Italy Encourages Dental Technology Transfer To Malaysia

Italy Encourages Dental Technology Transfer To Malaysia
May 24, 2005
Bernama.com
KUALA LUMPUR, May 24 (Bernama) -- The Italian government's focus in recent years has been to encourage technology transfer, the setting up of joint ventures and the imparting of knowledge, especially in the dental sector to the Malaysian operators and not merely concentrating on enhancing bilateral trades, says Italian Trade Commissioner, Dr Massimo Tancredi.
"We want to have a win-win situation in the long term," he said in a statement Tuesday in conjunction with the Dental Trade Exhibition to be held from May 26 to 29 at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC), here.
The trade exhibition is part of the 27th Asia Pacific Dental Congress (APDC) which would see more than 1,500 speakers and participants from the dental fraternity in the region forming network partnerships toward improving oral health care in their respective countries.
Dr Tancredi said that the dental industry in Italy is one of the most important in the world in terms of turnover, technological innovation and exports.
Currently, it generates an annual turnover of some euro 780 million. Exports account for more than 45 percent of the total amount.
Dr Tancredi said that currently, the presence of Italian dental technologies in Malaysia was limited.
"However, I believe there is vast potential and Italy is ready to seize the opportunity. That is why the Italian companies are here and are ever ready to meet the demands and requirements of the market," he said.
The trade commission, with the support of the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade in Rome, has brought in the largest contingent of foreign exhibitors for the exhibition, a Malaysian Dental Association statement said.
Led by the Italian Dental Industries Association (UNIDI), more than 10 major Italian companies would feature their state-of-the-art machinery and products for the dental sector including furnishing, lighting, X-Ray products, sterilisation products and dentistry accessories.
The companies (which are members of UNIDI) include Anthos/Cefla, Blue X Imaging, CSN Industrie, Dispotech, Dental Manufacturing, Faro, Major Prodotti Dentari, Manfredi F.lli, North Bel International, OMS, Saratoga, Silfradent and Zhermack.
Trade exhibition chairman Dr Suresh Nair said that the Kuala Lumpur exhibition would be the largest ever dental trade in the region with millions of ringgit worth of latest dental technologies and equipment being shipped and flown here by companies from the US, S. Korea, Japan, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, France, Brazil, Mexico, Australia and the UK.
He said that the response has been tremendous, much larger than the last one held in Hongkong two years ago.
The exhibition area which covers over 200 booths located on two floors namely levels three and four of the PWTC, will display various equipment like dental chairs and furniture for clinics, x-ray machines, intra oral cameras, digital radiography and a host of other hi-tech equipment.
The latest materials for fillings, implants and prosthetics will also be introduced including sundries, disposable material for cross infection control as well as dental publications.
"For example, Sirona, a major German manufacturer has an interesting machine called the Cerec three dimension which can scan an impression of a patient's tooth, enabling the complete production of a crown or inlay in under an hour," Dr Nair said.