Daegu City Hosts World Congress of Neurorehabilitation... 3,000 Medical Experts to Participate in 2026

Mayor Kwon Young-jin: "Establishing Ourselves as a 'Brain Research Hub City' on the Global Stage"

President Baek Nam-jong of the Korean Society for Neurorehabilitation explaining a proposal online to host the World Congress for Neurorehabilitation in Daegu.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Dongwook Park] Daegu City announced on the 14th that it has succeeded in attracting the 'World Federation for NeuroRehabilitation (WFNR)' together with the Korean Society of Brain and Neurorehabilitation (Chairman Namjong Baek, Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital) and Daegu Convention Bureau (CEO Youngchul Bae).

The World Federation for NeuroRehabilitation, held every two years rotating across continents, is a leading academic conference in the field of brain and neurorehabilitation, attended by over 3,000 neurorehabilitation clinicians, nurses, therapists, clinical psychologists, engineers, and related researchers from 60 countries worldwide.

The WFNR held a national representatives meeting online on the 8th, where candidate city presentations and evaluations were conducted to select the host city for the 2026 event. Along with Daegu City, Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates and Brisbane in Australia presented as candidate cities. After several challenges from other candidate countries, Daegu City won the bid outright.

Daegu City received the highest score in the preliminary evaluation analyzing the locational advantages of each candidate city. According to Daegu City, this was mainly due to the smart convention facilities that have been reborn as safe and smart in preparation for the post-COVID-19 era. Strong support from Daegu City, Daegu Convention Bureau, and Korea Tourism Organization, as well as Daegu’s abundant medical infrastructure and nearby UNESCO World Cultural Heritage sites, were also highly evaluated.

Neurorehabilitation is a field that deals with rehabilitation of brain and nervous system diseases such as stroke, traumatic brain injury, and neurodegenerative diseases, and it has recently become a major issue in Korea as it enters an aging society.

According to the 2020 Elderly Statistics by Statistics Korea, Korea will enter a super-aged society in 2025, with 20.3% of the population aged 65 or older, becoming the fastest aging country in the world. The Korean Society of Brain and Neurorehabilitation expects that hosting the 2026 WFNR will be an opportunity to share the latest medical technologies and research trends in neurorehabilitation treatment and discuss various ways to improve patients’ quality of life.

Namjong Baek, Professor at Bundang Seoul National University Hospital and Chair of the bidding committee, said, "Clinical neurorehabilitation in Korea has already reached a world-class level, and through the 2026 world congress, we expect to contribute further to the development of neurorehabilitation both in Korea and globally."

Daegu Mayor Youngjin Kwon welcomed the news, saying, "Based on the experience of the World Congress of Brain and Neuroscience (IBRO 2019) held in Daegu last year, we will spare no support to successfully host the 2026 WFNR," and added, "Through international brain-related conferences, Daegu will establish itself as a 'brain research hub city' on the world stage."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.