Institutional and Professional Relations.........................................................................20

In 2020, Regenerative Orthopaedics program leader deputy Prof David Eglin was appointed as full-time professor at Ecoles des Mines Saint Etienne, IMT, France. Therefore, Sibylle Grad agreed to take over again the deputy function. Matteo D'Este took over ad interim leadership of Biomedical Materials. Prof. Mauro Alini's Focus Area was renamed Sound Guided Tissue Regeneration (former Organ Models).

After thorough analysis of the current AO Foundation leadership structure supported by an external coach, Geoff Richards was appointed Executive Director Research and Development globally, which now comprises not only ARI, but shortly R&D undertaken in the Global Networks of the AO Foundation (not including AO North America or small regional start up grants). The Executive Committee is a much smaller and focused group compared to the former AO Executive Management team (AOEM), which had nine executive members and four permanent guests. It focuses much more on strategy than on daily business compared to the former AOEM.