Moving Frontiers: first time in South America
November 15-18, 2006, the IIBCC was held in Sao Paulo,
Brazil under the management of Universidade de São Paulo in
cooperation with University of Idaho. This was the first time
the conference moved outside North America. The opportunity was
made possible, due to the cooperation between Prof. Al
Moslemi from the University of Idaho and his Brazilian
colleagues; Professors Vahan Agopyan, Vanderley John and Holmer
Savastano at the Universidade de São Paulo along with the
organising team and Conference Committees.
The conference was visited by some 142 attendees,
including invited participants. Attendees came in from
all regions of the world; about 69% of them came from developing
countries. South America participation was strongly influenced by a
large number of Brazilian attendees.
Approximately 74% of the attendees represented
the business community, corresponding to almost an equal share
of producers and suppliers. The attendees from the
academic business amounted to roughly a quarter of the
total.
More than half (53.6%) of the 29 speakers from all over the
world represented private companies. The industry supply chain was
responsible for almost a third of the total technical content
at the conference.
The 10th IIBCC, the first outside of North America,
was a successful conference. It was a truly international
conference with both speakers and attendees from all regions of the
world. The traditional mix between industrial and academic areas
was also maintained.
Conference proceedings in CD-R contained 27 full papers, and
a special issue on inorganic-bonded fibre composites
containing 12 peer-reviewed manuscripts was accepted for
publication in the Construction and Building Materials Journal,
Elsevier.