ICIC 2011 - The Meeting
ICIC is the International Conference on Trends for Scientific Information Professionals.
ICIC International Conference for the Information Community
For those in the sci-tech world, sharing best practices, networking and evaluating trends have become matters of considerable importance, and the annual ICIC Meeting & Exhibition is the significant forum for this, attracting over 200 attendees from the main sci-tech companies and information, service or software providers.
Started in 1989...
These exciting and highly respected annual conferences, that started in Montreux in 1989 and were subsequently held in Annecy, Nîmes, Barcelona, Nice and Vienna, have always provided a barometer as to the strengths and frailties of the world of sci-tech and patent information.
The conference lasts for two and a half days and features approximately 24 formal presentations, panels on topical matters, all interspersed with short new product information presentations. All sessions are plenary. The conference normally begins with a reception on the first evening to enable attendees to begin to network with each other, and has a cocktail party on the second evening. Lunches are taken at the conference venue, and breaks are designed to facilitate networking and interaction. A focused exhibition of approximately 25 stands is integrated within the conference. Attendance at these meetings is highly international, with no one nationality predominating.
The 2011 ICIC conference is organised by Dr Haxel Congress and Event Management, with Infonortics organising the conference programme.
Subject Areas for the 2011 Programme
The traditional focus of the ICIC programmes is subjects of interest to information professionals in a scientific or technical environment. As in previous years, this year's programme contains a number of presentations examining aspects of patent information retrieval, including drug discovery; patent information presents many challenges and is thus an excellent test-bed when it comes to information technology. The ICIC meeting's roots in chemical information also ensure that that area features prominently; chemical information was one of the first fields to attract modern information technologies back at the end of the nineteenth century and the very beginning of the twentieth.
Search and Retrieval is covered by many presentations, including those by David Milward (UK), Anne Bülow (Denmark), Josef Eiblmaier (Germany), James Ryley (USA), Gregory Grefenstette (France) and Ron Kaminecki (USA). Another interesting group of papers explores the challenges of developing modern information centres, with Stefano Caporusso (Switzerland), Dennie Heye (Netherlands) and Thorkild Sørensen (Denmark). And current 'hot' information areas connected with mobile information, social network information and e-business are discussed by Randall Marcinko (USA), Georges Fischer (France), Antony Williams (UK) and Antoine Raulin (France).
This year, the 2011 ICIC Patent Panel examines whether we are working towards a changed and interesting future for all the participants in Intellectual Property. Patent professionals, including lawyers, users, suppliers and developers will give their views in a panel chaired and animated by Pierre Buffet of Questel. The five expert panellists are Ann Chapman of Minesoft (a service provider), Alfred Elmaleh of the French Petroleum Institute (a patent professional), Monika Hanelt of Agfa Graphics (a patent information expert and new president of the Patent Documentation Group (PDG)), James Ryley of SumoBrain (a service and software provider) and Yo Takagi of WIPO (in charge of Global Infrastructure). The panellists will examine and discuss, with the audience, a range of questions relating to the future of the patent information domain. The future scenarios touched upon will be of interest to everyone at the ICIC meeting. The 2011 programme promises to be even better, more topical and more vibrant than ever.
Next ICIC: 23-26 October 2011, Barcelona
Location: World Trade Center Barcelona
