European Group for Intelligent Computing in Engineering
2008 Conference

15th Annual Workshop of the European Group for Intelligent Computing in Engineering (EG-ICE) (Small scale, single session, close contacts)

Co-Sponsored by the Technical Committee for Computing and Information Technology (TCCIT) of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)

Plymouth, UK
July 2-4, 2008

Computing is a science and an engineering discipline as well as a craft to be mastered. Engineers in practice are now skilled in the craft of using tools for tasks such as numerical analysis, drafting, detail design and project planning. Current and future computing opportunities and challenges require more scientific applications of computer science principles. Also, these principles need to be adapted and enriched to account for the unusually demanding application contexts that are common in engineering.

Opportunities and challenges are present at all stages of engineering projects, including infrastructure management. Within each stage, there are themes such as representation, reasoning, visualization and user-interface design, collaboration, control and change management. Intelligent computing is the application of advanced computing methods to improve performance in areas such as complex representations that are clear to users and easily modifiable; exploration and search in exponentially complex search spaces; visualization tools and flexible engineer-computer interfaces that empower rather than hinder; active control for learning, self diagnosis and repair; and computer supported collaborative work for higher quality communication. The goal is to make decision making more reliable, spontaneous and creative.