PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: The 7th World Congress of the ISPRM–A Congress to Be Remembered!

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS  

7th World Congress of the ISPRM – Beijing, China 16-20th 2013

A Congress to be remembered

 

Distinguished members of the ISPRM, The 7th World Congress of ISPRM held from June 16-20, 2013 at the China National Convention Center, Beijing, China, was a catalyst for researchers and clinicians from all over the World to exchange research at the cutting edge of knowledge, at the frontiers of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine. The exchanged experiences will allow persons with disability to experience ability and functional restoration! It was a unique congress; throughout the entire program, we found multidisciplinary high impact science that will allow us to move the disability agenda forward! Amidst the heritage of Chinese culture and tradition, in the surroundings of the Olympic Bird Nest and swimming pavilion, attendees were marveled with the fast developments observed, not only within the country and amongst its people, but also, on the organization and the scientific content of this congress. The congress made history of the ISPRM world congresses in many aspects:

  • It had the largest number of attendees: 3250 participants registered from 73 countries including 310 complimentary participants. There are 91 registered accompanying persons and 800 exhibitors. The total number is 4141.
  • A large number of scientific sessions were held including 13 workshops, 10 plenary talks in the 4 sessions, 328 lectures in the 64 symposia, 211 oral presentations and 958 E-posters. 15 Chinese sessions, 1 Spanish and 1 Pan Arabic session were held as well. A maximum of 15 parallel sessions were held at the same time, which accounts for more than any of the previous ISPRM congresses.
  • Congress had the largest exhibition. There were 97 exhibitors and the exhibit hall covered an area of 4860 sqm.

New technologies were used to enhance scientific communication among participants:

  • Smart phone App: Users could browse and search scientific program and location by topic, author and date. They could also create personal calendar by adding lectures into favorite and be reminded ahead of time. They could receive notifications, make comments, ask questions and interact with the speaker in one of the plenary talk.
  • E-poster: Users could read and search E-posters from cell phone and screens. Users could also join discussion in and rate every E-poster.
  • QR code was used as the personal electronic namecard.
  • Video recording: All invited talks were video recorded and participants could review all lectures for free in 24 hours after the lectures.
  • Simultaneous translation was used to overcome the language barrier.

ISPRM, JARM, Prof. Marta Imamura and the congress have provided a total of EUR49275 as the education fund to cover the registration fee of the participants from low-income countries. A total of 212 people have benefited from it. Various social events are held during the congress. At the Opening ceremony, the well-known China’s disabled Art Troupe presented amazing performances. At the President dinner, invited guests had a taste of the traditional Peking Roast Duck. An outdoor gala dinner was held in the Summer Palace, an ancient royal park. There are also morning exercise courses of Taichi and Baduanjin. Cultural street was set up in the exhibition hall to show Chinese traditional handcraft. Daily news was published three times during the congress to report on the congress, have interviews of the invited speakers and make introduction to the program next day. The talent show presented outstanding performances by 75 delegates from China, USA and the Republic of Benin. A congress to be remembered:  To keep contact and networking please log at http://test.001yixue.com/site/?action-enindex to review all the recorded sessions as well as the forum of discussion.   Jianan Li MD President, 7th World Congress of the ISPRM President Elect ISPRM   Marta Imamura MD PhD President ISPRM  

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