The first International Congress on Ceramics will be a three and one-half day meeting to be held June 25-29, 2006 at the Westin Hotel in Toronto, Canada. The meeting is anticipated to have an attendance of ~ 750. The second and third Congresses are tentatively scheduled for 2008 in Europe and 2010 in Asia, respectively.

The Congress will be structured to produce a “Global Roadmap for Ceramics.” An international advisory committee will select topics and speakers addressing a broad range of ceramic applications critical to the technologies of tomorrow. Potential topics include, but are not limited to, ceramics in energy, ceramics in transportation, ceramics in medicine and biology, ceramics in communication, ceramics in electronics, ceramics in optical systems, etc. The intention is to invite high level technical and administrative speakers from key industrial firms and academia, who can speak to their company’s and industry sector’s vision of the future.

The end product of the ICC will be a series of Proceedings Volumes in both electronic and print format, that will include position papers written by invited speakers, along with content developed during workshop sessions. The volumes will include summaries of each of the technical focus areas chosen for the Congress, as well as a synopsis of the ceramic field as a whole.

An exhibition or technology fair and an array of sponsorship opportunities will be provided to encourage industry participation and access to the anticipated, elite international audience of attendees.

Organizers are Congress President, Dr. Stephen Freiman, Deputy Directory, Materials Science
and Engineering Laboratory, NIST (American Ceramic Society), Co-President Dr. Gian Nicola
Babini, Director, Institute of Science and Technology for Ceramics (European Ceramic Society, and Co-President Dr. Shin-ichi Hirano, President of Nagoya University (Ceramic Society of Japan).

The American Ceramic Society (ACerS) is a 107-year-old non-profit organization that serves the informational, educational, and professional needs of the international ceramics community. The Society's more than 8,000 members comprise a wide variety of individuals and interest groups that include engineers, scientists, researchers, manufacturers, plant personnel, educators, students, marketing and sales professionals, and others in related materials disciplines. ACerS provides members and subscribers in 80 countries with access to periodicals and books, meetings and expositions, and online technical information.

The European Ceramic Society (ECerS) is a non-governmental, nonprofit federation of societies each representing the ceramists of a member country. ECerS was established in 1987 in order to co-ordinate and promote the study of ceramics and in particular: to encourage education, training and research; to consult with and bring together individuals and representatives of members, research establishments, academic bodies and institutions of governments and other bodies including the Commission of the European Community; to collect, disseminate and exchange information with other organizations; to promote planning, promotion and organization of conferences and meetings; and to procure planning, printing, publication and circulation of technical papers.

The Ceramic Society of Japan (CerSJ) was established in 1891 with an aim to promote the development of ceramic industry, science and technology. CerSJ is the only comprehensive organization on ceramics in Japan that unites academe and industry. Ceramics has become an important academic field in engineering due to the effort made by our members over the last 100 years.

Media Contact:
Jeff Calvert
Marketing Director
jcalvert@ceramics.org
614-794-5876