FEI Medical Committee member Allen Sills, who is also a member of the ICCCS Organising and Scientific Committees, was one of the panellists for a discussion on the advanced or novel tests that could assist in the evaluation of concussion, as well as a debate on the evidence and effectiveness of specific treatment interventions.

The FEI was one of five co-sponsors of the conference, alongside the International Olympic Committeee (IOC), FIFA, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) and World Rugby.

"The FEI is honoured to support the ICCCS and be a part of the debate that will improve athlete safety across the sports world," Ibáñez said.

"It is essential that there is an increased awareness of the safety issues we face in equestrian and other sports and we owe a big debt of thanks to the scientific communities for the research that will help us improve risk management protocols for athlete safety."

IIHF chief medical officer Dr Mark Aubry opened the two-day conference, stating that the fight against concussions in sport is now at the centre of the player safety debate across the sporting world.

"This whole scientific meeting really brings sport and science together," he said.

"The science and expertise delivers the knowledge that we in sport can use, and our athletes can be the beneficiaries of our knowledge.

"You have all the leading experts in the field of sport concussions under one roof, either in the audience or among the expert panel."

The conference drew more than 400 international medical professionals and scientists, as well as representatives from a number of sports, including equestrian, hockey, football and rugby.

IIHF President René Fasel and World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont also attended.

Rugby is one of the most affected sports when it comes to concussion and it remains the most common injury in English professional rugby, according to a Professional Rugby Injury Surveillance Project.

A report last year also revealed the number of cases within sport in the nation had tripled from 3.9 per 1,000 playing hours in 2011-12 to 10.5 per 1,000 playing hours in 2013-14.

"Concussion is a top priority for all sports and we continue to collaborate with other sports and leading medical and scientific experts to ensure the very best programmes are implemented to protect participants at all levels," said Beaumont.

"The Berlin conference is an important forum and we will continue to ensure that we remain aligned with the latest recognised best practice in order that we can continue to further educational, management and preventative strategies that reduce the risk of concussion in rugby."

Speaking about concussion in ice hockey, Fasel added: "As a sports federation what we can do is to make special rules to protect our athletes and players, in hockey we have players skating 45 kilometres per hour and weighing over 100 kilograms, but we still need the research and evidence to back us up when we make rule changes.

"It is because of the ICCCS that we have the scientific evidence to make positive changes for a player’s health, such as eliminating checks to the head.

"The key is to simplify for us non-medical people…trying to find a consensus of concussion that everyone can understand and use is a very difficult task."

The development of the ICCCS has been an evolutionary process since the first conference in 2001 in Austria’s capital Vienna, and it is now recognised as the foremost scientific conference in this field.

Delegates at this year’s conference were shown the latest research about concussions, including the definition of what a concussion is, and presentations about technologies and biomarkers that could aid on-site medical staff to diagnose a concussion near the field of play.

The three major accomplishments of the ICCCS have been the Pocket Concussion Assessment Tool (CRT), the Sport Concussion Assessment Tool, currently in its third version known as SCAT3, and the Child Sport Concussion Assessment Tool (Child-SCAT3).

A Consensus Statement on Concussion in Sport from the Berlin conference is due to be published early next year.