On behalf of the ICASSP 2006 Organizing Committee, I extend to you a hearty welcome to Toulouse, the so-called ‘pink’ city of the south of France (Midi-Pyrenees Region), European Capital for Space and Aeronautics. Toulouse was founded 24 centuries ago, and became the berth of French aeronautics as early as the very beginning of the 20th century. Later, in the 60s it becomes the French center for Space activities. With its long tradition of hi-tech activities, the Midi-Pyrenees Region has now around 20,000 people working in research and development, almost equally shared among public research laboratories and the private sector. The Midi-Pyrenees is also the leading region in Europe for space telecommunication, meteorology and climatology, with Toulouse contributing a key production and development site to the Galileo program and its applications. Ten establishments are working directly in spacecraft construction, in addition to 7,500 employees working for over 200 establishments serving spacecraft construction, and another 15,000 employees working in private companies and public bodies.
The ICASSP meeting is the world’s largest and most comprehensive technical conference focused on signal processing and its applications. The 31st version of our International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, for its first return to France since 1982 in Paris, will be held at the Centre des Congrès Pierre Baudis in downtown Toulouse, from May 14th to 19th, 2006. ICASSP 2006 will offer IEEE members several different passport registration packages, including conference registration and combinations of tutorials.
The Conference received more than 3000 submissions, and the number of student papers has grown significantly, with an increase of more than 50% of those competing in the Student Contest, which reflects positively on the level of interest of young researchers in this domain. ICASSP’06 has devoted a special effort to motivate future researcher and engineering careers in the fields of Signal and Image Processing: as part of promoting science-based engineering education, we will present an adaptation of the “Infinity Project” to the French/European context.
Toulouse and its surrounding region offer numerous attractions and contrasts to entertain its visitors. In addition to its rank as one of the major cities in the world for aircraft construction, it counts one of the highest percentages of students among its half million inhabitants. Attendees can visit the Airbus facility where the largest commercial jetliner in the world—the A380—is being assembled, and a number of hotspots for Space activities like French Space Agency (CNES), Alcatel Alenia Space, and others. It is also a place where the quality of life has been elevated to an art form over the centuries, due to complex interactions between the inhabitants and the place itself, making names like Cro-magnon, Lascaux or Tautavel famous. For those not interested in prehistory, the region also offers middle age fortresses in Carcassonne and twentieth century paintings accessible in Albi, the hometown of painter Toulouse-Lautrec. For those amongst the attendees who are flesh and blood, France is world renown for its exquisite cuisine and fine wines, and the Sud-Ouest Region is particularly proud of its traditional specific gastronomy; Toulouse lies at the doorstep of some of the world’s most prestigious vineyards. The organizing committee has assembled a splendid social program to showcase the many attributes of Toulouse and its surrounding areas.
Finally, I wish to recognize the superb work of the Organizing Committee, with special thanks to the two management companies Conference Management Services and Carte Blanche Organisation.
We look forward to welcoming you to Toulouse, and offering you a memorable scientific and cultural experience!
Francis Castanié, General Chair