaceutical industry. All our content is educational: e-learning courses, e-learning platforms, videos, audiovisual content like 3D videos, VR experiences, AR experiences.”
Baron says that it’s manufacturers who have shown the most interest in the company’s products at FIME: “We’ve run into companies that sell devices, and when they sell their products, they’re very interested in sending people videos and links on how to use them. That’s the main example of people who have shown interest in our product.”
Most of his clients make medical devices that are complicated to use, Baron said, and they want to ensure their products are used correctly.
The products are not sold directly to hospitals, Varon said, but to manufacturers who develop products for use in hospitals. “These are very sensitive products, so [incorrectly] It could affect someone’s health or life. You must ensure that the product is used correctly.
“That’s where we come in. We have a variety of tools in our educational marketing solutions to help them use the product correctly. We can teach them interactively through videos how to use the product. And because we’re in the healthcare industry, everything has to be educational. Our clients are doctors, and they need to understand the product well.”
Bisonte serves Latin America and is expanding into North America while developing content in Spanish, English and Portuguese.
“Right now we’re covering Canada,” Baron says, “and we’re also entering the U.S. market.”
Technology is also advancing in the healthcare field.
According to co-founder and CTO Rodrigo Herrera, Ainnova is a company focused on developing solutions for early disease detection in an easy-to-understand way using artificial intelligence.
“We have a software-as-a-service solution that can detect diseases such as diabetic retinopathy and risk of cardiovascular disease,” Herrera says. “Right now, we’re also doing research into Alzheimer’s disease, using just an image of the retina of the eye. And then you just upload that into the system, and it gives you the results in just two seconds. This will essentially be a screening solution that we offer to new clients, student doctors, physicians and, of course, experts in the field.”
The company is based in Texas, “and also has a headquarters in Costa Rica. We offer solutions in Mexico and are present in South America. At this time, we maintain ties to Asia,” Herrera said.
Herrera said the aim of the program is to make it accessible to everyone and help people who don’t know they have the disease.
“At the moment, we are in the digital age,” he said. “Having this kind of solution and making it accessible to everyone is completely affordable and interesting for everyone. We are also in contact with insurance companies, who can analyze their customers and also offer them some insurance plans based on the solutions we are offering.”
The event featured a variety of products ranging from equipment to clothing.
Alejo said anything that can be imaged in hospitals, clinics, laboratories, imaging centers, etc. can be found on FIME. The aim is to connect these medical device companies with dealers, distributors and hospitals.
Many booths displayed medical equipment.
Avante Health Solutions is a Kentucky-based medical equipment provider with operations in more than 150 countries.
“We offer a combination of new Avante-branded private label equipment and professionally refurbished equipment for operating rooms, ICUs and other areas of the hospital,” said Kari VanArsdale, regional director for Avante Health Solutions.
The company’s target regions are the Americas, Latin America, North America, the Caribbean, Southeast Asia and Africa. The company’s business primarily targets hospitals, surgery centers, clinics and private practice physicians.
The new product that is attracting attention is the ventilator.
“Many clinics around the world lack compressed air,” Van Arsdale says. “In other words, we are very lucky in the United States. Most hospitals have air oxygen and nitrous oxide through the walls, and we just plug in the equipment, pump the gas to the patient, and start the patient’s surgery. Other parts of the world don’t have the advanced medical gas systems we have and have to rely on oxygen tanks and air compressors, for example. Air compressors are big, heavy, bulky, and expensive, which adds to the cost of the equipment.”
The ventilator on display is a turbine-powered ventilator, Van Arsdale said, so it doesn’t need an air compressor, which would be bulky for facilities with a compressed air shortage. The ventilator is powered by the internal mechanism of the ventilator.
An incubator was also on display.
The FDA-approved incubators offer a cost-effective alternative to big brands such as GE and Philips, as well as more expensive models that people can’t afford to buy, Van Arsdale said.
“Infant care is a critical part of the health care process because infant mortality rates are still very high in many countries, particularly in Africa,” Van Arsdale says. “Here in the Americas, we’ve been more fortunate. We’ve been successful in lowering infant mortality rates, but in other parts of Africa, parts of the Caribbean, and Asia, infant mortality rates remain high. Incubators are essentially life-saving devices for premature babies.”
Convention-goers were looking to discover the latest technologies and opportunities in the healthcare industry, including Paola Duval, who was visiting FIME for the second time.
“People are always looking for new things,” Duval said. “Technology is improving every day, and the old is giving way to the new. Most of what I’m looking for can be found here.”
Maria Amparo Yuste, who has been attending FIME for over 10 years, is also keen to hear about the latest advances in the field.
“I come almost every year to check out the new products,” Amparo Yuste says, “what the new trends are and to talk to customers.”
Alejo said this year’s FIME was one of the best: “We know that after the COVID crisis, people want to return to in-person B2B events. We know that everyone tried to interact virtually during the pandemic, but it didn’t work very well. At the end of the day, human interaction never changes, and for exhibitors, it’s the only way to meet current exhibitors in person and find new customers.”
