Welcome from the IFAC President

Welcome to Busan

Welcome to Busan, and welcome to the 23rd IFAC World Congress. It is a great pleasure to greet you here in person. With this gathering, IFAC returns to Korea for the first time in eighteen years, and our motto, "Feedback in Busan," says exactly that.

This return is a personal one for me, as I chaired the International Program Committee when Korea hosted the Congress in Seoul in 2008.

The organizing team has prepared an excellent technical and social program for you. More than 3,000 papers will be presented at the Congress, which is expected to bring together over 4,400 participants. Alongside the technical program, we have arranged performances that we hope will introduce you to Korea itself. The Opening Ceremony features traditional Korean dance and folk percussion, and the banquet brings Korean classical song and a royal procession piece, followed by contemporary K-pop.

Yet the most lasting value of a World Congress is found not between the papers, but between the people. The conversations at coffee breaks, at the receptions, at the banquet, and in the hallways are often what we remember years later. So please do not simply attend a talk and return to your room. Stay around, and meet one another. In that spirit, if you are a young researcher or attending for the first time, reach out, introduce yourself, and let others welcome you. And if you are a senior member, offer a warm greeting to old friends and to newcomers alike. A community is sustained when this kind of welcome keeps circulating among us.

When the sessions end for the day, I hope you will step outside. Spend your days listening to technical presentations, and your evenings listening to the waves. Busan is a coastal city, and its waters are at their most beautiful after dark, when the bridges light up and the night settles over the beaches.

None of this would have been possible without our devoted organizing team, our tireless volunteers, and our generous sponsors, to all of whom I am deeply grateful. And to be here with you, in Busan, at this point in my term, means a great deal to me.

Welcome to Busan. I hope you leave with new ideas, new friends, and good feedback to carry into your work.