The Brazilian Institute for Leather, Footwear and Leathergoods Technology (IBTeC) will hold its annual symposium on footwear biomechanics in Novo Hamburgo, April 4-6. Geared towards entrepreneurs and professionals operating in product development, footwear engineering, marketing and quality control, the event will highlight the latest development sand projects in the field of foot health and comfort. 

Lecturers will include Dr. Thomas Milani, Technische Universität Chemitz, Germany; Dr. Ewald M. Hennig, Universität Essen, Germany; Dr. Stefan Grau, Universität Tübingen, Germany; Dr. Mário A. Lafortune – Nike Sport Research Laboratory, USA; Dr. Milton Antônio Zaro – IBTeC; Dr. Aluísio Otávio Vargas Ávila – IBTeC; Dr. Alberto Carlos Amadio, University of Sao Paulo; Dr. Mário Cesar Andrade, University of the State of Santa Catarina – UDESC; designer Ângela Jacobus, IBTeC; and stylists Carlos Raymundo, director of the Estúdio Carray, and Mauro Sarmento, director of Proggetti Design.

The symposium will be based on two roundtable sessions. The subject of the first will be Footwear Evaluation, which will illustrate how to evaluate shoes in terms of comfort, performance, safety and health. The second roundtable will deal with Footwear Design and the designers participating will introduce modern design concepts and the new technologies.