Third Belgian National Day on Biomedical EngineeringIt has now become customary: every fall, about mid-October, the Belgian Society (BSMBEC) and the Belgian National Committee on Biomedical Engineering organize a one day conference under the auspices of the Royal Academy. In 2003, the conference was held on October 17. After the introduction by President Verdonck, invited speaker Wolfgang Schreiber from the university of Mainz gave a thrilling talk about new applications in magnetic resonance: assessment of the lung's function via nuclear magnetic resonance imaging of gases. He was followed by local speakers: young researchers highlighting several aspects of the rich and vast field of biomedical engineering: Benoit Macq (UCL) treated the association of biomechanical models and co-registered medical images, Bart Bijnens (KUL) talked about ultrasound and myocardial deformation, Patrick Segers (Ugent) about the integration of cardiovascular mechanics and fluid dynamics via ultrasound imaging and Adrian Munteanu (VUB), about wavelet image coding. In the afternoon, Nillo Sarannumi explained the creation of the "European Alliance for Medical and Biological Engineering and Science", earlier that year, the structures of the new alliance, its purpose and its planned actions. A poster session, comprising a total of thirty five posters in three tracks ("Medical Information Technology", "Clinical-Medical" and "Biomechanics", concluded the day's scientific program. Attendees were guided along the posters by the track session chairpersons, while the authors were given the possibility to highlight their work and to react to questions. Finally, the 105 attendees enjoyed a drink whilst discussing their work, while promising to meet again next year, look forward to present their progresses and learning about others'. The proceedings of this National Day were published in the series of the "Flemish forum for knowledge and culture" of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium. Abstracts can also be consulted on-line via http://navier.ugent.be/NationalDay Many warm thanks go to the Royal Academy, for its support via the National Committee on Biomedical Engineering that could be created after ICSU recognition of our field! As a "catalyser" this "National Day also drew, along with Niilo Sarannumi, an "international crowd" to Brussels: the European Alliance met on the following Saturday and Sunday in the Academy, in order to define its policies and action plans for the near future.
Marc Nyssen
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