Catch the highlights: Med-Cann & Med-Tech World Conference recap

This year, things looked a little different as our stellar panelist braced their computer screens as opposed to the stage, and discussed the hottest topics in Med-Cann and Med-Tech from around the world.

As we close the 2020 Med-Cann & Med-Tech World Conference, we have complied a round-up of our personal highlights and best moments from the summits so you can relive the magic.
The two days of non-top discussion and debate brought together 800 attendees, 20 keynote speakers, 12 panel discussion and 40 thought leaders. The Med-Cann & Med-Tech World Conference was streamed live over our platforms: Facebook, YouTube, Swapcard and Twitch. Throughout the live stream, audience members and speakers could interact in the chat as well as engage in thought provoking polls.
In total there were 112,440 viewers reached, having 1,500 delegates, generating 2,800 virtual connections and a staggering 5,200 private messages exchanged. The summit reached 27 countries, with the top ten being Malta, followed by the UK, Canada, Israel, the US, Lebanon Greece, Philippines, Latvia and Germany.

Keynote speeches

Minister for the Education, and Investment and Small Businesses, Hon. Silvio Schembri opened the Med-Can World Conference with a bang, commenting on the relationship between Malta and cannabis saying that “Despite a challenging year for the cannabis industry, Malta Enterprise has continued to approve projects and support businesses”.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Health, Chris Fearne, set the tone of the Med-Tech World Conference by arguing that in Malta, “The unprecedented growth of Med Tech which is taking place despite, and possibly, because of the challenges of COVID-19″. He also honed that Malta can be a Med-Tech and digital health innovation hub, as the government actively purses the vision of introducing MedTech into the healthcare system.

Panel discussions

The Med-Cann & Med-Tech World Conference brought together veterans of the industry to open discussions ranging from sex tech, to designing safer cannabinoid pharmacotherapies.
Moving from the farm to pharma was an interesting panel discussion where Quentin Galland, Account Director at Hague Corporate Affairs, mentioned a valid point about accessing quality medical cannabis: “There can’t be a truly European value chain of medicinal cannabis if there are no clear rules. If rules change from one-member state to another, the industry cannot develop and patients won’t be able to access high quality medicinal cannabis”.
Another captivating discussion surrounded traceability and how blockchain and cannabis are a match made in heaven, where Robert Galarza shared: “Digitising transections help facilitate tax management, appropriate patient getting medicine from appropriate buyer and much more. There are a lot of incredible benefits that can take place when transections are tracked and managed.”
An overarching theme of both summits was the pandemic we are currently enduring. Prof. Charmaine Gauci, Superintendent of Public Health, Ministry for Health (pictured above), and associate professor at University of Malta, mentioned during a Med-Tech panel regarding changing public perception to allow digital health ecosystems to flourish:

“To me, COVID has made us do advances in digital health which would have taken years to do”.

Dr. Malcolm Falzon, Partner at Camilleri Preziosi, dived deeper into the COVID-19 discussion during a Med-Tech panel on telemedicine, stating: “Over the past few years there have been a number of other pandemics which haven’t been enough to stimulate this move from the way we know telemedicine now to what we want it to be in the future”.

Polls and votes

During the summit, we offered a host of thought-provoking polls curtesy of our interactive platform Swapcard.
On the first day of the conference, we kicked off our polls by asking viewers ‘Which territories would you consider importing cannabis from in the next year?’, where 88% answered Malta and 13% answered Israel.

Another interesting poll during Med-Cann asked whether people had ever considered using medical cannabis to treat an ailment, such as pain or anxiety, where 62% voted yes.
On the final day, a poll regarding which tech innovation will change the future of medical practice brought divisive results, as 63% voted for AI-powered self-diagnosis, 25% answered wearable heath monitors, and 13% voted for genetic modification.
We would also like to express our gratitude to all the Cannabiz Squad, speakers, sponsors, media partners, and followers who made this event possible and a success.