ESTRO picks ‘Coopetition’ offer from Barcelona and Vienna

The European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO) has chosen the combined Barcelona and Vienna offer for its Annual Congress in the years 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2021. The first one of the new congresses booked in will be the 36th Annual Meeting taking place in Vienna, 5-9 May, 2017. The 37th Annual Meeting will follow in 2018 in Barcelona. The same pattern is scheduled for the years 2020 and 2021. For the years 2019 and 2022, ESTRO will move its Annual Congress to other cities. The combined proposal from Barcelona and Vienna is part of a strategy of understanding between the two cities’ convention bureaus, and includes the Reed Messe Wien as congress location in Vienna and the CCIB in Barcelona. The Annual Congress of ESTRO lasts four days and 6,000 participants usually attend. The congress is a platform for presenting new research results in radiation oncology. Alessandro Cortese, CEO of ESTRO, described the collaboration between ESTRO and Barcelona and Vienna as a strategic one: “Together we co-create a stronger positioning for radiation oncology in Europe and in our partner cities through a state of the art meeting for our stakeholders.” On behalf of the ‘Coopetition Partners’, Christian Mutschlechner, director of the Vienna Convention Bureau added: “It is a great pleasure for us to partner with ESTRO in their mid-term strategic approach to further develop the Annual Congress and to have excellent partners in our cities for this specific event with the CCIB in Barcelona and Reed Messe Wien in Vienna.”