The 12th Global Healthcare and Medical Tourism Conference (Medical Korea 2022) will open on Thursday, organized by the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI) and hosted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
Medical Korea 2022 comprises academic conferences, briefing sessions, seminars, public relations events, and business conferences online and offline while complying with the government's quarantine measure.
The two-day event’s theme is "Global Healthcare, a New Leap Forward," a venue four outlook on the transformation and future of global healthcare in a new normal era after the Covid-19 outbreak, according to organizers at KHIDI.
"Over the past years, Medical Korea has played a pivotal role in sharing the latest global healthcare trends and heightening the status of Korean medicine in the global market," they said. "The event has also contributed to generating a substantial national wealth by promoting intergovernmental cooperation leading to contracts for overseas expansion."
KHIDI explained that Medical Korea 2022 will offer various conferences, seminars, business meetings, digital Healthcare Promotion Hall, and government-to-government (G2G) sessions. Furthermore, it will cover a wide range of topics, including smart elderly care, digital healthcare, cooperation for co-prosperity in global healthcare, and the possibility and future of convergence and overseas expansion model of the health industry.
Conferences held during the event will feature six topics, including "Global Healthcare, a New Leap Forward," and 35 speakers to analyze the key changing trends in the global healthcare industry to seek ways for mutual development based on cooperation.
The KHIDI stressed that the six topics – Global Healthcare, a New Leap Forward, Smart Elderly Care Services: Present and Future, the ninth Digital Healthcare Future Strategy Forum, Cooperation for Co-prosperity between Medical Korea and the Global Healthcare Industry, Possibilities and the Future of Convergence and Overseas Expansion Model of Health Industry, and Global Healthcare Policy and Management Forum – would be divided into 30 sub-categories.
During the session of Global Healthcare, a New Leap Forward, Professor Mauro F. Guillen, the dean of Cambridge Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge and author of "2030: How Today's Biggest Trends Will Collide and Reshape the Future of Everything," will deliver his keynote speech on demographic changes and healthcare industry transformation based on technology advancement.
Inspiring lectures will follow the keynote speech by Professor Daniel Kraft, faculty chair for medicine at Singularity University, Keith Pollard, editor in chief of International Medical Travel Journal (IMTJ), and Niels van Namen, executive vice president of the global healthcare sector at CEVA Logistics, KHIDI said.
The institute added that all lectures of the session would be pre-recorded and streamed online.
Medical Korea 2022 will also hold 10 seminar programs as side events, including ones offering opportunities and relevant information for Korean medical institutes and businesses with a desire for overseas expansion to survive and prosper in the global healthcare market.
About 50 healthcare experts will preside over these seminars to provide information on the transformation and trend in the global healthcare market, overseas expansion strategy of global healthcare, metaverse, professional workforce training, and the trends in registration of advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) in China.
For instance, a seminar titled "A New Metaverse-based Strategy of Global Healthcare" will include an in-depth discussion on the impact of the metaverse, a newly emerging trend, on the healthcare industry, the institute said.
Business meetings will also be held on the sidelines to provide networking opportunities for Korean healthcare businesses and foreign buyers to discuss international patient attraction and overseas expansion of medical services.
"Korean businesspeople will present themselves at Hall E, COEX, and foreign buyers will take part in through a virtual platform," KHIDI said. "Medical Korea 2022 will also operate a Digital Healthcare Promotion Hall to showcase the state-of-the-art technologies of the digital healthcare industry in Korea.”
The exhibition will offer the latest technologies in the digital healthcare industry and virtual and augmented reality booths until Sunday, the institute added.
The KOREA-CENTRAL ASIA Roundtable Meeting on healthcare cooperation and the MOU signing ceremony between KHIDI and Australia's State of Victoria will occur during the G2G session.
The MOHW and KHIDI, together with the Korea Foundation, will invite the ambassadors from Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan to discuss healthcare cooperation agendas between Korea and Central Asian nations in the post-Covid-19 era.
The MOU between the KHIDI and the State of Victoria of Australia covers the cooperation in R&D, clinical trials, manufacturing, and investment for RNA technology, including mRNA vaccine, as part of global collaboration for enhancing the global pandemic response capabilities.
Last October, the KHIDI and the State of Victoria held the "KOR-AUS mRNA Vaccine Partnership Roundtable" and have supported dialogue between the two nations.
During the opening ceremony of Medical Korea 2022, the MOHW and KHIDI will hold an award ceremony in the overseas expansion of healthcare and international patient attraction.
"This event will become a venue for global leaders to share academic insights on the directions for the global healthcare industry's development in the post-Covid-19 era," Minister of Health and Welfare Kwon Deok-cheol said.
KHIDI President Kwon Soon-man also said, "In the wake of a global crisis due to the Covid-19 pandemic, timely analysis of and preparations to the global healthcare trends will allow Korea to take the lead in the global healthcare industry.
Kwon also expected the conference to facilitate the global exchanges of information on the outlook of the healthcare industry after the Covid-19 pandemic.