<img style="float: right; border: 1px solid; margin-left: 3px;" src="https://opedge.com/Content/OldArticles/images/2010-07_13/07-13_01.jpg" alt="" /> <h4 style="font-style: italic; color: #000000; margin-bottom: 0px;">"It's a conference on steroids."</h4> <p style="text-align: right;">-John Miguelez, CP, FAAOP, president and senior clinical director, Advanced Arm Dynamics, Redondo Beach, California</p> Dancers, performance artists, music, and multilevel product display booths complete with bars, café tables, and mini-theaters set the tone for the combined meeting of the International Society of Prosthetics and Orthotics (ISPO) 13<sup>th</sup> World Congress and the ORTHOPÄDIE + REHA-TECHNIK 2010 International Trade Show, held from May 10-15 in Leipzig, Germany. But when Miguelez summed up his experience at the record-setting event, he was referring to more than the electric atmosphere created by exhibit hall booths the size of a small city block. He was also referring to the palpable energy created by the global exchange of ideas. The combined meeting "gives you the opportunity to spend the day visiting the exhibit hall and listening to presenters, and then in the evening go out in a group and...share your clinical experience with people from all over the globe," Miguelez said. "That's so invigorating. It's a really unique opportunity to extend past the borders of the United States and open yourself up to new approaches, techniques, and technologies." <h4>'Most Successful' World Congress Ever</h4> <table class="clsTableCaption" style="float: right;"> <tbody> <tr> <td><img src="https://opedge.com/Content/OldArticles/images/2010-07_13/07-13_02.jpg" alt="" /></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Martin Werle demonstrates the function of the Otto Bock Michelangelo Hand. Otto Bock has not set a U.S. launch date for its new hand, but Miguelez told <em>The O&P EDGE</em> that AAD has fit the first Michelangelo Hand in the United States for beta testing.</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> Building on the theme, "Research and Innovation for Human Technology," the ISPO World Congress brought together 630 speakers from 55 countries. Presentations covered the latest developments and research results in the fields of orthotics, prosthetics, orthopedic technology, orthopedic footwear technology, and compression treatment, and drew in approximately 2,600 visitors. Sessions focusing on neuroprosthetics were well received, with one in five participants saying they were strongly interested in the subject. "It was our most successful Congress ever," said Dan Blocka, immediate past-president of ISPO. "In some keynote presentations, all seats were taken." The 13<sup>th</sup> World Congress also marked the end of Blocka's three-year term as ISPO president. During the closing ceremonies, Blocka officially handed over the baton to incoming president Jan Geertzen, MD, a specialist in physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R) at the Center for Rehabilitation, Groningen, Netherlands. <h4>Product Premiers Abound</h4> Exhibitors seized on the global marketing opportunity presented in Leipzig. More than 550 exhibitors from 45 countries filled 40,000 square meters of exhibition area, presenting mobility aids in the fields of prosthetics and orthotics technology, orthopedic and rehabilitation technology, orthopedic footwear technology, medical foot care, and compression therapy. ORTHOPÄDIE + REHA-TECHNIK drew in 21,200 visitors from 108 nations, according to Area Manager Klaus Ernst. More than 50 new products were launched at the trade fair, including the world premier of the SacroLoc lower-back orthosis by Bauerfeind AG, Zeulenroda-Triebes, Germany; the world premier of the Power Knee by Ossur, Reykjavik, Iceland; the world premier of the bebionic myoelectric hand system by RSLSTEEPER, Rochester, Kent, England; the European premier of the ProDigits partial hand system by Touch Bionics, Livingston, Scotland; and the world premier of the Genium lower-limb bionic prosthetic system and the Michelangelo Hand, both by Otto Bock HealthCare, Duderstadt, Germany. "This was the best ORTHOPÄDIE + REHA-TECHNIK we have ever seen," said Hans Georg Näder, CEO of Otto Bock HealthCare. "Combining the ISPO Congress and Trade Fair is a model for the future. The world comes together in Leipzig...." Regardless of what discipline a clinician specializes in-upperlimb, lower-limb, orthotics, prosthetics, or pedorthics-Miguelez said, "The World Congress...is an incredible, unparalleled educational opportunity. The World Congress offers a unique opportunity for clinicians to exchange ideas with other experts from around the world." The next ORTHOPÄDIE + REHA-TECHNIK International Trade Show will be held in Leipzig May 16-19, 2012. ISPO will hold its 14<sup>th</sup> World Congress February 4-7, 2013, in Hyderabad, India.
