World organisation of systems and cybernetics

World organisation of systems and cybernetics

Address to the Congress – Professor Robert ValléeAddress at the 12th International WOSC Congress and 4th Workshop of lIGSS, Pittsburgh, March 24-26 2002

Mr Co-President, dear participants,

It is a great honour and pleasure for me to welcome you, in the name of the World Organisation of Systems and Cybernetics (WOSC) at the opening of the "12th International WOSC Congress and 4th Workshop of IIGSS" (or International Institute of General Systems Studies).

Professor Stafford Beer, President of the WOSC and Honorary President of this joint manifestation, regrets not to be able to participate for medical reasons. Of course he joins his greetings to mine, as well as Professor J. Rose, founder and Honorary Director-General. Dr Alex Andrew, Director for international affairs, here present, also welcomes you.

My congratulations go to Professor Yi Lin, President of IIGSS, Co-President of this joint event and main organizer, for the quality of the task he performed. My thanks go also to the sponsors such as: UNESCO-Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems Joint Committee, IIGSS WOSC, Chicago Center for Creative Development and private donors.

Let me also welcome all the authors of communications, organizers of symposia and lecturers from many countries, who will make a great scientific success of this joint Congress and Workshop.

Robert ValléeCo-PresidentProf. Emeritus Université. Paris-NordDirector-General of WOSC

Congress felicitations

Amongst the many felicitations sent to the WOSC Congress/IIGSS Workshop were those of Emerald, the publishers of this journal and also the Editor-in- Chief of Kybernetes, Professor Brian Rudall, the Director of the, Norbert Wiener Institute of Systems and Cybernetics of WOSC.

WOSC honorary fellowships

The World Organisation of Systems and Cybernetics bestowed its prestigious honorary fellowships on:

^.Prof. Acad. Zdzislaw Bubnicki, for his contributions to the theory of systems, the foundation of the journal "Systems Science" and the long series of Conferences on Systems Science" he organized at the Technical University of Wroclaw (Poland), in UK and USA (see Plate 3).

^.Dr. Jeffrey Yi Lin Forrest, for his works in systems science, the foundation and direction of the International Institute for General Systems Studies and the IIGSS Workshops (see Plate 4).

They were presented at a Ceremony held at the Congress by the Director- General of the organisation.

Report by the co-chairman – 12th WOSC Congress and 4th IIGSS workshop

The 12th International WOSC (World Organisation of Systems and Cybernetics) Congress and the 4th IIGSS (the International Institute for General Systems Studies) Workshop took place as planned during March 23-26, 2002, with Stafford Beer (Canada) being the Honorary Chair and Yi Lin (USA) and Robert Vallée (France) serving as the co-chair. The event, held at Sheraton Station Square Hotel, Pittsburgh, USA, attracted over 150 scholars from 32 nations and regions, including, Belarus, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Latvia, Mongolia, People's Republic of China, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Russia, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, USA, Venezuela.

Over 40 scientific disciplines and areas were represented at the conference, including aerospace engineering, artificial intelligence, atmospheric physics, automation, biological science, business administration, communication, computer science, control and systems engineering, cybernetics, digital engineering, dynamics, earth science, economics, education, electric and computer engineering, electrical engineering, electronic physics, finance, geographical science, health and epidemiology, industrial design, industrial engineering, informatics, information systems, law, law and policies of organizations, management, mathematics (pure and applied), mechanical engineering, mechanics, medical technology, medicine, military science, planetary science, physiology, political science, public administration, regional economic planning, sociology, statistics (mathematical and applied), systems science, theoretical physics.

Plate 3. Professor Acad. Zdzislaw Bubnicki receives his Honorary Fellowship from the WOSC Director-General (right)

Plate 4. Professor Vallée (left) presents Dr Yi Lin Forrest with his Honorary Fellowship

Participants of the joint event consisted mainly of scholars from academia, administrations of higher education and research institutions. Also, some government officers, bankers, scientific practitioners in industry participated in the three-day event.

As part of the ongoing scientific research and collaborations, selected papers of the joint conference will be published as a double special issue of "Kybernetes: The International Journal of Systems and Cybernetics" (England) with Dr Forrest as the guest editor. And, works related to Reconstructability Analysis; a branch of the systems science, either presented at the conference or prepared specifically, will be published as another special volume of the journal, co-guest edited by Martin Zwick (Portland State University), Guangfu Shu (Academy of Mathematical and Systems Sciences of China), and Jeffrey Forrest (Slippery Rock University).

What is worth mentioning is that there were two technical sessions devoted to the topic of "New Theories about Time-Space" and six technical sessions to the new branch of systems and cybernetic research named "Grey Systems Theory, Methodology and Applications". Currently, all the participants of these technical sessions are organizing their papers into two additional special issues. One issue will focus on the studies about time and space presented at the conference, which will be guest edited by Xiang Jun Feng, Paul Gibson and Yi Lin. And, the other will emphasize on relevant studies of grey systems presented at the conference, which will be guest edited by Mian Yun Chen, Sifeng Liu and Yi Lin.

Dr. Yi LinCo-chairman