Medilink Chief Executive, Tom Elliott, recently hosted the first NHS delegation to MEDICA - the International Trade Fair 2025, held in Düsseldorf. Over four days, senior leaders from more than 15 NHS Trusts joined forces with Medilink UK to showcase British innovation, forge global partnerships, and explore transformative solutions for the future of health.
The trade fair attracted over 5,300 exhibitors from 70 nations. From closed-door roundtables with international governments, including Governor Tim Walz and Minnesota’s Medical Alley, to meeting with Siemens about future hospital build projects in the UK, and being welcomed by German Federal Health Minister Nina Warken, this delegation demonstrated the NHS’s commitment to collaboration on a truly international scale. The conversations focused on shared challenges like ageing populations, digital transformation, and workforce resilience, and how we can tackle them together.
Key themes that resonated throughout MEDICA 2025:
Innovation with purpose – Moving beyond incremental tech upgrades to redesign entire care pathways for better patient outcomes.
Global partnerships – Building sustainable relationships that deliver impact across borders.
Digital health as a catalyst – Harnessing AI, telemedicine, and integrated platforms to create smarter, more equitable healthcare systems.
James Sumner, Chief Executive of NHS University Hospitals of Liverpool Group, said: “Digital innovation will play an important role in how we adapt to the changing demographics of the populations we serve. It was fascinating to see examples of work that are taking place internationally at MEDICA and attending as part of the NHS delegation was a great opportunity to discuss with peers from the UK how we can work collectively to innovate at pace.”
Professor Iain Hennessey, Director of Innovation, Consultant Emergency Paediatric Surgeon, Alder Hey NHS Foundation Trust commented: “Back from MEDICA with the UK NHS delegation hosted by Medilink, and one thing was impossible to miss: Europe knows it’s being left behind, and we need to move faster.
"You could feel the global acceleration. The US is scaling like mad, Asia is innovating at ridiculous speed, and the Middle East is building digital health systems from scratch while we debate governance frameworks. But Europe absolutely can compete. We have world-class clinicians, serious research depth, and health systems built on actual care rather than customer churn. What we lack is speed.
“If we want to lead again, we need intent, hunger, and the willingness to get uncomfortable. The unified NHS presence at MEDICA showed we can act collectively and that we have something unique to offer when we choose to move. The world isn’t slowing down. Europe needs to accelerate.”
Vee Mapunde, Director, NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Accelerated Surgical Care said: “Attending MEDICA for the first time as part of a structured NHS delegation program allowed us to focus on organisations and health tech relevant to our work, leading to more productive conversations. Given the event's size, it would have been easy to feel overwhelmed. However, we successfully identified several technologies from the Wearables and Start-Up Pavilions to evaluate in our HealthTech Research Centre."
