Judy Maksoud
International Editor

LISBON, Portugal -- The 17th annual International Offshore and Polar Engineering Conference opened in Lisbon on July 2. The goal of the conference is to present the latest technology, which it will accomplish in the course of the week through 120 sessions of refereed papers and seven plenary sessions, said Dr. Tamotsu Matsui of Fukui University of Technology, president of ISOPE 2006-2007.

Matsui opened the conference with a challenge to the participants. "Our society has to perform the role of integrating diverse engineering roles," he said.

With the demands of the offshore changing, technology is being driven ever harder to keep pace. "World technology has been changing rapidly," Matsui said, and it is the job of researchers to find ways to move those technologies into the field.

Matsui introduced the chairperson for the first panel of speakers early Monday morning. The panel included five speakers from academia, government, and industry, a sampling of what is scheduled over the five-day conference, which includes more than 600 technical papers delivered by presenters from more than 50 countries, Matsui said.

Some of the topics for the week's sessions are risk-based design, flow-induced vibrations, renewable energy, and underwater vehicles.

7/2/2007