The Korea International Medical and Hospital Equipment Show 2023 (KIMES), the largest medical device exhibition in Korea, will kick off its four-day run on Thursday this week, under the theme of "Better Life, Better Future."

Hosted by the Korea Medical Devices Industrial Cooperation Association (KMDICA), Korea Medical Industry Association (KMDIA), and Korea E&EX, the event meets its 38th anniversary to promote public health and medical technology development and vitalize medical and hospital-related industries.

This year's KIMES is expected to live up to its reputation as Korea's largest medical device exhibition, with 1,300 companies participating in the 45,000-square-meter space at the COEX Exhibition Center in southern Seoul.

Among the global medical device companies, GE Healthcare and Philips will welcome visitors with next-generation solutions. Siemens Healthineers will not participate this year.

Korean medical device companies which have recently pioneered overseas sale points and paved the way for export -- such as Lutronic, Hironic, Classys, and Inbody -- will also join the fair. 

One of the highlights of this year's event will be competition among electronic medical record (EMR)-centered healthcare information companies.

UBcare is attracting attention by opening the largest booth this year, and BIT Computer plans to open its booth at the main entrance of the convention.

Other cloud-based EMR companies such as Cenacle, Medibloc, and Eghis Healthcare are all expected to participate in KIMES.

Medical AI companies -- such as Vuno and Waycen, Acryl, Drtech, and Dragonfly -- will showcase their next-generation AI systems.

The convention will also highlight telemedicine technologies.

Healthcare platform Good Doc announced that it will demonstrate its real-time contactless medical services on a Samsung TV on Thursday and Friday.

The company will also demonstrate always-on health data management through the smartwatch Galaxy Watch 5.

Dragonfly will present its game-type digital therapeutics at KIMES 2023. 

More specifically, the company plans to unveil Guardians DTx, a game-type DTx for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Disease and treatment chatbots utilizing AI will also appear. 

Dr.Song, an AI healthcare company, will introduce a medical AI chatbot, Dr.Chatbot.

According to the company, the chatbot will provide functions such as data analysis and AI consultation, and will also provide in-depth consultation on diseases and treatments through customized design for medical institutions.

Also, the event offers lectures on securing global expansion capabilities, such as strategies and know-how to navigate the recently strengthened European Union Medical Device Regulation (CE-MDR) and enter the U.S. healthcare market.

The global healthcare and medical tourism conference Medical Korea 2023 will also be held at COEX on Thursday and Friday to help participants share international medical trends and expand global networks.