MED-EL Launches EXPO 2025 Osaka Presence With a Powerful Call for Global Hearing Health

July 28, 2025 – (Innsbruck, Austria): MED-EL, a global leader in hearing implant technology, is participating in the World EXPO 2025, one of the world’s largest and most prestigious events, taking place in Osaka from April 13 to October 13, 2025.

• Opening event at the Austrian Pavilion: MED-EL kicks off its EXPO presence with a keynote and expert panel
• Experts advocate for stronger hearing care policies: Urgent need for action in Japan and worldwide
• Inspiring concert by cochlear implant musicians: Live music highlights the life-changing power of hearing technology

The company opened its participation at the World EXPO 2025 in Osaka with a high-profile event at the Austrian Pavilion, titled “Empowering Lives Through Hearing Innovation”. It brought together leading voices from science, policy, and media to spotlight the urgent need for improved hearing care in Japan and worldwide.

“Designing Future Society for Our Lives” is the motto of EXPO 2025, during which 160 countries and nine international organizations showcase innovations that address global challenges and shape the future.

Empowering Lives Through Hearing Innovation: Event Highlights

Representing Austria and its theme “Composing the Future,” MED-EL highlights its groundbreaking advancements in hearing healthcare in the Austrian Pavilion. In his opening remarks of MED-EL’s launch event, Michael Rendi, Austrian Ambassador to Japan, emphasized Austria’s commitment to medical innovation: “In many ways, MED-EL is a shining example of what makes Austrian-Japanese cooperation so exceptional: a shared commitment to diligence, academic and technical excellence, and an unwavering spirit of innovation”, he said.

In her keynote address, Dr. Ingeborg Hochmair, CEO and co-founder of MED-EL, emphasized the company’s mission to enable better communication and quality of life through hearing technology. “Being selected for the prestigious Innovation Lab is a great honor. Showcasing our solutions in the health section allows us to highlight how hearing implants can eliminate barriers to communication for people with hearing loss worldwide. It reflects our commitment to innovation and research – our instrument for composing the future,” Dr. Hochmair stated.

The event program also featured distinguished ENT experts, including Prof. Koichi Omori (Kyoto University), who addressed Japan’s unique demographic and healthcare challenges, and Prof. Shin-ichi Usami (Shinshu University), who shared insights into the future of hearing implant technology. Dr. Patrick D’Haese, MED-EL’s Corporate Director of Awareness and Public Affairs, provided a European perspective on successful strategies for awareness and access.

Music as a Symbol of Inclusion

A standout moment of the event was a live concert by Dizzy Yoshimoto and the band BambooLily, both featuring cochlear implant users. Their performance powerfully demonstrated how hearing technology fosters creativity, inclusion, and full participation in society.

The event drew media attention and marked a pivotal step toward advancing public understanding and advocating for Japan's national hearing health policy. As the EXPO continues to spotlight purposeful innovation, MED-EL’s participation exemplifies how technological leadership and policy advocacy can advance a more inclusive global society.

For more information, visit the Austrian EXPO website and learn more about MED-EL’s hearing solutions.

Captions: 

Shaping the Future of Hearing: Prof. Usami, Dr. Ingeborg Hochmair, and Prof. Omori share visionary insights

Innovation Lab

BambooLily lights up the EXPO stage with a powerful performance

About MED-EL

MED-EL Medical Electronics, a leader in implantable hearing solutions, is driven by a mission to overcome hearing loss as a barrier to communication and quality of life. The Austrian-based, privately owned business was co-founded by industry pioneers Ingeborg and Erwin Hochmair, whose ground-breaking research led to the development of the world’s first micro-electronic multi-channel cochlear implant (CI), which was successfully implanted in 1977 and was the basis for what is known as the modern CI today. This laid the foundation for the successful growth of the company in 1990, when they hired their first employees. To date, MED-EL has more than 3,000 employees from around 90 nations and 30 locations worldwide.
The company offers the widest range of implantable and non-implantable solutions to treat all types of hearing loss, enabling people in 139 countries enjoy the gift of hearing with the help of a MED-EL device. MED-EL’s hearing solutions include cochlear and middle ear implant systems, a combined electric acoustic stimulation hearing implant system, auditory brainstem implants as well as surgical and non-surgical bone conduction devices. www.medel.com 

CEO

Doz. DI Dr DDr med. h.c. Ingeborg Hochmair

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