CIARP’2006 was held at the Gran Caribe Real Hotel located in Cancun, Mexico. The congress was organized by the Computer Science Department of the INAOE, and was endorsed by the International Association for Pattern Recognition (IAPR). It was sponsored by the Mexican Association for Computer Vision, Neurocomputing and Robotics (MACVNR), the Cuban Association for Pattern Recognition (ACRP), the Spanish Association for Pattern Recognition and Image Analysis (AERFAI), the Special Interest Group on Pattern Recognition of the Brazilian Computer Society (SIGPR-SBC), the Portuguese Association for Pattern Recognition (APRP), and the Chilean Association for Pattern Recognition (AChRP), which soon will be an IAPR association.

 

We received contributions from 36 countries. In total 239 papers were submitted, out of which 99 were accepted for publication in the proceedings and for presentation at the conference. The review process was carried out by the Scientific Committee, each paper being assessed by at least two reviewers who, in conjunction with other reviewers, prepared an excellent selection dealing with ongoing research.

 

The 99 accepted papers were published by Springer Verlag in the volume Progress in Pattern Recognition, Image Analysis, and Applications, LNCS 4225, edited by José Francisco Martínez Trinidad, Jesús Ariel Carrasco Ochoa and Josef Kittler.

 

Two keynote addresses were presented: “Maxi-Min Initialization for Cluster Analysis” by James Bezdek of the University of West Florida, and “Hierarchies Relating Topologies and Geometry” by Dr. Walter Kropatsch of the Vienna University of Technology . In addition, two tutorials were offered: “Fuzzy Models for Pattern Recognition” by Dr. James Bezdek and “Overview of Feature Selection Techniques in Statistical Pattern Recognition” by Dr. Pavel Pudil. We especially want to thank Dr. Kropatsch and Dr. Pudil for stepping in at the last moment to fill in for previously invited speakers who unfortunately could not attend..

 

The conference was organized in three parallel sessions with two plenary talks, two tutorials, a work session of the CIARP’s steering committee and a Final Meeting in which the organization of this conference was evaluated. During the steering committee session several suggestions for future CIARPs were proposed, including the creation of IAPR best paper and best student paper awards. In addition in this session, the place for the next two conferences was decided.  The 12th Iberoamerican Congress on Pattern Recognition will be held at the Valparaiso University, Chile, in November, 2007, and the 13th Iberoamerican Congress on Pattern Recognition will be held in Havana, Cuba, in 2008.

 

During the event, meals took place at the Gran Caribe Real Hotel restaurants. The conference finished with a pool-side dinner, commanding a beautiful view of the azure Caribbean Sea and the newly expanded white sand beach.

 

We consider that CIARP’2006 served as a forum for exchange of scientific research and establishment of contacts that will improve cooperation between Iberoamerican research groups and other well-established pattern recognition groups from the around the world.

 Conference Report:  CIARP 2006