OTWorld confirms its position

OTWorld in Leipzig continues to grow. 20,400 visitors came streaming into the International Trade Show and World Congress at the Leipzig Fair and Exhibition Centre, which opened this year for the first time under its new name of "OTWorld". More than a third of the visitors came from outside Germany, as did almost half of the exhibitors. Visitors from over 80 countries came to find out about the new products and ideas available in the sector. The focus at the trade show, and of everything that went on at the congress, was on innovation, interdisciplinary approaches and global networks.

"The international atmosphere, the sharing of ideas and experience across national borders in extremely full exhibition halls and in the Congress Center is a quite unique phenomenon," said Martin Buhl-Wagner, President & Chief Executive Officer of Leipziger Messe, referring to the show's reception throughout the world. "We are delighted that the sector's leading meeting place worldwide is now firmly linked to the Leipzig Exhibition Centre," continues the CEO of Leipziger Messe. With an area of 44,000 square metres in two exhibition halls, this year's OTWorld was the largest event in its history to date and was able to record an increase in floor space of 5 percent. And visitor numbers were also up by 5 percent in comparison to the 2012 figures.

The visitors to OTWorld came to Leipzig from over 80 countries. Every second visitor was one of the top decision makers in his/her company. More than anything else, they were interested in the new products and the trends in the sector. That way, they were able to get an overview of the market and took away with them inspiration for their own work. High in the popularity stakes were the professional development sessions, the opportunity to learn more and gain specific information about products, techniques and services. And the show managed to satisfy the visitors' high expectations in these areas to the full.

OTWorld as a policy-making arena

The World Congress and the leading international trade show were, from a content point of view, an ideal complement to one another and facilitated discussions at all levels. For Klaus-Jürgen Lotz, President of the German Association of Orthopaedic Technology (Bundesin-nungsverband für Orthopädie.Technik – BIV-OT), one of the absolutely key features was that: "This unique opportunity for industry, the skilled trades, the academic, scientific and medical communities to get together ensures that the agenda is set for treatments using modern aids, prostheses and orthoses – and not only in Germany. This is abundantly evi-denced by, not least, the high levels of interest and participation at OTWorld on the part of representatives from health insurance companies, funding organisations and policy makers."

Prof. Wolfram Mittelmeier, President of the Scientific Committee for the World Congress, sees important benefits in the combination of trade show and congress. "Innovations in technology, research and the treatment of patients all come together here at OTWorld and the entire sector gains from the symbiosis in every respect. And the gains are specifically on behalf those who are affected by a disability, and are thus all about effective treatment for patients."

Disseminating knowledge across all borders

The congress programme which brought together orthopaedic technicians, orthopaedic shoemakers, engineers, medical practitioners and therapists from all over the world, thus fostering discussions at the highest level, was extremely well received by participants.

"Particular interest was aroused at the World Congress by the newly introduced format of 'satellite symposia', practically-based courses and the 'Battle Session' discussion format. Notable from our point of view was the high level of international and interdisciplinary participation," explains Antje Feldmann, Director of Confairmed GmbH, the company which organises the World Congress.

New prospects for the partner nation, Russia

The 'round table' discussions on 'Training in Russia' was devoted to the topic of initial and further training; contributing to the debate were, amongst others, representatives of the Rus-sian Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, the International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics (ISPO) and the German Association of Orthopaedic Technology (Bundesin-nungsverband für Orthopädie.Technik – BIV-OT) together with representatives of the sector in Russia and the International Committee of the Red Cross. An initiative, which met with much support and which will definitely be continued.

Leipzig to remain the fixed venue for OTWorld in the future

Confairmed GmbH, Leipziger Messe GmbH and the German Association of Orthopaedic Technology (Bundesinnungsverband für Orthopädie.Technik – BIV-OT) have extended their successful collaboration with regard to OTWorld. With the formal signing of the contract on 14 May, Klaus-Jürgen Lotz, President of the German Association of Orthopaedic Technology, Martin Buhl-Wagner and Markus Geisenberger (both of them Managing Directors of Leipziger Messe) and Georg Blome, Managing Director of Confairmed GmbH, cemented their cooperation until 2026. The event will continue to be held on a two-year cycle as before.

The next OTWorld is to be held in Leipzig from 3 to 6 May 2016. Chair of the Scientific Committee will be Professor Frank Braatz (MD), from the Göttingen Private University of Applied Sciences (Private Fachhochschule Göttingen) / and the University Hospital (Universitätsmedizin Göttingen).