Zurich’s world summit in technology-assisted neurological rehabilitation.

From Thursday to Saturday 12th to 14th February, 350 scientists, medical practitioners and therapists met at the 2009 International Neurorehabilitation Symposium (INRS), jointly organized by Swiss medical corporation Hocoma and two EU research projects. Symposium participants came from approximately 40 different countries. At the Irchel campus of the University of Zurich, they exchanged their experiences and research results in relation to new technologies in neurological rehabilitation and were enthused by top-quality presentations from internationally-renowned speakers. “We are proud that so many well-known international speakers came to Zurich, and that symposium participants traveled from all over the world to meet with them”, says Dr. Gery Colombo, CEO of main organizer Hocoma AG.

It was possible to achieve this contingent of researchers because Hocoma AG acts as Industrial Partner to the MIMICS EU project, and also maintains good contacts with the Spinal Cord Repair EU project. These three pulled together, with the result that many scientists accepted the invitation to Zurich.

Economic and political significance.
In his address at the opening of the second day, Thomas Heiniger, Member of the State Governing Council and Head of the Department of Health in the Canton of Zurich, emphasized the importance of medical science for Zurich’s international image. Franz Steinegger, Chairman and Member of the Board at SUVA (the Swiss Accident Insurance Organisation), pointed out in the round-table discussion that the ongoing development of technologically-assisted neurorehabilitation must also be an important goal from the point of view of economics.

The outlook.
The conference was closed by Professor W. Zev Rymer, Director of Research at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, USA (which is regarded world-wide as the top research center for neurological rehabilitation) with the following words. “The INRS has been one of the most significant scientific meetings in our field to date, even though it was not set up by a scientific association. We must maintain this interdisciplinary contact, and undertake much more research activity so that we can offer our patients the best possible treatment at all times”.

The INRS organization team would like to thank all speakers, participants, sponsors and everyone else who has helped to make the International Neurorehabilitation Symposium 2009 a great success.