HEALTH & SCIENCE: HOW GL EVENTS EXHIBITIONS SUPPORTS THE HEALTHCARE AND SCIENTIFIC SECTORS

SantExpo 2026 confirmed the central role of professional events in supporting the transformation of the healthcare sector. With 37,180 participants, 696 exhibitors, 749 speakers and 304 speaking sessions, the exhibition brought together the entire healthcare and medico-social ecosystem over three days to address the key issues reshaping the sector: artificial intelligence, innovation, prevention, women’s health, mental health, talent attraction, cybersecurity, ecological transition and startup financing.

Beyond SantExpo, this momentum mainly reflects the development of the Health & Science activity within the GL events Exhibitions division. Designed to provide long-term support for the healthcare and scientific sectors, Health & Science brings together three complementary areas of expertise: the organisation of professional exhibitions, the coordination of scientific congresses and the development of Medical Education initiatives.

This approach responds to a reality specific to the sector: in healthcare, an event is not simply about bringing together exhibitors and visitors. It must create a reliable, expert and useful framework to help improve professional practices among healthcare workers, encourage dialogue between public and private stakeholders, and support the transformation of an ecosystem with significant societal impact.

Why is GL events Exhibitions structuring a Health & Science vertical?

GL events Exhibitions organises exhibitions, congresses and professional events serving major economic sectors. Within this model, Health & Science addresses a specific need: supporting a sector in which scientific, institutional, economic and societal challenges are closely interconnected.

Healthcare cannot be approached like a conventional industry sector. The topics addressed have a direct impact on the organisation of care, working conditions for professionals, medical innovation, access to solutions and, more broadly, patients’ lives. This responsibility requires a particularly high level of standards in content development, speaker selection, debate facilitation and the quality of networking formats.

Health & Science therefore enables GL events Exhibitions to structure dedicated expertise capable of engaging with very different communities: healthcare professionals, healthcare institutions, professional federations, learned societies, industrial players, startups, researchers, investors, institutional stakeholders and public decision-makers.

What expertise does Health & Science bring together?

Health & Science is built around three areas of expertise: professional exhibitions, scientific congresses and MedEd, meaning Medical Education.

Professional exhibitions make it possible to bring together an entire sector around its innovations, solutions and major transformation challenges. SantExpo is one of the most visible examples in France, bringing together healthcare and medico-social stakeholders each year through a dense programme, exhibition areas, speaking sessions, demonstrations and networking formats.

Scientific congresses follow a different logic. In this type of event, content is the main driver of participation. The scientific programme is coordinated by independent Scientific Committees based on conference proposals submitted by members of the community.

The evaluation of communications, the academic quality of the sessions, rights management and the promotion of the work presented all require specific expertise. The credibility of a congress depends as much on its operational organisation as on the quality of its scientific content.

Medical Education completes this approach by supporting the training of professionals in the most recent care protocols.

This combination of exhibitions, congresses and Medical Education is a differentiating lever for GL events Exhibitions.

How does Health & Science place content at the heart of the event?

In healthcare and scientific sectors, the value of an event depends largely on the quality of its content. Participants attend to find reliable information, feedback from the field, expert insight, applicable innovations and concrete answers to the transformations affecting their sector.

Health & Science builds its events through continuous dialogue with the communities concerned. Exchanges with institutions, federations, companies, public bodies, experts and field stakeholders make it possible to identify priority topics and design programmes adapted to the expectations of different audiences.

This approach encourages the co-construction of content with partners, exhibitors, institutions and learned societies. It makes it possible to bring together different viewpoints and offer complementary formats: strategic conferences, feedback sessions, demonstrations, pitches, expert talks, networking areas and sequences dedicated to innovation.

The aim is to create a useful event, capable of both shedding light on major trends and providing operational answers for professionals.

How does SantExpo illustrate Health & Science expertise?

SantExpo is a concrete example of this approach. Owned by the French Hospital Federation and organised by GL events Health & Science, the exhibition brings together the entire healthcare and medico-social ecosystem in France over three days.

The 2026 edition, which marked the event’s 60th anniversary, confirmed this momentum with a record attendance of 37,180 participants, up 6% compared with 2025. The exhibition brought together 696 exhibitors, more than 80 partners, 749 speakers, 304 speaking sessions, 10 themed areas and more than 150 accredited journalists.

The programme addressed the major transformation topics affecting the healthcare system: artificial intelligence, talent attraction, mental health, women’s health, prevention, cybersecurity, autonomy, human resources, innovation and ecological transition.

Several formats strengthened this edition: the launch of a half-day Investors session dedicated to startups and stakeholders involved in financing healthcare innovation, the opening of two pitch areas focusing on talent attraction and the startup village, and the creation of a new agora.

Through SantExpo, Health & Science demonstrates its ability to bring together very diverse audiences, combine institutional debate with concrete solutions, and turn a professional exhibition into a space for dialogue, expertise and networking for a strategic sector.

Why do healthcare events require specific organisation?

Organising a professional event in the healthcare sector involves a particular responsibility. The topics addressed are not only about innovation or economic development: they also concern public policy, care conditions, human resources, prevention, data security, access to solutions and the evolution of professional practices.

This specificity requires events to be built around educational content that is validated by expert committees, rigorous and accessible. Speaking sessions must bring together complementary profiles: public decision-makers, hospital directors, healthcare professionals, researchers, companies, patient representatives, experts and field stakeholders.

Health & Science must therefore strike a balance between three dimensions: the professional exhibition as a meeting place for exhibitors and visitors; the debate space, where the major issues facing the sector can be discussed; and the solutions platform, where stakeholders can identify innovations, partners and concrete answers to their needs.

This requirement is all the more important as transformations in healthcare are accelerating: artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, new care organisation models, talent attraction, ecological transition, prevention, population ageing and changing patient expectations.

How does Health & Science fit into the GL events Exhibitions model?

Health & Science is part of the transformation of GL events Exhibitions towards events designed as platforms for content, networking and sector development.

The role of an exhibition is no longer limited to selling exhibition space. It is now about creating events capable of bringing communities together, driving sector conversations, producing high-value content, generating useful data and developing new forms of collaboration with economic, institutional and scientific stakeholders.

This approach reflects the evolution of the Exhibitions division: organising events that are not merely marketplaces, but places where sector transformations can be understood.

Health & Science also benefits from the synergies of GL events’ integrated model. The division can draw on the Group’s digital and data expertise, the GL events Venues network for certain congresses hosted in Group venues, as well as the operational, editorial and commercial expertise of GL events Exhibitions.

What are the prospects for Health & Science?

Health & Science aims to continue its development in France and internationally by providing long-term support for the transformation of healthcare and scientific sectors.

One of the key challenges is to strengthen continuity between event moments and year-round community engagement. This evolution involves the development of expert content, digital formats, feedback, Medical Education initiatives, innovation promotion and bridges between healthcare institutions, industrial players, researchers, startups, investors and public stakeholders.

SantExpo illustrates this trajectory: the annual event is gradually becoming an anchor point for a broader community that needs regular content, debates, solutions and networking opportunities.

Through Health & Science, GL events Exhibitions is therefore asserting a clear ambition: to support healthcare and scientific sectors not only in organising their events, but also in structuring their exchanges, disseminating their expertise and accelerating their transformations.