As the kids go back to school, the electronics trade shows start to come into focus and there are a few venues that are really the trend setters such as electronica.  The perennial segue into fall, electronica brings together a boatload of electronics and components folks and is the electronics industry’s place to see and be seen in the Europe market.

As you would expect, Molex will be there, but in addition to our “typical” industry segments, you will also begin to see our focus on the Medical segment.  The timing is “spot-on” (as our European colleagues would say) as the healthcare industry begins to look at technologies from other industries like consumer, telecom, datacom and high speed.  This trend is loosely referred to as ‘convergence.’

Who would have thought a few years back that the medical industry would be embracing membrane switches from the appliance industry or cell phone interconnects into portable monitoring devices?  The times are changing…

I have been in the medical interconnect market for over a decade (before it was cool to be in the low-volume, high-mix segment), and I can say that the industry trends of home healthcare and telemedicine will have a dramatic impact by pulling the traditional electronics business into the medical arena.

Having been involved with the “boutique” medical interconnects for many years, it is bittersweet to see the trend toward reliable and practical off-the-shelf or modified-off-the-shelf products.  It is very efficient and the technology has been proven.  That being said, there are still cutting edge products being developed for specific medical applications requiring innovative solutions. In addition, healthcare reform is affecting medical device strategies.

As electronica will showcase the convergence of applications, in November, Medica/Compamed will herald in Thanksgiving as the “Big Iron” core medical equipment guys command attention.

It is a dynamic time to be in healthcare…