1st European Medical & Biological Engineering Conference (EMBEC’99)
The 1st European Medical and Biological Engineering Conference (EMBEC’99) was held in Vienna (Austria) from 4-7 November 1999, as the first joint meeting of the European member societies of IFMBE. The meeting took place in the Austria Centre in Vienna in the direct neighbourhood of the UNO building. This location, with one of the most renowned institutions in the world in the vicinity and Vienna as the conference site, could be considered symbolic for the first attempt to bring together the whole European BME community 10 years after the fall of the iron curtain and in the heart of the continent where the border had separated Eastern and Western Europe for many decades.
The scientific program was identified by 31 topics. Each topic was represented by three experts of high international reputation as topic animators and session organizers. More than 1000 abstracts were submitted and underwent reviewing by 111 reviewers around the world. Finally, 950 papers were accepted with a mean score of 2.0 on a ranking scale from 1 (excellent) to 4 (not acceptable). 530 papers were presented orally, organized in up to 11 parallel sessions, and 420 papers as poster presentations. 15 special sessions, most of them organized or sponsored by national societies, were included in the scientific program. 4 scientific minisymposia and round-table discussions during the lunch breaks were attended by many interested colleagues despite the temptation of the famous Viennese cuisine in restaurants around the Congress Centre. Eight tutorials attracted 197 participants. 53 young scientists participated in the student competition.
The first authors of the 950 papers represented 55 countries around the world. The ranking of the countries with regard to first authors was Germany (208), Austria (108), Italy (77), Poland (48), Japan (45) and UK (41). Strong positions in that ranking were occupied by Eastern European countries such as Russia and the Ukraine, but regrettably and due to the failure to obtain funding for colleagues from those countries, not all of these authors could participate and present their work. In total, the conference was attended by 1088 participants, among them 271 students. More than 800 full-length papers were included in the proceedings (2 volumes, more than 1900 pages) that were already available at the time of the conference. Some copies are still available and can be ordered via Prof. Hutten (hutten@ibmt.tu-graz.ac.at) or Prof. Rappelsberger (peter.rappelsberger@univie.ac.at). The price is ATS 1000,– (approximately USD 75,) – plus expenses for postage and packaging.
Highlights of the scientific program were the opening lecture by Prof. Ernst (Zürich, Switzerland), the Nobel laureate in chemistry of 1991, on “From NMR to MRI” and 12 plenary lectures from scientists of the highest international reputation. In his excellent lecture, Prof. Ernst showed the important contributions and historical research work carried out on NMR from the beginning to the present day. He revealed the scientific potential of this method, which is still available and may be used to gain new insights and bioengineering approaches at the molecular level. It is not possible to discuss the plenary lectures in detail although all would earn such consideration since they were outstanding and stimulating presentations. Here only the exciting presentation by Prof. Schwan (Philadelphia, USA) shall be mentioned. Prof. Schwan belongs to the IFMBE founder generation and is one of the pioneers of biomedical engineering (with 84 years possibly the oldest and one of the last among us) who has made numerous and fundamental contributions to the discipline, especially in the field of bioimpedance. It was highly enjoyable to listen to his presentation and to learn which challenges and problems await the appropriate administration of bio-impedance methods.
A special session was devoted to the future organization of BME in Europe. The discussion on that subject was animated, sometimes even controversial, although in the end very positive and forward looking. It became obvious that BME in Europe needs an adequate structure and organization to be prepared for European challenges such as harmonisation of higher education, accreditation and professional issues, acknowledgement as a European non-governmental organization, EU research programs such as BIOMED, international collaboration, and last but not least partnership and support for the developing BME community in countries undergoing transition in Europe. A task force group has been established by the president of IFMBE, Prof. Morucci, to consider the situation and submit proposals.
During the opening ceremony, welcome addresses were given by Prof. Morucci (president of IFMBE), Dr Rozsenich (representative of the Austrian Ministry of Science and Transport), Prof. Windischbauer (President of the Austrian Society of Biomedical Engineering), and Prof. Hutten (EMBEC’99 conference president). The official ceremony was opened by music from Mozart and closed by music from Strauss, thus providing a typical Viennese atmosphere.
On November 4th, the Mayor of Vienna invited the participants and accompanying persons to a reception in the historical town hall. It is always gratefully acknowledged by the attendants and the organizers of scientific conferences if the official authorities take note of the event. The Austrian and Viennese authorities certainly gave all attendants of EMBEC’99 the feeling of being really welcome in Vienna. A special social program was provided with guided tours to the city and its famous buildings, museums and shopping places. Another highlight of the social program was the visit to a ‘Heurigen’, a typical Viennese wine restaurant in one of the suburbs that surround Vienna.
The EMBEC’99 was the first successful attempt to bring together the European BME community. Consequently, discussions are taking place as to whether more European conferences on medical and biological engineering should be organized in regular intervals, e.g. in intervals of three years. So far, no final decision has been made and many aspects still need to be discussed. However, after this first EMBEC it would be a good idea to meet again in 2002.
Prof. Dr Helmut Hutten
Graz (Austria)
Email: hutten@ibmt.tu-graz.ac.at