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The International
Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) is
a multi-national federation of learned societies concerned with the
science of Automation and Control engineering. The purpose of IFAC is
to promote the science and technology of control in the broadest sense
of the term e.g. in engineering, physical, biological, social or
economic systems. IFAC is also concerned with the impact of control
technology on society.
IFAC World
Congress is the meeting place for all those who are
concerned with developments in theory and practice of Control
Engineering and Automation. These Congresses are organised on a
worldwide scale, once every three years, with attendance varying
between 1000 to 2000 persons. They are held in the home-country of the
President in office during the third year of his term of office.
The location and dates of past and future Congresses are shown
below:
Past -- IFAC World
Congresses:
1st Congress, 1960: Moscow (USSR)
2nd Congress, 1963: Basle (CH)
3rd Congress, 1966: London (UK)
4th Congress, 1969: Warsaw (PL)
5th Congress, 1972: Paris (F)
6th Congress, 1975: Boston/Cambridge (USA)
7th Congress, 1978: Helsinki (SF)
8th Congress, 1981: Kyoto (J)
9th Congress, 1984: Budapest (H)
10th Congress, 1987: Munich (FRG)
11th Congress, 1990: Tallinn (USSR)
12th Congress, 1993: Sydney (AUS)
13th
Congress, 1996: San Francisco (USA)
14th Congress, 1999: Beijing, P.R. China
16th Congress, 2005 : Prague, Czech Republic
17th Congress, 2008 : Seoul, Republic of Korea
In the run-up to the 15th IFAC World-
Congress (IFAC-2002), to be
held in July
2002, IFAC will promote discussions via Internet, or open
forums, on specific topics of interest. At the time of the
congress,
panel discussions will examine and analyse the material previously
discussed via internet. Here is how it works:
A promoter, assigned by the IPC, will lead and co-ordinate
each Open Forum and its corresponding Panel Discussion at the
Congress.
All registered congress participants may contribute to all
open forums. Each participant is allowed to submit up to two
different contributions at the same Open Forum.
The promoter will be responsible for structuring and
summarising the Open Forum contributions for their panel
discussion on the live track. This document will also include the
list of contributors.
On the merit of their contributions, the promoter may select
some participants of the Open Forum as members of the
corresponding live track panel discussion.
Suggested issues to be discussed in
the Open Forum: "IFAC in
developing countries"
IFAC in developing countries:
Of late, it has been noticed that the participation of developing
countries in IFAC related activities is declining. The role of
"Control Engineering" as a discipline of study is itself not very
prominent in many developing countries. The impact of IFAC in
harmonising Control Engineering related activities and bringing
together Control engineers is much less evident in developing
countries. All these and related issues need a deeper analysis and
study. A special Open Forum session
has therefore been proposed in the forthcoming 15th IFAC World
Congress, for discussing issues related to increasing the awareness
and participation in IFAC activities from developing countries.
In the context of developing
countries, we have several
issues which need urgent attention. Here is a first attempt to list
out some of the issues involved:
How do we get more involvement and participation in IFAC, from
developing countries ?
What are the obstacles (cost, lack of awareness, publicity,
presence, representation, promotion ....) ?
What about countries where there is no NMO interested in
collaborating with IFAC ?
Can we learn from other learned societies (e.g. IEEE, ACM,
IFIP) ?
Can we have any other forms of participation between Affiliate
and NMO (e.g. Friends of IFAC, Institutional sponsor) ? Will it help
? Will there be any conflicts with the charter of IFAC ?
Do our students (in developing countries) care for "Control
Engineering" as a discipline ? Does Control Engineering provide a
viable career option for our students ?
How many schools (in developing countries) teach Control
Engineering seriously at the under-graduate level ?
How many schools (which teach Control Engineering) are aware of
IFAC ? How many schools subscribe to IFAC publications ?
Can we organise a countrywise survey for understanding the
issues involved ?
Review of procedures for holding IFAC events in non-represented
countries.
Impact of socio-economic aspects
Can we not use the Internet more aggressively (e.g. post IFAC
Newsletter on an electronic mailing list), and get more
involvement from developing countries.
Incentives to individuals from developing countries
for contributing to IFAC and control engg.
What influence does the "bulldozer" effect of Computer Science
have, in weaning away promising students from Control Engineering to
Computer Science ?
Has funding for Control Engineering education /research been
affected by Computer Science (Information Technology) ?
+ + + + other related issues
How can you contribute (as a Registered IFAC-2002 delegate) ?
You can reach the IFAC-2002 Open Forum
web-page by starting from the IFAC
2002 homepage and then following the links: Virtual Track >> Open
Forum. Or, you can go directly to the Open Forum page at:
http://www.cimne.upc.es/congress/ifac/openfor/ . Log in with
your IFAC-2002 login name and password. Follow the instructions
given in the pages that show up.
If you are NOT registered for IFAC -2002, you can still help, by
Forwarding this URL to all your colleagues who may have registered
for IFAC-2002.
Sending a personal mail
to this promoter, with your suggestions. Based on the merits of
your points, the promoter may use your points in the Panel Discussions
during the IFAC-2002 Congress.
Are you an Indian ?
If you are an Indian, wherever you may be residing just now, please
visit the special
indifac page for an important announcement.
Contact the Open
Forum promoter
Street Address:
Dr. S. Parthasarathy
Algologic Research & Solutions
78 Sancharpuri Colony
Bowenpally P.O.
Secunderabad 500 011 -- INDIA
we care for standards
