By: 31 March 2016

SpineWeek 2016 – Preview

16–20 May 2016, Singapore

SpineWeek is the pre-eminent meeting for spine surgery professionals and the
leading event for scientific collaboration between international spine societies. Welcome to SpineWeek 2016. Welcome to Singapore.

After three successful editions of SpineWeek, the 2016 meeting will be organised in Singapore thanks to increasing interest from the Asia-Pacific region in previous meetings.

SpineWeek, now the world reference for spine surgery, was conceived around the turn of the century and arose from the idea of synchronising the annual meetings of leading scientific societies concerned with disorders of the spine into one big scientific collaboration. Gathering the leading spine surgery professionals in one location simplifies the meeting logistics and offers the opportunity to exchange and discuss scientific findings and results of research carried out during the past years. This opportunity of meeting people with similar interests is the main objective of this huge event.

SpineWeek was held for the first time in Porto (Portugal) in 2004 and was well received by the participants, the organising spine societies and the supporting MedTech industry. Two more SpineWeek meetings followed: Geneva (Switzerland) in 2008 and Amsterdam (The Netherlands) in 2012.

In 2012, SpineWeek reached a record level of participation with over 200 exhibiting companies and over 3000 visitors from no less than 80 countries. The upcoming 2016 edition in May can already count on a participation of 3000–3500 spine surgeons from all over the globe, who participate in one big event, co-organised by 18 international spine societies. The call for abstracts for the 2016 meeting was a huge success: The number of submitted abstracts increased by 32 per cent as compared with 2012, which underlines the growing importance of this international meeting.

Apart from the usual participating spine societies such as the International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine (ISSLS), the North American Spine Society (NASS) and the Latin American spine societies (SILACO and BSS), we now also welcome a wide array of other spine societies from all the continents, such as the Pan Arab Spine Society (PASS), the Asia Pacific Spine Society (APSS), the Chinese Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons (CAOS) and AfricaSpine.

SpineWeek is set up in such a way that each participating society keeps its own scientific and social identity. Each society selects its own abstracts, has its own business meeting(s), presidential address, guest lectures and award sessions; quite similar to its regular annual meeting. Nevertheless participants are encouraged to attend sessions of various societies: they can put together their personal programme with the aid of the SpineWeek app. During the SpineWeek meeting five sessions run simultaneously from start to end. The SpineWeek app will be a helpful tool to guide the participants through the myriad of sessions and talks.

During lunch breaks, various industry and society workshops are organised. Delegates are encouraged to attend the industry exhibition during breaks. There are society booths and cosy sitting areas where it will be possible to meet and interact with colleagues from all over the world. This is undoubtedly a unique opportunity.

This year SpineWeek expects a further growth in the number of participants. An extraordinary venue was selected for this edition as a result of one remarkable evolution noted from one SpineWeek to the next: the increase of participants coming from Asia. In fact, in Amsterdam more than half the attendees were Asian. This incited the SpineWeek committee to move east for the 2016 SpineWeek meeting and Singapore was chosen as host country. The selected venue, the Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre, is a world-renowned iconic location and leading destination for congresses. SpineWeek will occupy the whole of the third floor of the Convention Centre for the scientific sessions and level one for the exhibition.

 

To register, please visit www.spineweek.org