Outline of RWC'97 Programs

Takeshi Aikawa Chairperson of the RWC'97 Program Committee

Thank you very much for joining us today. I would like to briefly describe the programs of RWC'97.

As has already been mentioned, the Real World Computing Partnership started in 1992, and its research and development efforts fall under three main categories: Theory and Novel Functions, Massively Parallel Software and Architectures, and Optical Devices and Systems. This year is the midpoint of the project's 10-year duration. All the RWC'97 programs are intended to provide a complete picture of our past activities. We hope that throughout this symposium, you will take the time and effort to give us your opinions and ideas for the next phase of our project.

Today's plenary session is coordinated to allow researchers from the RWC Project and other sources to give informative speeches and discuss the direction of information processing technology in the next generation (Fig. 1).

The technical sessions scheduled for the second day and for the morning of the third day will present the results of individual research activities during the past five years; the audience is encouraged to join in the discussions (Figs. 2 and 3).

In a special session on the third day, you will see the basic policy of the next phase of the Real World Computing Project and the research and development plan of Real World Intelligence and Parallel and Distributed Computing technologies for the coming five years (Fig. 3).

Demonstrations will be held to enable participants to directly see and touch the results of the RWC Project. For two days, a total of 34 demonstrations will be presented; 21 for Theory and Novel Functions, one for Optical Devices and Systems, and 12 for Massively Parallel Software and Architectures. These presentations will be carried out from 4:50 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on the first day, and from 2:45 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on the second day (Figs. 1 and 2).

As for the technical session program, we requested papers from the Tsukuba Research Center and Distributed laboratories as well as the Electrotechnical Laboratory, an institute closely related to the RWC Project. As a result, 70 applications were made from the Theory and Novel Functions area, 15 from the Optical Devices and Systems area, and 16 from the Massively Parallel Software and Architectures area, for a total of 101 papers.

All of the papers were reviewed by 15 members from the RWC'97 Program Committee who were all experts on the RWC Project's research fields (Fig. 4).

The 101 papers were first reviewed for appropriateness pertaining to the symposium and then screened to establish which of the three presentation forms - poster session, oral session, or demonstration - was best suited to present the paper's information. Because all of the papers were found to be of high quality, the committee decided to incorporate all of them in the Proceedings of the symposium.

The presentation style for each paper was determined by the Program Committee by considering the contents, the intentions of presenters, the available space at the venue, and the schedule. As shown in Fig. 5, the Theory and Novel Functions area will present 19 oral sessions, 30 poster sessions, and 21 demonstrations; the Massively Parallel Software and Architecture area will produce 4 poster sessions and 12 demonstrations; and the Optical Devices and Systems will exhibit 14 poster sessions and one demonstration. In terms of country representation, Japan is the most represented with 69 paper applications, followed by the Netherlands with 9 papers, Austria with 6, and Germany with 5.

We were given a great deal of advice regarding the set up of the technical session program from the Advisory Group, which consists of representatives from both the academic and business worlds (Fig. 6).

A Demonstration Committee was founded to discuss and scrutinize demonstration methods for individual papers (Fig. 7).

As I have just described, we have managed to host this event thanks to the help and cooperation of many people.

Finally, I would like all presenters and the audience to actively participate in the various discussions so that RWC'97 will offer a good opportunity to explore the possibilities of fundamental information processing technology for the 21st century.