Empowering innovators and advancing new frontiers

In 2023, the AO underscored its position as a powerhouse of excellence, using its innovation resources to drive innovators’ ideas—from conception to realization—forward with expertise and funding. In the past year, the AO’s innovation funding supported 21 ongoing projects and resulted in four products gaining regulatory approval, six products in clinical use, and five products applied in AO educational activities.

“After several years of building our innovation funding platform, we are now seeing real results,” said Roland Herzog, head of the AO’s Technology Transfer. “Recipients of the AO’s innovation funding experience the essence of the AO: unparalleled collaboration across research, our clinical specialties, and industry through our network of more than a half-million health care professionals—all in service of advancing new frontiers in orthopedics and improving patient outcomes.”

A milestone-filled year for innovation—from bench to bedside

The AO’s 2023 innovation funding drove innovation in products and strategic initiatives from bench to bedside, helping select innovators navigate every stage of their projects, especially in the critical phase between ideation and market launch. 

2023 highlights included the cost-effective, portable Digitally Enhanced Hands-On Surgical Training solution moving from prototype to a product that can be used regularly in educational activities; the launch of a multicenter clinical trial to validate the safety of the AO Fracture Monitor and the first-in-human application of this implantable telemetric sensor system; the integration of the OSapp biomechanical principles knowledge hub into AO educational activities, AO Milestones, the AO Surgery Reference, and the AO Skills Lab.

Additional 2023 achievements made possible by AO innovation funding:

• Use of artificial intelligence (AI) through the AI@AO project to assist with detection and classification of pelvic fractures
• Launch of a 13-month, proof-of-concept project examining the expansion of formats and applications of educational surgical videos 
• Successful clinical application in over 70 patients of the Biphasic Plate 
• FDA approval of the Momentum Spine app allowing scoliosis monitoring without x-rays
• Closing of the second round of financing for the game-changing mimiX Biotherapeutics tissue engineering technology and conversion of loan to shares
• First-in-human safety study concluded with good results for the liposome-based joint lubrication product Liposphere

Answer the call for innovation funding proposals 
Innovators searching for a partner with a proven track record need look no further than the AO. 

February 29, 2024, is the deadline for the current call for proposals for the AO’s innovation funding.
Learn more and apply today.