50 years of OTWorld: You make the difference

Today, OTWorld 2026 was officially opened in Leipzig under the motto “You make the difference”. Marking the 50th anniversary of the world-leading event, the opening made clear what truly drives this sector: The individual sets the pace – technology follows. Human needs define the rhythm, tempo and melody. Following them is the art of engineers, technicians, therapists and physicians.

For five decades, OTWorld has brought together people who master and continuously advance this art: professionals from skilled trades, medicine, therapy, science and industry. Together, they work to develop technical solutions so individually tailored that they create movement, self-determination, everyday participation and new perspectives.

Until 22 May, professionals from more than 90 countries will gather in Leipzig. A total of 623 exhibitors from 41 countries are presenting innovations in prosthetics and orthotics, orthopaedic footwear technology, rehabilitation technology, compression therapy and digital manufacture. Running alongside the exhibition, the World Congress offers around 200 hours of scientific programming featuring more than 300 speakers from over 30 countries.

50 years – 50 voices. Three of them on stage.

The international anniversary campaign “50 Years – 50 Voices” brings together voices from around the world. The Opening Ceremony gave some of them a stage. Not to celebrate technology, but to demonstrate what becomes possible when technology follows people.

In conversation with host Tan Çağlar, Lara Wilkin and Hari Budha Magar became voices of this idea: people set the pace. Their goals, movement, creativity and personal journeys define what high-quality treatment and care must achieve.

Lara Wilkin represents creativity that finds its own path. Following the amputation of her left forearm, she turned her personal experience into the starting point for research, awareness-raising and international networking. Today, she is pursuing a doctorate in upper limb prosthetics, founded the Arm Prosthesis Community and contributes the user perspective to professional debates. At the opening ceremony, she presented a drawing created with her prosthetic hand especially for the anniversary event. A quiet yet powerful image demonstrating that expression does not begin with technology, but with people.

Recipient of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire Hari Budha Magar represents goals that extend beyond every boundary. Following a double above-knee amputation, the Nepalese-British mountaineer climbed the highest peaks on all seven continents – including Mount Everest and most recently Mount Vinson in Antarctica. His story illustrates what becomes possible when courage, expertise, trust and individually adapted technology come together step by step.

Tan Çağlar also contributed his own perspective: as host, comedian and actor, as a former wheelchair basketball player and as someone who transformed movement into new roles and opportunities. His contribution highlighted that high-quality treatment and care does not merely make paths easier. It can open spaces in which people reinvent themselves.

Three voices, three journeys, one message: You make the difference. The individual sets the pace. Technology follows.

At OTWorld, the future of treatment and care becomes reality

For 50 years, OTWorld has been the place where technical ideas become practical treatment and care solutions. It was here that developments first became visible which today create new opportunities worldwide. Myoelectric prostheses, exoskeletons and brain-computer interfaces were not presented in Leipzig as distant visions of the future, but introduced, discussed, evaluated and integrated into treatment and care before an international professional audience.

Yet OTWorld’s strength lies not only in major technological breakthroughs. Equally important are the impulses it provides for treatment and care affecting millions of people in everyday life: for widespread conditions such as knee osteoarthritis or back pain, for chronic complaints, after injuries or during rehabilitation.

Treatment and care that makes a difference in everyday life

For decades, OTWorld has demonstrated why braces, orthoses and medical compression are far more than a “nice to have”. They can enable movement, reduce pain, provide stability, support healing processes and, in certain cases, prevent, delay or meaningfully complement surgical interventions. They are therefore essential components of modern, guideline-based treatment pathways.

This perspective is becoming increasingly important today. Healthcare systems are searching for ways to reduce avoidable surgical procedures, shorten hospital stays and help people return more quickly to everyday life, work and movement. This requires modern treatment concepts that combine medicine, technology and therapy.

The issue of downstream costs is also firmly anchored at OTWorld. Appropriate treatment and care has an impact far beyond the immediate moment. It plays a decisive role in whether people remain mobile, independent, able to work, train, care for others and participate in social life. Anyone viewing treatment and care merely as a cost factor overlooks its economic and social value.

In Leipzig, medicine and technology meet as equal partners. Prosthetists and orthotists, orthopaedic footwear professionals, physicians, therapists, rehabilitation specialists, researchers, industry representatives and medical supply stores work together to develop concepts that prove effective in practice. Technology does not determine the rhythm. People do. Technology follows.

“50 years of OTWorld stand for 50 years of shaping the treatment and care of tomorrow,” emphasised Alf Reuter, President of the German Association of Orthopaedic Technology (BIV-OT). “This is where developments first became visible that today open up new possibilities for people around the world. At the same time, OTWorld demonstrates that modern treatment and care does not begin in the operating theatre alone. It begins wherever professionals jointly search for the best solution for each individual person – in workshops, practices, clinics, therapy and research.”

Reuter thanked everyone who has shaped this development over the past five decades: “The progress we see today is owed to countless people around the world. Our special thanks go to the Congress Presidents 2026, Dr Doris Maier, Medical Director at BG Unfallklinik Murnau, and Dipl. OTM Thomas Münch, member of the BIV-OT Executive Board. Both have shaped the World Congress professionally during this anniversary year and provided important impulses for the future.”

BIV-OT is the conceptual partner of OTWorld. The event began in 1976 as “O&R International” and emerged from the annual general meeting of the leading association of the skilled trades.

Martin Buhl-Wagner, Chief Executive Officer of Leipziger Messe, highlighted the international dimension: “What defines OTWorld is its global reach. Leipzig is the place where professionals from around the world come together, share knowledge and make progress possible. Our thanks go to the partners, exhibitors and everyone involved who have supported this international community for many years.” Leipziger Messe organises the International Trade Show.

Progress requires responsibility

The anniversary also draws attention to the framework conditions required for modern orthopaedic treatment and care. Anyone discussing 3D printing, AI and digital treatment and care must also consider administrative processes, approval procedures and digital interfaces. A sector that debates exoskeletons, new materials and intelligent treatment concepts worldwide also requires reliable, efficient and digitally connected processes in everyday practice.

For 50 years, OTWorld has demonstrated where innovation emerges: through international exchange between medicine, technology, therapy, skilled trades, science and industry. Anyone seeking impulses for the modern orthopaedic treatment and care of tomorrow will find them here – not as theoretical concepts on paper, but through direct dialogue with the international professional community.

Today, this dialogue is more important than ever. Crises, disasters and wars are disrupting lives worldwide and placing enormous pressure on treatment and care systems. This creates responsibility: to share knowledge, enable rapid support and bring effective solutions to where they are needed.

OTWorld stands for the principle that progress does not end at borders. During these days, Leipzig becomes a place where international knowledge is transformed into practical support. The individual sets the pace. Technology, administration, assessment procedures and processes must follow that rhythm.

The anniversary message is clear: 50 years of OTWorld demonstrate what becomes possible when people around the world work together to improve technical treatment and care. People set the pace. Technology follows.