PHOENIX-OoC Showcased at MEDICA 2025, the World’s Leading Medical Technology Fair
About MEDICA
MEDICA, held annually in Düsseldorf, took place this year from 17 to 20 November and is recognized as the world’s leading trade fair for medical technology, biomedical innovation, diagnostics and healthcare solutions. The event has established itself over five decades as the primary global meeting point where industry, research institutions, clinicians, policymakers, investors and technology developers converge to shape the future of health and medical practice. With thousands of exhibitors from more than 70 countries and an extensive programme of conferences, workshops, live demonstrations and matchmaking initiatives, MEDICA serves as the central hub of the international biomedical ecosystem and the most comprehensive arena for identifying emerging scientific trends and market opportunities.
The strategic relevance of MEDICA extends far beyond exhibition activities. It represents an advanced observatory of biomedical transformations, where disruptive innovations ranging from medical-grade sensors, Organ-on-a-Chip platforms and microfluidic systems to AI-assisted diagnostics, robotic surgery, digital therapeutics and point-of-care devices are presented, validated and benchmarked at international scale. The fair offers a unique blend of scientific dissemination, industrial acceleration and regulatory dialogue, enabling deeper connections between academia and industry, facilitating technology transfer and fostering the development of clinical and market-ready solutions.
In recent years, MEDICA has played a decisive role in accelerating Europe’s transition towards personalised, sustainable and data-driven healthcare, aligning technological innovation with societal challenges such as patient stratification, reduction of animal testing, antimicrobial resistance, decentralised monitoring and greener biomedical manufacturing. The fair’s thematic areas reflect global health priorities: personalised medicine, lab-on-chip and Organ-on-a-Chip systems, digital health infrastructures, smart biomaterials and integrated diagnostics. These domains are complemented by networking platforms dedicated to start-ups and deep-tech research projects, which find in MEDICA a unique launchpad for international visibility and industrial positioning.
For research initiatives funded under the European Innovation Council and Horizon Europe programmes, MEDICA represents an unparalleled dissemination environment. It enables projects to reach stakeholders directly involved in medical innovation pipelines, including investors, clinicians, technology adopters, industrial integrators and regulatory bodies. Participation in MEDICA is therefore not merely an exhibition activity, but a strategic act of positioning within the biomedical global value chain, one that directly contributes to the exploitation, standardisation, dissemination and future adoption of emerging technologies. MEDICA’s influence makes it a decisive platform for initiatives such as PHOENIX-OoC, which operate at the intersection of sustainability, ethical experimentation and next-generation biomedical testing.
PHOENIX-OoC at MEDICA
During MEDICA, the world’s leading event for biomedical technologies and healthcare innovation, PHOENIX-OoC was presented as an emerging European initiative positioned at the forefront of the transition toward next-generation preclinical testing systems and sustainable Organ-on-a-Chip approaches. The participation at MEDICA offered the project an international platform to showcase its scientific vision and technological paradigm, rooted in the development of paper-based microphysiological devices capable of integrating advanced sensing elements and microfluidic architectures.
The project attracted attention due to its disruptive proposition: replacing traditional, resource-intensive materials with a sustainable, versatile and low-impact substrate such as paper, thus enabling the creation of Organ-on-a-Chip systems that are more accessible, portable and compatible with scalable manufacturing. This innovation directly responds to emerging biomedical needs, including the reduction of animal models in research, the possibility of conducting diagnostic or screening tests closer to the patient, and the increasing demand for environmentally responsible biomedical technologies.
The presence of PHOENIX-OoC at MEDICA facilitated interactions with stakeholders across the biomedical value chain, ranging from clinicians and researchers to biomedical manufacturers, regulatory specialists and investment bodies. These exchanges reinforced the relevance of the project’s objectives, while situating PHOENIX-OoC within current European strategies aimed at strengthening technological sovereignty, harmonizing regulatory frameworks and accelerating the uptake of organ-mimicking devices into clinical and industrial settings.
Through its participation, PHOENIX-OoC contributed to the broader MEDICA narrative centred on personalized medicine, digital diagnostics and ethical research practices, demonstrating how paper-based Organ-on-a-Chip devices can become a viable component of future biomedical infrastructures. The event provided an essential dissemination milestone, strengthening the visibility, credibility and potential exploitation pathways of the technology within the international biomedical landscape.
