ICCBBA had a fantastic experience at the 2024 ISBT Congress in Barcelona, Spain. Our team, comprising Karen Moniz (Technical Director), Erwin Cabana (Technical Manager), and Eoin McGrath (Executive Director), proudly represented ICCBBA at what turned out to be the most attended ISBT meeting in the last decade, with over 3000 delegates from more than 100 different countries.

From the vantage point of our booth, the conference felt incredibly busy and international. By the end of the second day, we had given away all our materials. The ICCBBA raffle was a highlight, featuring branded hats, cold packs, and the star prize of a picnic cooler. We appreciate everyone who visited our booth, chatted with us, and participated in the draw.

Attending multiple sessions, we gained valuable insights. A standout was the poster on implementing the 2-D symbol (poster P017 ‘ISBT 128 goes 2D’). See link to abstract book, pg. 142 ISBT Barcelona 2024 | The International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT) (isbtweb.org). This session underscored the importance of our ongoing work and provided a platform to connect with both familiar users and those new to the standard.

We were thrilled to engage with numerous software vendors in the exhibition area, discussing new initiatives such as our upcoming vendor workshop on August 6th, ISBT 128 Vendor Workshop: Maximizing Benefits of Implementation. Being present at these events gives us a chance to close the gap with our end-users.

A special highlight was visiting the impressive Barcelona multi-tissue bank (Banc de Sang i Teixits). We were grateful to Anna, Natàlia, Jaime, Eva, and Vanessa for their time and for sharing their process of maintaining traceability for milk, tissues, and blood. It was inspiring to see the impact of ICCBBA’s work in action. We look forward to the next time!

ICCBBA is the international standards organization responsible for the management and development of the ISBT 128 Standard.  

The acronym ISBT was originally derived from the important role played by the International Society of Blood Transfusion in the development of the Standard. Today it expands as Information Standard for Blood and Transplantation. The number 128 reflects the 128 characters of the ISO/IEC 646 7-bit character set.

Media Contact: Christina Salinas

Email: support@iccbba.org