The European Society of Radiology (ESR) has pledged to plant one tree for every onsite and online attendee at the 2020 ECR. The commitment could result in over 30,000 new trees, and is part of the organizers' efforts to minimize the damage to the environment resulting from the meeting.
Attendance at ECR 2019 totaled 30,250 individuals, which included 7,011 offsite viewers and represented a 6% increase over ECR 2018, according to the congress organizers.
"You can't fool yourself, future successes are based on investments in modern meeting technologies, which will enable remote participation without having to travel to an event," noted ESR Executive Director Peter Baierl in a statement issued on 27 August. "The number of people flying to Vienna or another city to attend a congress will tend to decline in the future. Employers will also encourage digital participation of their employees at congresses, which is something we are already seeing. Congresses have to be future-proof and should already position themselves now in such a way that they are prepared for a decrease in onsite participation."
ECR organizers have been active in this area for almost a decade, and, in addition to free live broadcasting of the entire congress program, they also offer the possibility of digital participation, entitling physicians to receive required training credits through their remote attendance.
ECR 2020 will take place from 11 to 15 March at the Austria Center Vienna.
