Denmark
ECM Congress 2026
ECM pharmacology Congress – Building a scientific community beyond the congress
Corporate Event Management
Congress Management
Association Development
Community Building
+25%
Participant growth (2022-2026)
+106%
Sponsor growth (2022-2026)
+33%
International reach growth (2022-2026)
The Challenge
When Nordic Bioscience launched the first Extracellular Matrix Pharmacology Congress (ECM) in 2022, the ambition was clear: create a scientific forum that would bring together researchers, clinicians, and industry experts working with extracellular matrix (ECM) biology across different disease areas.
The challenge was not only to organise a successful congress, but to establish a long-term international platform capable of growing a scientific community, fostering collaboration across disciplines, and advancing research in a rapidly developing field.
ECM biology is increasingly recognised as a common denominator across a wide range of diseases, with extracellular matrix changes linked to conditions affecting organs such as the skin, lungs, liver, gut, heart, joints, and solid tumours. This broad disease relevance created a strong need for a congress that could connect organ specialists, researchers, clinicians, and industry representatives around shared biological mechanisms and potential patient benefits.
Pictures from previous conferences
The Solution
CAP Partner has worked alongside Nordic Bioscience since the inception of the congress, providing strategic advice, project management, and full congress organisation for ECM2022, ECM2024, and ECM2026 and will continue to do so for future ECM congresses.
Beyond delivering the congresses themselves, the collaboration focused on creating a sustainable framework that would support the continued growth of the ECM community and strengthen its international impact.
Our involvement has included:
Strategic planning and congress development
Scientific programme coordination
Sponsorship and exhibition management
Participant registration and abstract handling
Marketing and communications
Stakeholder engagement
On-site congress operations
The Results
The first ECM Congress in Copenhagen in 2022 demonstrated a strong demand for a dedicated international forum within ECM research, attracting more than 400 participants from 30 countries, receiving 200 abstracts, and engaging 40 speakers and 17 sponsors.
From congress to scientific society
Building on this success, ECM2024 represented an important milestone in the evolution of the initiative. During the congress, The International Society of Extracellular Matrix Pharmacology (ISEMP) was established, creating a permanent international organisation dedicated to advancing ECM research and collaboration. The Society held its first General Assembly during ECM2024, marking the transition from a successful congress series to a growing scientific community with a formal organisational foundation.
The establishment of ISEMP has helped ensure continuity between congresses, providing researchers, clinicians, and industry representatives with an ongoing platform for collaboration, knowledge exchange, and professional development.
ECM2026: Continued international growth
By ECM2026, the congress had further strengthened its position as a leading international meeting place for ECM researchers. The event welcomed 500 registered participants from 40 countries and featured 106 oral presentations, 165 posters, and 265 submitted abstracts. With participation from more than 80 different companies and support from 35 sponsors, ECM2026 demonstrated both the scientific quality of the congress and the growing international engagement around the ECM field.
Cross-disciplinary community impact
The congress also highlighted the value of bringing together specialists from different disease areas and organ systems. By encouraging dialogue across disciplines, ECM2026 supported knowledge exchange around common mechanisms in ECM remodeling and fibrosis, helping to strengthen a collaborative community focused on accelerating scientific progress and improving long-term patient outcomes.
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CAP Partner's role
CAP Partner has acted as a strategic partner throughout the development of ECM Congress, helping transform an ambitious scientific meeting into an established international congress series and supporting the creation of a scientific society that will continue to drive the field forward.
The ECM journey demonstrates how professional congress management, strategic development, and association expertise can work together to create lasting impact that extends far beyond the congress itself.
