Swiss Symposium in Point-of-Care Diagnostics 2024 - Conference Report Verified listing

Quick Facts

• Date and location: October 4, 2024 at Technopark Zürich
• Participants: 150 attendees from academia, industry, and clinics
• Presentations: 17 talks including a jointly delivered keynote by 2 Norwegian experts
• Posters and Awards: 14 scientific posters, Best poster award
• Sponsors and Exhibitors: 18 sponsors and exhibitors
• Organized by: CSEM (lead 2025), HES-SO Valais-Wallis, ZHAW, and FHNW

Event Highlights

CSEM was the lead organizer of the 7th Swiss Symposium in Point-of-Care Diagnostics, which took place at the Technopark in Zürich on October 4, 2024. The event was co-organized by HES-SO, ZHAW and FHNW and attracted about 150 participants active in clinical medicine, industry, and research.

The 2024 edition featured a one-day format with sessions on medical needs (clinic), research and technology (academia), the start-up scene (industry), and product innovations from both academia and industry. There was no regulatory session in 2024, which will return in 2025.

Especially worth noting was the provocative keynote address on the topic of Challenges of overdiagnosis in point-of-care. The keynote was given jointly by Prof. Alexandra Brandt Ryborg Jønsson and Prof. John Brandt Brodersen, of the Roskilde University, Denmark, and Arctic University of Norway; and the University of Copenhagen, Denmark & Region Zealand, and Arctic University of Norway, respectively. The speakers invited the audience to challenge their thinking about when there is value in monitoring biomarkers and diagnosing disease, suggesting that we are currently living in a culture obsessed with data and monitoring, which often brings more worry than actionable insights. Are the innovations that the POCDx community is developing truly necessary, and do they provide clear value in preventing or treating disease? This important question was at the heart of their talk, which stimulated a lively discussion afterward.

Event videos are photos can be accessed here: https://www.pocdx.ch/media/