The 88th Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF) took place this year on September 7th-15th in HELEXPO, the largest exhibition and congress centre in Greece. Under the motto “made in Germany” the honoured country in 2024 has been Germany, providing 6000 squared metres of exhibition space for German institutes and companies.
A team composed of scientists and science managers from the Helmholtz Munich – Institute of Biological and Medical Imaging (IBMI) flew from Munich to Thessaloniki to present the latest developments in optoacoustic imaging. Located in the German Pavillon Hall 13 – Stand B41, they prepared a booth dedicated to optoacoustic technology and its broad range of applications.
The interdisciplinarity nature of TIF brings together institutes and companies from the most diverse fields. However, they all have innovation and sustainability as common core values. Presenting the SWOPT project in such an international and dynamic event is key to reach our communication and dissemination goals. The diverse public visiting the fair included students, researchers, entrepreneurs, policy-makers, families and the general citizenship. The project team at the booth attended to the questions of all of them and carefully listened to the feedback received.
In the first weekend of the fair, the director of IBMI and group leader of SWOPT, Prof. Vasilis Ntziachristos, presented the talk “Engineering, Healthcare and Economic Drivers” on the main stage of the German pavillon. He also participated in a panel of experts to discuss the challenges of bioengineering research and education in Europe. This is the first time that SWOPT was presented in a trade fair and the experience has been very positive. We could interact with audiences who are not always easy to reach for research projects. Incorporating the feedback received and analysing the learned lessons of the exhibition are the upcoming tasks for the SWOPT team. A lot of work done and much more work to do, but we are already looking forward to repeat the experience in other international fairs!
