Message from the President of I-INCE 

During the inaugural ceremony of INTER-NOISE 2023 in Chiba (Japan) last August, I felt compelled to remind the participants that the INTER-NOISE congress series has never been interrupted!  

Starting from 1972, we can count 52 editions that have been held in all regions of the world in all conditions. I also recalled that if we refer to the last twelve editions, over thirteen thousand participants representing 91 nations have been able to meet old and new colleagues, exchange knowledge, weave new projects, present technical and scientific works, and update skills on new technologies and instrumentation.  

Another important aspect to be highlighted is that, year by year, the number of young people (professionals, students, researchers) attending INTER-NOISE congresses is increasing. This interest towards Noise Control Engineering among the younger generation is important for the future of our technical and scientific community and demonstrates the payoff of I-INCE efforts like the implemented Young Professional Program.  

The INTER-NOISE congresses, with such successes in terms of participation and organization, undoubtedly represent the international platform strategically necessary for the realization of I-INCE’s vision (www.I-INCE.org ). 

But nothing happens so simply, without careful planning and without an articulated management structure. The Executive Committee and the Board of Directors of I-INCE in the direction, the Congress Selection Committee in the evaluations and the choice of the location, the Future Congress Technical Planners in the suggestions and organization of the technical program, the Congress Evaluation Committee in the assessment, the local organizers in the executive activities and all the national associations in the dissemination;  all have collaborated, discussed and worked in synergy on the best strategies to reach these successes. All of them have applied I-INCE recommendations and rules which, in turn, undergo small changes, year by year, to consider the critical issues, new needs and expectations. 

In the last edition of INTER-NOISE 2023, the formula of the “light hybrid congress” was confirmed. The few participants who could not travel to the congress venue had the opportunity to send their presentations in a pre-recorded way and these were integrated into the congress sessions.  

Thanks to new technologies, INTER-NOISE 2023 was also the opportunity to implement a new project that has required considerable effort on the part of the organizers. All presentations in the sessions and plenary and keynote lectures were recorded and made available on a web platform to all the congress participants as early as the next day during the congress and for the weeks following the congress.  

In a technical program with such a high number of presentations it is necessary for many sessions to run in parallel. Participants must often make “difficult” choices about which sessions and presentations to follow. With this new project, all presentations can still be followed, live or deferred, thus expanding interaction and knowledge exchange. 

Thanks go to the organizers of INTER-NOISE 2023 for the success of the congress, a success widely illustrated in the report published in issue of September of NNI, but also thanks for making this new experiment possible. 

I-INCE is now ready for the next challenges. 

The organization of INTER-NOISE 2024 in Nantes (France) has started. The call for abstracts has been published (www.internoise2024.org). A rich technical-scientific program and other organizational innovations are planned. There is no reason to miss this next appointment!  

…. And the organizers of INTER-NOISE 2025 in San Paulo (Brazil) and INTER-NOISE 2026 in Adelaide (Australia) are ready to warm up their engines! 

I am sure that the noise of any kind of arms can be controlled just by working together to avoid any kind of war. So, let me close with my best wishes for a happy and peaceful 2024. 

Luigi Maffei 

President, I-INCE