The surge in artificial intelligence (AI) demos at MD&M West 2025 demonstrated the transformative potential across the medical devices industry.
The number of AI references in conference presentations may have been surpassed by the sheer presence of exhibitors ready to answer questions and demonstrate their inventive solutions. This strong industry focus only reinforced AI’s growing role in the medical device sector.
The Future of Manufacturing in the Era of AI
In our upcoming MD&M West eBook, Machine Design’s technical editor, Sharon Spielman highlights top moments of the keynotes and provides a glimpse into the future of manufacturing in the era of AI. In “The Shift from Digitization to Datafication in Manufacturing,” she reports on Dr. Shawn DuBravac’s central message: The manufacturing sector is in transition from “digitization to datafication,” and this shift will shape the coming decades.
READ MORE: The Shift from Digitization to Datafication in Manufacturing
Digitalization is a means to use digital technologies to transform business models and provide value-producing opportunities. Datafication signals the unprecedented ways in which our lives and businesses are becoming interwoven with data points to be tracked and analyzed—and predicting what decision we will make.
Manufacturers have a long history of storing data, thanks to PLC, SCADA and CMMS systems. As an industry it has been sluggish about figuring out how to exploit big data capabilities. (The “black box” nature of AI technologies carries some blame, as do privacy and security concerns.) However, if DuBravac’s forecasts are accurate, advanced analytics, machine learning and data integration will become an inextricable part of our decision-making. Period.
AI on the Trade Show Floor
Dubravac’s keynote inspired my curiosity to inquire from exhibitors on the trade show floor how they leveraged “datafication,” or algorithmic decision-making. Naturally, responses varied depending on how they gauged their organization’s level of digital maturity and experience with emergent technologies. Moreover, conversations revolved around how businesses were exploiting new opportunities.
Anupam Girdhar, divisional CEO of Ascential Medical & Life Sciences, offered a considered response. “One part that sometimes gets missed is that while a lot of companies focus on devices, on instruments, on consumables, there’s an underlying platform that’s needed to automate things,” he said. “It’s one thing to develop a device—it’s another thing to develop it at mass production level, in a cost-efficient way. That’s something that we are talking to our customers about quite a bit this time.”
It wasn’t long ago that the idea of pulling signals from instruments would not have been possible. Setting aside the ethical, security and privacy tensions, companies did not have the right means to develop a pipeline for their data, store the data and, more importantly, do something with it.
READ MORE: A Showcase of Innovations Turns Heads at MD&M West
To this end, Girdhar contends Ascential has made “good progress” in making its instruments data ready. “In the old days you had Design for Manufacturing and so on. Now it is Design for Data and Design for AI, so that your instruments are capable of at least spitting out that data,” he said.
With foundational data as a baseline, meaningful use cases can now follow. “For example, if you see failure rates very high in a certain instrument, you now know exactly how to pull that data out,” Girdhar explained. “In fact, that’s being collected in real time. Then, [consider] how to analyze it and how to pinpoint the issue... And now AI can read what’s going on based on the recurring usage.”
A New Competitive Landscape
Medical device companies of all sizes are looking to expand their role in the value chain. At the macro level, the industry as a whole is on track for steady growth. Global annual sales are expected to climb by more than 5% a year, reaching nearly $800 billion by 2030, according to KPMG.
But that growth isn’t guaranteed—analysts point to key shifts in underlying dynamics, from price pressures to the way new players are using data to shake up the sector. To stay ahead, companies will need to lean into insight-generating technologies that integrate data intelligence with their products and services. This could fundamentally change how healthcare is delivered.
AI Has Landed
At MD&M West 2025, attendees came away with a clear sense that MedTech companies that adopt AI modalities are gaining productivity benefits. To keep up with its evolving role, continuous learning and repositioning for the future competitive landscape will be essential to unlocking even greater possibilities.
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Editor’s note: For more show coverage, be sure to check out our MD&M West 2025 content hub.
