Congrès de la SOFCOT · 2026

Agoris analysis · updated September 2026

Key takeaways

• The SOFCOT Congress is the annual gathering of the Société Française de Chirurgie Orthopédique et Traumatologique, the learned society for orthopaedic and trauma surgeons. It is a medical congress: teaching lectures, scientific presentations, sub-specialty society days, industry symposiums and an integrated professional exhibition.
• Next edition: the 100th, from Wednesday 11 to Friday 13 November 2026, at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, 1 boulevard de la Croisette, in Cannes. For this hundredth congress, the SOFCOT is leaving Paris for Cannes, an "emblematic change of venue" according to the presidents' editorial.
• Organiser: the Société Française de Chirurgie Orthopédique et Traumatologique (SOFCOT), a French non-profit association (under the 1901 law). Logistics, registrations and the commercial management of the exhibition are entrusted to the agency MCO Congrès, appointed for the 2026 to 2028 congresses.
• Annual frequency, held every year in November. The three previous editions were held at the Palais des Congrès de Paris, and the 101st is announced for 8 to 10 November 2027, again at the Palais des Congrès de Paris.
• In figures: the official list for the 2025 edition counts 60 partner and exhibiting companies. The organiser also displays 4,400 participants, including 3,200 doctors and surgeons, 76% French participants and 59 nations represented.

Who exhibits

Typical profile

Based on the 2025 list and the symposiums announced for 2026, the exhibition is the showcase for the orthopaedics industry: manufacturers of joint and spinal implants, osteosynthesis and instrumentation, surgical robotics and navigation, imaging, 3D planning and custom implants. These are joined by players from the operating theatre environment (sterilisation, irrigation, dressings), professional insurance, medical publishing and digital health.

For 2026, the organiser has revised the layout: all partners are brought together in a single location, on level -1 of the Palais, in zone 2 of the exhibition hall. The published plan places, around the stands, a start-up village, an associations village, a young professionals' area, a TV studio, an activities and e-poster set, the SOFCOT stand and several session rooms, with registration and the preview area on the same level. The stated aim: to boost partner visibility and provide a seamless route between registration, the session rooms and the stands.

Notable exhibitors

The 2026 major partners page lists nine Platinum partners: Amplitude, Arthrex and Corin (shown on a single logo), DePuy Synthes, Lépine, Newclip Technics, Stryker, United, X.NOV and Zimmer Biomet. Three Bronze partners complete the line-up: Enovis, Smith+Nephew and Symbios. The full list of 2026 exhibitors will be published on 9 November 2026, together with the final programme.

To gauge the scale of the exhibition, the official list for the 2025 edition counts one Platinum partner (Zimmer Biomet), two Gold (Lépine, Stryker), two Silver (Symbios, X.NOV) and 55 exhibitors, including Arthrex, Corin, Enovis, Exactech, Fujifilm, Heraeus, Medacta, MicroPort, Mölnlycke, Orthofix, SI-BONE, Smith & Nephew, Teknimed and United Orthopedic, as well as the publisher Elsevier and the insurers MACSF and Relyens. Twelve associations were also present, including SNITEM and AFIDEO, the trade bodies for the sector's manufacturers.

Visitor quality

The audience is primarily surgical: hospital and private-practice orthopaedic and trauma surgeons, across all sub-specialties (hip, knee, shoulder, spine, hand, foot, paediatrics, tumours, trauma). Of the 4,400 participants displayed, the organiser counts 3,200 doctors and surgeons. Next come junior doctors and residents, who have their own programme from the Collège des Jeunes Orthopédistes, operating theatre nurses, physiotherapists and physical medicine and rehabilitation doctors. A specific rate is even reserved for neurosurgeons who are members of the Société Française de Chirurgie du Rachis, for the day of 12 November.

Two levers guarantee a genuine presence in the aisles. Attending the congress counts for 10 points under block 1 of the periodic certification scheme for healthcare professionals, and the Orthorisq session, run by the specialty's accreditation body, closes the congress on Friday afternoon. Access to the exhibition is included in every registration fee.

The 2026 edition also has an international dimension: Italy is the guest nation, represented by its national society, the SIOT, the Société Francophone d'Arthroscopie is the honoured society, and seven partner international societies run sessions (AAHKS, AO Recon, APOA, EKS, ESSKA, IHS, JOA). Sessions in English are spread across the three days. No OJS certification or third-party attendance audit is published.

Events & community

Conference programme

The themes of the 2026 edition are "La Prévention" ("Prevention") and "Le chirurgien 4.0" ("The 4.0 surgeon"). Less than two months before the congress, the organiser announced more than 1,000 abstracts received, 28 oral presentation sessions, 13 e-poster sessions, 3 honorary lectures and 10 keynote lectures, as well as a new feature, the "Étoilés de la SOFCOT" ("SOFCOT Stars"), which reward the best presentations.

The online programme organises the three days as follows. Wednesday 11 November is devoted to teaching lectures, presentations, round tables from the international societies and the IBODE Day (operating theatre nurses), ahead of the opening ceremony and red-carpet walk, from 5:30pm to 7pm in the Louis Lumière auditorium. Thursday 12 November is specialty day: SOFEC for the shoulder and elbow, SFCR for the spine, SFHG for the hip and knee, SFA, SFT for trauma, AFCP for the foot, SFCM for the hand and GSF-GETO for tumours, alongside Rehabilitation Day. Friday 13 November brings together CAOS day on computer-assisted surgery and artificial intelligence, SOFOP day for paediatric orthopaedics, the round table on the year's theme and the Orthorisq session.

Industry partners hold their symposiums at lunchtime: DePuy Synthes, Arthrex and BD on Wednesday, Zimmer, Biobank, Arthrex and Newclip on Thursday, Smith & Nephew and Symbios on Friday. For 2026, the organiser announces a short 30 to 45-minute format, tied to the theme of the day, with quizzes and live voting. The SFT day also hosts industry workshops on distal radius and tibial plateau fractures.

Innovation Prize

The "Prix de l'Innovation en chirurgie orthopédique et traumatologique SOFCOT-SNITEM-AFIDEO 2026" ("SOFCOT-SNITEM-AFIDEO 2026 Innovation Prize in orthopaedic and trauma surgery") is open to young French companies developing an innovation in orthopaedics: diagnostic and planning support, procedural support, patient follow-up, training and simulation, data and algorithms. Selected start-ups will take part in the Village des Nouvelles Technologies during the congress and present their solution to experts. The winner receives €1,000, a stand at the Village des Nouvelles Technologies at the 2027 congress and networking introductions. The prize is awarded on 11 November 2026. Doc&Go was the 2025 winner.

Community & networks

The congress brings together the specialty's entire ecosystem: the associated and partner sub-specialty societies, the Collège Français des Chirurgiens Orthopédistes et Traumatologues, the Collège des Jeunes Orthopédistes, the Conseil National Professionnel CNP-COT, Orthorisq and the specialty's trade union, the SNCO, which holds a professional session on Wednesday. Younger members have their own track: the Orthopaedic Review Course to prepare for the DES, practical workshops, a round table and the Orthobattle quiz in the debate area of the exhibition hall.

For its hundredth congress, the SOFCOT is holding a charity gala dinner on Thursday 12 November at 7:30pm, at the Hôtel Martinez, in aid of its endowment fund FICOT Avenir, dedicated to innovation, research and training in orthopaedic surgery. The evening is fully booked, with a waiting list; partners can purchase seats or a table.

On site: what you need to know

The congress is held at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, 1 boulevard de la Croisette, at the start of the Croisette, in the heart of Cannes. Sessions take place notably in the Louis Lumière auditorium, the Debussy room, the Jean Mineur auditorium, the Hi5 Studio, the Ambassadeurs lounges and the Philippe Erlanger room, as well as rooms set up within the exhibition hall.

Cannes railway station is less than a ten-minute walk from the Palais; the congress website gives a train journey of 5 hours 15 minutes from Paris, 4 hours from Lyon and 2 hours from Marseille. Nice Côte d'Azur Airport is connected to Cannes by shuttle in around 45 minutes, and Cannes-Mandelieu business airport is 15 minutes away. By car, the A8 motorway serves Cannes via exits 42 and 43; the Palais car park, directly beneath the building, has 924 spaces, including 15 reserved for people with reduced mobility, and 49 charging points.

Sessions start at 8am each day and finish around 6pm, until 7pm on Wednesday because of the opening ceremony. REVOLUGO is the official hotel partner for the 2026 edition: hotels less than 15 minutes' walk from the Palais have been booked at preferential rates for participants and exhibitors, subject to availability.

How much it costs to exhibit

Preparing your visit

For exhibitors

• Plan around the logistics calendar published by MCO Congrès: space allocation on 30 April 2026, technical file sent on 15 September, fitted stand build on Tuesday 10 November, dismantling on Friday 13 November.
• Plan travel ahead: the congress opens on 11 November, a public holiday, and the build takes place the day before. Book accommodation early through REVOLUGO, as room allocations are on a first-come, first-served basis.
• Choose the day that matches your market: Thursday concentrates the sub-specialty society days (spine, hip and knee, shoulder, foot, hand), Friday covers artificial intelligence, navigation and paediatric orthopaedics.
• For a symposium, work with the short format announced (30 to 45 minutes, quiz, voting) and tie it to the theme of the day, as the organiser intends.
• For a start-up, aim for the Innovation Prize: applications for 2026 closed on 30 June, but the winner gets a stand at the 2027 congress.

For decision-making visitors

• Build a route by sub-specialty using the online programme, which lets you filter by room, session type and theme.
• Take advantage of the exhibition being concentrated on level -1, on the way to the session rooms, to compare implants, robots and planning solutions on the same day.
• Attend the industry symposiums at lunchtime: these are the moments when manufacturers present their new products alongside surgeon users.
• Stay until Friday afternoon for the Orthorisq session if you are involved in accreditation or periodic certification.

CSR policy & initiatives

The organising agency, MCO Congrès, provides partners and participants with a guide for an "éco positif" ("eco-positive") congress. It sets out the aim of moving towards plastic-free, waste-free and paper-free congresses, and recommends ten actions to exhibitors: a reusable stand, removing carpet or using recyclable carpet, eco-designed and reusable signage, energy-efficient equipment, hauliers who have signed the Objectif CO2 charter, zero paper on stands, waste sorting, committed suppliers, accessibility and shared travel.

The subject also features in the scientific content: a "Développement durable et industrie" ("Sustainable development and industry") session is scheduled for Friday 13 November, the SFCR awards a prize for the best "Développement durable" ("Sustainable development") presentation during its day, and sustainable development is among the CNP-COT's areas of work cited in SOFCOT's 2026 annual report. These are programme themes, not a measured commitment: no carbon footprint report for the congress is published on the SOFCOT or congress websites, and no ISO 20121 certification specific to the event is displayed.

The venue provides the most formal guarantees. The Palais des Festivals et des Congrès de Cannes has been ISO 20121 certified for responsible management of event activity since 2022, ISO 9001 since 2009 and ISO 18788 since 2019. It has produced its carbon footprint report since 2016, has held the Tourisme & Handicap label since 2012 and became a "société à mission" ("mission-led company") on 12 December 2022. Cannes has held the Destination Innovante Durable (Sustainable Innovative Destination) label since 2023, renewed for 2025-2026.

How the congress has evolved

Trajectory analysis

The SOFCOT is the heir to the Société Française d'Orthopédie, founded in 1918, which became the Société Française d'Orthopédie et de Traumatologie in 1938, then SOFCOT in 1968. Its annual congress reaches the hundredth-edition milestone in 2026, and it is precisely at this moment that the society has chosen to shake up an established format: three days in mid-November, from Monday to Wednesday, at the Palais des Congrès de Paris, as in 2023, 2024 and 2025.

The 2025 annual report sheds light on this choice. It describes growing pressure on sponsors, linked to mergers and acquisitions, the financial difficulties of some manufacturers and the proliferation of congresses, which translates into a reduction in exhibition space and some partners pulling out, even though the large majority of manufacturers did take part. It also notes the annual rise in the Palais des Congrès' fixed costs and a fall in congress revenue, the society's main source of income, observed for several years running. The response was twofold: a Partner Club offered to manufacturers since 2021, then the decision to relocate the 2026 congress to Cannes and change agency, after eight years with 15 Mai. Eleven agencies responded to the tender for the 2026 to 2028 congresses, and MCO Congrès was selected.

The 2026 annual report sets three objectives for this change of city: reinvigorating the congress, involving the regions more and controlling organisational costs. The early published signals are favourable: more than a thousand registrations by the start of summer, 10 Platinum partners, 3 Bronze and more than 100 other partners announced, though the report does not detail what this last count covers. The real outcome will only be known after the congress.

Time will tell whether Cannes remains an anniversary interlude. At this stage, SOFCOT's agenda announces the 101st edition for 8 to 10 November 2027 at the Palais des Congrès de Paris. For a manufacturer, 2026 is therefore a one-off edition, where the destination and the new exhibition format may justify a different budget from the Paris years.

All data that does not mention a source comes from the organiser's website.

Unless otherwise stated, all factual data in this listing comes from the organiser's official website (sofcot-congres.fr).