PROPOSAL TO HOST FUSION'2014 -...

FUSION 2014 SALAMANCA

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PROPOSAL TO HOST FUSION'2014

Proposal Point of Contact: Prof. Juan M. Corchado Dean of the Faculty of Science

Head of the Biomedicine, Intelligent Systems and Educational Technology Group

Faculty of Science Universidad de Salamanca Plaza de la Merced S/N,

37008, Salamanca, Spain

Tel.: + 34 923294400 (Ext. 1525) Tel.: + 34 618696589 Fax: + 34 923294514

Web: http://bisite.usal.es Email: [email protected]

Universidad Carlos III de Madrid


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Index

1. Organization Team 3 2. Financial Arrangement 9 3. Risk and Profit 9 4. Conference Size Estimate 9 5. Conference Program 10 6. Conference Facilities 12 7. Transportation 16 8. Accommodation 18 9. Publicity Plan 19 10. Conference Dates 20 11. Local Activities 20 12. Proceedings 23 13. Liability 23 14. Supporting Local Industry 23 15. Voluntary Support 24 16. Post-award Activities and Deadlines 24 APPENDICES 24

A. Credentials of the organizing team 26 B. Detailed fiscal analysis and proposal data 34 C. Brief analysis of recent ISIF conference programs 40 D. Events held at the Palacio de Congresos 43 E. Reserve/backup facilities 44 F. Summary of hotels in Salamanca 47 G. History, art and cultural keys of Salamanca 51


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Executive Summary This proposal describes the approach developed by a distinguished Spanish-based and led proposal Team to host the 16th ISIF International Conference in Information Fusion (“Fusion 2014”) in the spectacular city of Salamanca, Spain, in the July 2014 time period. This proposal is for a first ISIF Conference in Spain and efforts have been made to make it special. Salamanca will be shown as having an extraordinary successful record of serving as host city for a broad variety of superior conferences. It is also one of the most unique Spanish cities in terms of its history, architecture, culture, and is perhaps the most well-known Spanish city for gatherings of the international academic community. The proposed Conference Program will strike a balance between carrying forward the enduring technical themes of past Conferences while integrating new, innovative thrusts, Special Sessions, Keynote Speakers, and Tutorials. The proposal describes a comprehensive approach to the Conference plan, and addresses not only the technical aspects but a complete approach to the organizational, logistical, and social aspects of the event. Finally, in comparison the recent ISIF Conferences, it will be seen that the proposal is very cost-competitive. 1. Organization Team This proposal is offered by a team that includes members from Spanish Universities, Governmental units, and Industry. It is led by the BISITE Group from the University of Salamanca teamed with the Computer Science Department group from the University of Carlos III of Madrid. It will be seen that the BISITE Group, the Government of the City of Salamanca, the Visitor/Tourism agencies of Salamanca, and the Hotels of Salamanca have a long and continuing deep experience in hosting scientific and other conferences. This conference planning and management experience, coupled with the Information Fusion-based technical/scientific experience of the Team members from the University Carlos III and a group of Special Advisors to the Team, assures ISIF that the resultant conference will be of high quality in all respects. The team has organized ten sessions in the FUSION International Conference since year 2004, and many other events directly related with Information Fusion topics in diverse international conferences. Recently, they have been assigned responsibility for the local organization of the NATO ASI on the topic of "Prediction and recognition of piracy efforts using collaborative human-centric information systems" in Salamanca, September 2011. BISITE Group The Biomedicine, Intelligent Systems and Educational Technology Group (BISITE), www.bisite.usal.es, is a team of researchers interested in the development and implementation of Intelligent Computing Systems. BISITE is characterized by being a group that covers many different areas of study. Our members are computing experts, biologists, pharmacists, physicists, oceanographers and economists. Another important feature of the group is that our members belong to several universities and research institutions. The BISITE group has a recognized experience in intelligent systems that can improve information fusion based on the context management aimed at supporting decision making, since the quality of decision making depends upon the quality of information at hand. Clear examples are the multi-agent systems or the intelligent


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agents used for context-awareness that can provide both distributed fusion and advanced reasoning capabilities. BISITE has developed multi-agent systems that can fuse information from different sources in a given environment and incorporate intelligent methods capable of facilitating decision support systems. In addition to their scientific/academic role, BISITE has extraordinary experience in planning and managing scientific conferences; the experience of this Group is shown in Appendix A to this proposal. University Carlos III of Madrid The Applied Artificial Intelligence Group (GIAA), www.giaa.inf.uc3m.es, within Universidad Carlos III, is a group of researchers and faculty members in the Computer Science department. Its main research areas cover information fusion, intelligent systems, mult-iagent systems, soft computing, evolutionary computation, multi-sensor surveillance, indoor localization systems, and autonomous vehicles. They have applied these research lines to the design of advanced solutions for complex systems such as critical surveillance systems, air traffic control, visual sensor networks or autonomous navigation. They have developed innovative solutions based on Computational Intelligence paradigms and information fusion: fuzzy system for computing task priorities to coordinating radar sensor in defense surveillance; heuristic optimization techniques for complex tracking systems in air traffic control algorithms; WIFI/UWB localization system; Video surveillance system in airport surface; Radar/AIS fusion for harbor and maritime surveillance; data analysis for aeronautical and electrical distribution domains; multi sensor navigation for unmanned aerial vehicles in new control operations, etc. They have been recently developed under the umbrella of private and public research projects with the most representative national industries in the fields. In the same university, the Intelligent Systems Lab (www.uc3m.es/islab) will be also involved in the organization. ISLab is a research group at UC3M whose R+D activities developed during the last year include projects funded by Spanish public institutions and with private partners from industrial sectors like Telefonica, Dragados or John Deere. The team has an extensive experience in Computer Vision and Object Recognition applied to Advanced Robotics and Intelligent Transportation Systems

GIAA has an extensive experience in the organization of R&D events, and in particular a continuous participation and involvement in Fusion Conferences since the year 2004, as detailed in Appendix A.

Institutional Collaborators and Roles Building upon prior and ongoing collaborations, we have invited two very well-known Institutional partners to be part of our Team:

1) The Center for Multisource Information Fusion (CMIF) at the State University of New York in Buffalo, New York, USA, and

2) The Center for Network-Centric Cognition and Information Fusion at the Pennsylvania State University in State College, Pennsylvania, USA.

These organizations, headed respectively by Drs James Llinas and David Hall, will provide key guidance to the formulation of our final Technical Program to include Keynote Speakers, evaluation of proposed Special Sessions, Tutorials, and all other


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technical aspects of the program as it evolves. Further, they will provide pointed expertise for paper review as needed. Moreover, close organizations as Technical University of Madrid, University of Murcia, Technical University of Valencia and University of Granada are tightly involved in the proposal, with groups leaded respectively by Jose R. Casar, Juan Botía, Vicente Julián and Francisco Herrera. They will be involved in the technical program organization, and Francisco Herrera acts as Academic Liaison. Furthermore, in direct relation with the scientific and applications program intended for the proposal, we will count on the active collaboration of the international institutions:

Dr. Luis Correia Research Director of the Artificial Life Group (GruVA) Depto. de Informática, Faculdade de Ciências Universidade de Lisboa. Lisboa, Portugal Dra. Ana Cristina Bicharra Garcia Research Director, Laboratório de Documentação Ativa e Design Inteligente (Active Documents and Intelligent Design Laboratories, ADDLabs), Universidade Federal Fluminense. Rio de Janeiro, Brasil Dra. Eleni Mangina Phelan Research Director, Intelligent Ubiquitous Computing in Education School of Computer Science and Informatics, College of Engineering Mathematical and Physical Sciences University College Dublin. Dublin, Ireland Dr. Yves Demazeau Director of Researcher at the Centre Nationale de la Research Scientifique Laboratoire d’Informatique de Grenoble (CNRS Computer Science Laboratory) Grenoble, France Dr. Karper Hallenborg Researcher at the Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Institute University of Southern Denmark Odense, Denmark Dr. Lauro Snidaro AVIRES. Artificial Vision and Real Time Systems Department of Mathematics and Computer Science University Udine, Italy

Chair Assignments (preliminary) The Chair assignments for the Conference are shown below. This set of Chairs respects the advice given by ISIF to the 2012 Conference proposers. The General Chair is Professor Juan Manuel Corchado, Dean of the Faculty of Computer Sciences of the University of Salamanca and the Finance Chair is Javier Bajo Professor at the


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Pontifical University of Salamanca. Juan M. Corchado and Javier Bajo are leads of the BISITE Group and their extensive experience in Conference planning, management, and execution will assure all logistical and financial matters are well taken care of. Executive chair is Jesus Garcia, and executive co-chair is Professor Jose Manuel Molina, Chair of the Computer Science Department of the University Carlos III. They lead the GIAA Group, the Spanish group with longest participation in ISIF conferences, and with an extensive array of Information Fusion programs being currently executed. We envision a Technical Working Team to plan and execute the overall Technical Program, working as a synergistic combination of the Core Technical Program, the Special Sessions, and the Tutorials. A Local Organization Teem assures the on-site work coordination, and push for the presence of local participation, including the presence of close communities to IF, such as Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Agents, etc. The strategy is a combined involvement of researchers in close universities and the presence of international experienced members of Information Fusion community. The Chairs shown below have extensive experience on technical program planning and development for a variety of technical conferences. Finally, the proposal keeps the traditional community of volunteers in the Scientific Committee to carry out the peer review process, list to be enlarged with invitation to fresh reviewers in close areas.


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Table 1. FUSION 2014 Chair Responsibilities Responsibility Person General Coordination

General Chair Juan Manuel Corchado (University of Salamanca)

Honorary Chair James Llinas (University at Buffalo) Executive Chair Jesus Garcia (University Carlos III) Executive CoChair Jose Manuel Molina (University Carlos III) Finance Chair Javier Bajo

(Pontifical University of Salamanca) Technical Program Coordination

Technical Program Chair David Hall (Pennsylvania State University)

Technical Program Cochairs

Wolfgang Koch (FKIE) Darko Mušicki (Hanyang University) Ybo Boers (Thales Nederland B.V.) Pierre Valin (DRDC Valcartier) Elisa Shahbazian (OODA Tech.)

Tutorials Chair Galina Rogova (Encompass Consulting) Awards Chair Alan Steinberg (Georgia Institute of

Technology) Awards CoChairs Peter Willet (University of Connecticut)

Eloi Bosse (DRDC Valcartier) Special Sessions Chairs Subrata Das (Machine Analytics)

Uwe Hanebeck (Karlsruhe Inst. of Technology) Publications Chair Kellyn Rein (Fraunhofer FKIE)

Local Organization and Participation

Publicity and Local Arrangements Chairs

Sara Rodríguez (University of Salamanca) Fernando de la Prieta (University of Salamanca)

Administrative Chairs Emilio Corchado (University of Salamanca) Antonio Berlanga (University Carlos III)

Academic Liaison Francisco Herrera (University of Granada) Government Liaison Jose R. Casar (Technical University of Madrid) Industry Liaison Moises Sudit (Center for Multisource

Information Fusion (CUBRC/UB)) Local Participation Committee

Vicente Botti (Technical University of Valencia) Vicente Julián (Technical University of Valencia) Juan Botía (Technical University of Murcia) Jose M. Armingol (University Carlos III) Arturo de la Escalera (University Carlos III) Juan Gomez (University Carlos III) Ana Bernardos (Technical University of Madrid) Juan Besada (Technical University of Madrid) Juan F Paz (University of Salamanca) Carolina Zato (University of Salamanca)


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Scientific Program Committee (to be confirmed and possibly enlarged)

Abdelzaher, Tarek Escalera, Arturo de la Opitz, Felix Abraham, Douglas Gomez, Juan Orguner, Umut Agate, Craig Guerriero, Marco Oshman, Yaakov Amditis, Angelos Gustafsson, Fredrik Oxenham, Martin Andler, Sten Hall, David Oxley, Mark Appriou, Alain Hanebeck, Uwe Arambel, Pablo Hanratty, Timothy Pannetier, Benjamin Arulampalam, Sanjeev Heintz, Fredrik Paz, Juan F. Bajo, Javier Hendeby, Gustaf Pattipati, Krishna Bar-Shalom, Yaakov Hinman, Michael Peel, Leto Baum, Marcus Hintz, Ken Petrovic, Vladimir Benameur, Kaouthar Holsopple, Jared Pham, Tien Benavoli, Alessio Holzner, Jürgen Piou, Jean Benferhat, Salem Hong, Sun-Mog Powell, Gerald Berger, Christian Jakobson, Gabriel Puncochar, Ivo Berger, Jean Ji, Qiang Puranik, Sumedh Bernardos, Ana Jiang, Xiaoyi Ralph, Jason Besada, Juan Jilkov, Vesselin Ranchin, Thierry Besnard, Philippe Johansson, Fredrik Rao, Nageswara Bieker, Tanja Johansson, Ronnie Ratton, Laurent Biermann, Joachim Josang, Audun Register, Andy Blair, Dale Jouan, Alexandre Ristic, Branko Blanding, Wayne Jousselme, Anne-Laure Rogova, Galina Blasch, Erik Julian, Vicente Roy, Jean Blom, Henk Kadar, Ivan Ru, Jifeng Blum, Rick Kaplan, Lance Rutten, Mark Boers, Yvo Karlsson, Rickard Bosse, Eloi Bottia, Juan Kester, Leon Sadhu, Smita Botti, Vicente Kirubarajan, Thia Sadjadi, Firooz Briers, Mark Koch, Wolfgang Salerno, John Buford, John Kohli-Laven, Nina Salmond, David Bull, David Kokar, Mieczyslaw Sambhoos, Kedar Capponi, Agostino Konieczny, Sebastian Scheunert, Ullrich Carthel, Craig Kral, Ladislav Schneidler, Michael Chan, Moses Kreucher, Christopher Schubert, Johan Chang, Kouchu Krout, David Seetharaman, Gunasekaran Chen, Humin Kuh, Anthony Semerdjiev, Tzevtan Chong, Chee-Yee Kulpa, Krzysztof Shapiro, Stuart Clark, Daniel Showman, Gregory Coates, Mark La Cour, Brian Shrestha, Akhilesh Copsey, Keith Lane, Richard Sijs, Joris Coraluppi, Stefano Laskey, Kathryn Silbert, Mark Corchado, Juan Lavery, John Sinha, Abhijit Costa, Paulo Lee, Gordon Smith-Carroll, Amy Crassidis, John Lewis, Lundy Snidaro, Lauro Dai, Liyi Li, X. Rong Song, Taek-Lyul Damarla, Thyagaraju Lindgren, David Stone, Lawrence Daun, Martina Luettgen, Mark Straka, Ondřej Davey, Samuel Luginbuhl, Tod Streit, Roy Davidson, Glen Lynch, Robert Sudit, Moises De Maio, Antonio Svensson, Daniel De Villers, Yves Madan, Rabinder Svensson, Lennart Debouk, Rami Mahler, Ronald Sviestins, Egils Dezert, Jean Mallick, Mahendra Sycara, Katia


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Dockstader, Shiloh Maltese, Domique Dorion, Eric Marshall, David Tadda, George Duan, Zhansheng Marti, Enrique Thomä, Reiner Dunham, Darin Martin, Todd Thomas, Paul Maskell, Simon Tian, Zhi Edwards, Mark Maupin, Patrick Toet, Alexander Efe, Murat Meidow, Jochen Trailovic, Lidia Ehlers, Frank Mellema, Garfield Tran-Luu, Tung-Duong Evans, Rob Melvin, William Trouve, Emmanuel Mertens, Michael Tupin, Florence Ferry, James Mihaylova, Lyudmila Fletcher, Fiona Misiurewicz, Jacek Ulmke, Martin Florea, Mihai Cristian Molina, Jose Foster, George Montagner, Julien Vaccaro, Michael Foucher, Samuel Montiel, Ignacio Valin, Pierre Fränken, Dietrich Mori, Shozo Vanheeghe, Philippe Moshiri, Behzad Varshney, Pramod Gagnon, Langis Visentini, Ingrid Garcia, Jesus Nagao, Hiromichi Viswanathan, Ramanarayanan García-Fernández, Ãngel Nagi, Rakesh Vo, Ba Ngu George, Jemin Nasrabadi, Nasser Gheta, Ioana Nelson, Jill Wang, Xuezhi Ghosh, Bijoy Newman, Aaron Willett, Peter Godsill, Simon Ng, Gee Wah Williams, Jason Gold, Joseph Nicholson, David Gordon, Neil Nikolov, Stavri Yan, Yanjun Govaers, Felix Niu, Ruixin Yang, Shanchieh Govindan, Ramesh Noack, Benjamin Yu, Bin Grasso, Raffaele Ziemke, Tom Gu, Irene Y.H. Zato, Carolina


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1.1 Detailed Management of Conference Administrative Matters The Organization Team will work with the Fundación General of the University of Salamanca (http://universitas.usal.es/) in the management of the many Conference details such as automated Registration, Paper Review Process Tracking, Fiscal Tracking, Hotel Bookings, etc. The Fundación General is an institution of the University of Salamanca aimed, among others, at promoting and supporting events, including conferences. This approach has worked exceptionally well in the management of many prior Conferences by the BISITE Team. Besides, the BISITE research group has extensive experience in the organization of conferences supported by the EasyChair management software (http://www.easychair.org/), but it is open to suggestions for alternative management tools. EasyChair is a free conference management system that is flexible, easy to use, and has many features to make it suitable for various conference models. It is currently probably the most commonly used conference management system. EasyChair has been designed to help program chairs to cope with the complexity of the refereeing process. The current version supports

1. management and monitoring of the program committee; 2. sophisticated and flexible management of the access of PC members and

referees to papers and conflicts of interests; 3. automatic paper submission; 4. paper assignment based on the preferences of PC members; 5. list of the latest events; 6. submission of reviews; 7. sending email to PC members, referees and authors; 8. monitoring email; 9. online discussion of papers; 10. the author response (aka rebuttal) phase, when the author can respond to

the reviews; 11. automatic preparation of conference proceedings


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2. Financial Arrangement The proposed Budget for the Conference has a number of positive features that are shown below. Our analysis is developed for three scenarios: Low, Realistic, and Optimistic expected attendance size. In all cases the analysis shows a profit that we (USAL and UC3M) will share equally with ISIF according to mutual agreement. This Profit level is adjustable in various ways that can be developed post-award with ISIF, if desired. A detailed study of the financial arrangements is presented in the attached Appendix B. (We are aware of the loans that will be provided by both ISIF and IEEE prior to the Conference to support early cost commitments.) Preliminary agreements and arrangements have already been made that yield the following Fiscal Benefits:

• Institutional sponsors (Ministry of Science and Technology, Junta de Castilla y León, others to be determined.)

• Private sponsors (IBM (Insa), Indra, HP, Telefónica I+D, Telefónica Móviles, Matchmind, others to be determined.)

• Grants offered by the BISITE group (Accommodation and food for Volunteers)

• Support from Exhibitors • Competitive Registration Fee in comparison to recent Conferences: ~700

Euros 3. Risk and Profit ISIF and the organizers will share both profit and risk equally (50% ISIF and 50% USAL + UC3M). Additionally, we will collect ISIF’s $25 fee from each participant and remit that to ISIF; that is included in the budget. Three different estimates for the financial arrangements (low, realistic, optimistic) are attached to this proposal. The estimates take into account a low number of attendees (250), a more realistic number of attendees (400), and an optimistic one (500). In both cases the balance is positive and the second and third options offer a comfortable profit margin. The estimates also take into account a prediction for the possible number of regular and student registrations. The estimates for the exhibition and conference center are fixed and can have a slight variation, as well as the social events. 4. Conference Size Estimate Table 2 presents the number of attendees for the last five editions of FUSION. As can be seen in Table 2, the average number of attendees is 408. Moreover the number of attendees is over 350. The realistic number taken into account for the estimates in Section 3 is 400. We are confident that FUSION 2014 in Salamanca could reach 500 participants.


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Table 2. Conference Size Data for Previous Editions of FUSION. Year Conference Location Number of Attendees 2011 Chicago (USA) 365 2010 Edinburgh (United Kingdom) 2009 Seattle (USA) 432 2008 Cologne (Germany) 429 2007 Quebec City (Canada) 377 2006 Florence (Italy) 397

5. Conference Program The FUSION conference is the principal event for sensor and information fusion community, calling to the presence of leading professionals and researchers in this area to attend and publish valuable papers. As has been the tradition for FUSION Conferences, we also see the Technical Program as the synergistic result of a planned Core program centered on modern IF community research and development challenges, coupled to a variety of nominated Special Sessions, and finally linked to a set of equally-relevant Tutorials. In regard to the Core program, we have carried out an analysis of the last 3 years FUSION Conferences and their core programs, to analyze trends and to discern new topics that might be continued in the 2014 event. That analysis is shown in Appendix C but shows four main themes that have persisted (our terminology):

1) Classical Estimation Techniques 2) Advanced Estimation techniques 3) High Level Fusion Techniques 4) Lateral Techniques (wide variety of methods and algorithms applicable in

fusion systems) We propose continuing these themes but also building on them and adding fresh new thrusts within the program. The FUSION conference should consolidate the traditional research areas and also promote the presence of researchers in affine areas such as computer vision, machine learning, artificial intelligence, robotics, etc. A variety of our ideas along these lines is shown below (these are preliminary):

• Vision-based Technology and Applications • Hybrid Inferencing Techniques (eg integrated Inductive, Deductive methods) • Knowledge Management in IF Systems • Advances in IF Frameworks • Human-centric Fusion Systems • Air Traffic Management Technology and Applications • Information Fusion for Biometrics • Improving Test and Evaluation Methods for IF • Uninhabited Platform Surveillance Applications • Ambient Intelligence applications • Graduate Education in IF: Issues and Approaches • Second Order Uncertainty (possible official interface with the Society for

Imprecise Probability, Theories and Applications) As a special element of the Core Program, we are proposing to have a increased presence of Hispanic/Latin Research in IF. We expect to exploit our Team contacts


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in: South America: Chile-Brazil-Peru, Mexico, Spain, Portugal, and Central America. This is a theme previously discussed with the ISIF Board and is considered a distinctive (but not dominant) aspect of our proposal. The unique connectivity of our Team to the Hispanic/Latin research community will assure that the conference provides a comprehensive overview of this important element of the IF community, heretofore not engaged in this Conference´s history. The role played by Francisco Herrera, a well-known researcher in Europe and America facilitates this task. Moreover, the support of Luis Correia (Portugal), Andre Carvalho (Brazil), Ana Cristina Bicharra (Brazil), Luis Fernando Castillo (Colombia), Cristian Pinzón (Panamá), Ana Bazzan (Argentina), (Chile), José Neves (Portugal), Dante Tapia (Mexico) among others will allow us to attract the Hispanic/Latin community. Therefore, we will propose some reference keynote speakers in the Hispanic community. Keynote speakers While it is of course very early to plan for Keynote Speakers, our approach here will be to first of all have appropriate International representation and at the same time representative national researchers with recognized prestige. Additionally Since we are proposing a special part of the Core Program to address Hispanic/Latin research in IF, we will also have the most senior Keynotes possible from representative nations. 5.1 Peer Review and Acceptance Standards FUSION 2014 will welcome the submission of papers with preference to the topics listed in the call for papers. All submitted papers will undergo a thorough review process; each paper will be refereed by at least three experts in the field based on relevance, originality, significance, quality and clarity. It is very important maintaining or increasing the quality of conference proceedings by assuring that published works have undergone a careful peer review process. The high scientific level of members of ISIF and collaborators participating in the program committee will be the guarantee for scientific quality of conference. The peer review of papers should not be conditioned by a tight schedule, it is very important a plan giving enough time for a thorough review to check the quality of papers and give back improvement recommendations. In the same way, the image of quality of Information Fusion conference should be continuously increased both within our community and towards other research areas. The position of conference in recognized conference rankings such as CORE (Computing Research and Education Association) should be improved. Although there are not predefined criteria in these rankings, the double strategy consists in calling for a broad participation and at the same time guarantee the quality control mechanism through a careful peer review and publication processes.


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6. Conference Facilities The proposed Conference Venue is the spectacular and functional Palacio de Congresos de Castilla y León, the largest Conference Center in Salamanca. This facility has been host to a wide variety of professional conferences and events as shown in Appendices D-E. Palacio de Congresos de Castilla y León The Conference and Exhibition Centre is situated in the historic part of the city. Its exceptional site places it at the very center of the cultural, economic, commercial and social life of the city. Conventions and meetings, as well as cultural activities are constantly held there. In addition to the large entrance and a reception hall, inside the building there are various installations:

Sala Mayor: Main Conference Hall is a large room with a spectacular dome on top of the main auditorium with a seating capacity of 1065 people. It offers a complete range of facilities including video conferencing, simultaneous translation and all forms of projection.

Sala Menor: A room which can hold 400 people. It has four rooms for


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simultaneous translation, cordless microphones, screen and video-wall.

Sala de Usos Múltiples: With an area of 200 m2 and a characteristic design, it has a seating capacity of 110 people which can be increased to 400 people if the whole room is used. It can be used for lectures, receptions or as a rehearsal room.

Sala de Autoridades: Rectangular room with an area of 110 m2 which has two anterooms. It is ideal for committee meetings or receptions.

Salas de Ponencias: An area of 285 m2 with four rooms which can be modulated with seating capacity from 60 to 300 people with a public-address system, screening and recording service.


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Despacho: Two rooms of 26 and 29 m2 respectively, that are very suitable for meetings of 20 people. Conference rooms All the rooms described above are equipped with computers and multimedia facilities for the presentations. Audio/Video equipment is also available. Hostess will be available in each of the conference rooms as well as in the registration desk. Zonas de Descanso: The centre has several rest areas, with a cafeteria in the main area of the building and special areas that can be used as dining halls. Commercial Areas: This is an area of 1265 m2 divided into three floors:

• Ground floor: 815 m2 • Intermediate floor: 225 m2 • Upper floor: 225 m2

It is fully-equipped to carry out different commercial activities. Exhibitions which are complementary to the conference-related activities, product presentations, fairs or cultural exhibitions. There is plenty of room to accommodate several poster sessions, accessible for viewing throughout the day.

Next to the exhibitions area, there is an open-air stand of 350 m

2 which allows

the possibility of increasing the indoor areas by erecting a marquee.


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Within walking distance, you can find museums, theaters, shopping areas, banks, good restaurants, postal services, historical sites, modern hotels, sports and alternative facilities. Reserve and Backup Facilities: If any additional spaces is required, the BISITE Team has accessibility to yet other locations, all well-placed and easily accessible to the Palacio de Congresos de Castilla y León; these are shown in Appendix D. Food All the lunches and dinners during the conference, as well as coffee breaks are included in the registration fee. Salamanca is known for the excellence of its typical food. The restaurants for the conference are close to the conference center. All the lunches and dinners during the conference dates are included in the conference registration fee. Restaurante Fonseca is available in the conference center (http://www.restaurantefonseca.com/). It is a restaurant with seating capacity for more than 700 people. High quality restaurants are also available for the organized dinners. Facilities - Summary Palacio de Congresos de Castilla y León Sala Mayor: Main Conference Hall - 1065 people Sala Menor: A room which can hold - 400 people. Sala de Usos Múltiples: With an area of 200 m2 and a characteristic design, it has a seating capacity of 110 people which can be increased to 400 people. Sala de Autoridades: Rectangular room with an area of 110 m2 which has two anterooms. It is ideal for committee meetings or receptions. Salas de Ponencias: An area of 285 m2 with four rooms which can be modulated with seating capacity from 60 to 300 people with a public-address system, screening and recording service. Zonas de Descanso: The centre has several rest areas, with a cafeteria in the main area of the building and special areas that can be used as dining halls. Comercial Areas: This is an area of 1265 m2 divided into three floors:

• Ground floor: 815 m2 • Intermediate floor: 225 m2 • Upper floor: 225 m2

There is plenty of room to accommodate several poster sessions, accessible for viewing throughout the day. WIFI and Internet access: There will be WIFI access for all participants and a number of PCs connected to Internet available to the participants. Conference rooms - equipment The conference rooms will be equipped with a PC laptop computer and a PPT projector. Sound systems are installed in the large halls.


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7. Transportation Salamanca is roughly 200 km to the Northwest of Madrid, and is readily accessible in a number of ways:

− It is possible to fly directly to the airport of Salamanca “Matacán”. There are daily flights to Barcelona International Airport. The number of airports with connections to Salamanca will grow within the near future since a new Terminal comes into use this year.

− Another option is flying to Madrid-Barajas International Airport in Madrid, and then reach Salamanca by bus or train.

− It is also possible flying to Valladolid International Airport, and then reach Salamanca by bus or train.

The closest international airports to Salamanca are shown in the graphic below:

The easiest way to reach Salamanca is via Madrid-Barajas International Airport:

MADRID - SALAMANCA

Madrid-Barajas international airport is the fourth in Europe in numbers of flights and passengers. There is a direct bus facility from the Madrid-Barajas airport (terminal 1) to Salamanca (http://www.avanzabus.com/web/Aeropuerto-de-barajas/salamanca.html?lang=en) that includes free Wi-Fi service. The ticket can also be bought in this web site.

Moreover, Salamanca has a regular bus service (every 30 minutes) and train


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services available (5 to 8 trains per day) to and from Madrid. The journey between Madrid and Salamanca takes about 2 hours. There is also a motorway between Madrid and Salamanca.

Train information: http://www.renfe.com/ Bus information: http://www.avanzabus.com/web/default.aspx

VALLADOLID - SALAMANCA

Salamanca is 115 Km southeast of Valladolid and there is a bus service from the airport to the city centre. Regular bus and train services are available from Valladolid (city centre) to Salamanca. The journey (via motorway) between Valladolid and Salamanca takes 1.05 hours.

Salamanca is connected to Portugal, Valladolid and Madrid via motorway. It is connected via motorway to the south of Spain (i.e. Sevilla) and the north (i.e. León, Gijón and Oviedo). There are also regular direct trains between Salamanca and the major cities of Portugal, such us Lisbon or Porto, and we are also well connected with several French Cities. The local geography of the main entry/exit transportation points to Salamanca are shown in the graphic below; we see no difficulties in accessibility and past experience with the many conferences hosted in Salamanca (Appendix F) has verified this.


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8. Accommodation There are over 3000 hotel rooms in Salamanca of all prices and categories. It is possible to book them in advance and reserve a number of them until about a month before the event starts. Student’s residences will also be available.

Fonseca

Conference Centre

City Centre

Plaza Mayor Main Square


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The BISITE Group has special agreements with most of the hotels in town, so the prices will be reduced. The following Table 3 shows the excellent accommodation costs that are available: The prices quoted in € for 2014 per person, breakfast included, are as follows:

Table 3. Summary of Available Hotel Costs by Hotel Category

Category Single Twin

5* Hotels 75 - 90 € 140 - 170 €

4* Hotels 50 - 70 € 100 - 120 €

3* Hotels 35 - 60 € 70 - 90 €

2* Hotels 30 - 50 € 40 - 80 €

University Residences 15 - 30 € 35 - 40 €

Appendix E has a detailed Summary of the many excellent hotels available in Salamanca. We will develop a Room-Blocking plan well in advance of the Conference to assure that the expected mean attendance can be accommodated. Because of the extensive number of hotels and options available in Salamanca, we see the blocking issue as very low risk. We will also assure that Conference room rates are no higher than any advertised hotel rate. The Abba Fonseca hotel could be considered as the “main” conference hotel, due to its particular location. This hotel will host the keynote speakers and relevant participants. Moreover, the rest of attendees will be distributed to various hotels of their choice with offers related to FUSION 2014. 9. Publicity Plan The Organizing Committee has a proven experience in the organization of conferences and workshops. A flyer will be designed and distributed using the distribution lists of the Organizing Committee, as well as the ISIF distribution lists. The call for papers distribution will be scheduled taking into account the deadlines for the paper submission. The flyer and posters will also be distributed in different reference events, industrial forums and conferences in order to attract a wide audience. A web site will be established, and will link it to the appropriate ISIF website. FUSION 2014 will be also announced in the rest of the web sites of the BISITE research group, including all the conferences organized by this group. In order to promote the conference among students, the University of Salamanca offers special courses for students that are included as part of the conference.


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Finally, one of the most effective means of promotion is via invited sessions: we intend to push heavily for these, beginning with those who have organized invited sessions at previous conferences. 10. Conference Dates The FUSION conference can be held on 2014 any time, but the weather is especially nice in spring and summer. The last two weeks of July are specially appropriated, in order to avoid conflicts with relevant major conferences. The conference center has been booked in advance for the last two weeks of July. The weather of Salamanca is sunny, between 15 to 32 ºC degrees, on average, during summer time. Many hotels have swimming pools which are open during this part of the year. There is hotel availability for this period of time, and hotel rooms can be reserved in advance. 11. Local Activities The FUSION conference can be held on 2014 in Salamanca, central Spain. Without a doubt, Salamanca is one of the most beautiful cities in Spain. It is relatively small with a population of 180,000 (50,000 of whom are students) and everything is within easy walking distance. Moreover, it boasts both a rich cultural heritage and extensive experience in hosting international conferences. The University was founded in 1218 and much of the original architecture remains. In 2002, Salamanca held the position of European City of Culture and it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. More details about the history and cultural keys of town are included in Appendix G. Besides the enormous cultural offer and interesting visits, there are many facilities throughout the city, offering the possibility to practice most sports, including soccer, basketball, rugby, tennis, paddle, squash, track&field and swimming. You can also escape from the stress of daily routine and relax by a water-spa complex with thermal showers, sauna, jacuzzi, massages, solarium and gym.


23

You can also enjoy a round of golf in either one of the city’s golf courses: “Zarapicos” and “Vega de Salamanca”. The courses are designed with the classic 18 hole routes, with medium/high levels of difficulty. The courses are large, with small greens and well structured with bunkers, located in spaces of great beauty.

Salamanca and its surroundings also offer the possibility to practice adventure sports: On land: skiing (Sierra de Béjar), paintball, archery, bungee jumping, quads routes, hill walking, trekking, horse riding, bicycle riding, rock climbing and mountaineering…

On water: rafting, windsurf, canoeing, sailing, catamaran, river descending, diving…


24

In the air: sky diving and free falling, paragliding…

All of these activities, allow you to enjoy the beautiful surroundings and the natural treasures of the Salamanca province The city and province allow offer various cultural activities. There are concerts, plays and exhibitions as well as a great night life mainly due to the large student population who come to Salamanca from all over the world.

Social Programs, Local Tours, Gifts Guided visits to the city will be organized during the dates of the Conference. Salamanca has several historical and touristic attractions. Moreover, wine tours to the Rivera de Duero region can be organized. This region is one of the most


25

prestigious wine producing areas in the world. There are several natural parks around Salamanca and visits can be organized. There are over 20 museums at Salamanca, which can be visited and is one of the Spanish capitals of Gothic and Romanic art. Salamanca has been the European Capital City of the Culture in 2000 and there are many theatres, expositions, concerts, etc. A visit to museums such as Reina Sofia, Prado or Thyssen-Bornemisza at Madrid is also possible. More about Salamanca

• Salamanca Tourism http://www.salamanca.es/ • Salamanca-Castilla y León http://www.magicspain.com/castilla-

leon/salamanca/index.html#seccion=start • World Heritage Cities of Spain

http://www.ciudadespatrimonio.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabID=8250 • Monumental Tour of Salamanca

http://www.goeurope.about.com/library/phot/bl_salamanca_1.htm • Virtual Tour of the University of Salamanca http://www.usal.es/web-

usal/Universidad/visita/index.shtml • University of Salamanca http://www.usal.es/ • Weather Forecast in Salamanca

http://www.weatherunderground.com/global/stations/08202.html

12. Proceedings All papers will be published on CD‐ROM in accordance with ISIF formatting and use standards, and ISIF will have all copyrights. These CDs will be available at registration check‐in for all attendees at the beginning of the conference. We will also work with ISIF and IEEE to assure that the Conference papers are available exclusively through IEEE Explore. 13. Liability Liability insurance will be acquired for the Conference; we will work with ISIF to define the appropriate level of coverage. Different level of coverage have been taken into account for the proposal, and an average of 40€ per person have been included in the budget. However, the level of coverage would be reduced to a minimum of 3€ per person. 14. Supporting Local Industry The research group BISITE collaborates intensively with the Spanish industry, in both research and educational projects. Most of the activities of the research group, related to computer science and are sponsored by one or several companies such as: IBM (Insa), HP, Indra, Telefónica I+D, Telefónica Mobile, Matchmind, DYCEC, INDRA, CEDETEL, Panda Software, ACOTEC, THALES, FlagSolutions, Audea, Microsoft, GPM, AUDEA, Tulecom, Realinnova or Unkasoft. Most of these companies will be happy to collaborate in this event since they run projects related to such technology. They will send the FUSION Board a statement of support if required. They have been informed about our bid and several companies have already offered to sponsor FUSION 2014.


26

15. Voluntary Labor

• The Biomedicine, Intelligent Systems and Educational Technology Group (BISITE), is a team of 28 researchers (between professors, lecturers and research students). Most of them will be involved in the organization of FUSION 2014.

• The General Foundation of the University of Salamanca will provide logistical help and will intensively work in collaboration with the program and scientific committees.

• Juan M. Corchado is the Director of a Master degree (http://master-ecom.usal.es) with over a 160 students from all over the world, in the present edition (9th edition). Many of them collaborate regularly in the organization of many of the events promoted by the research group BISITE and will be happy to be involved in the organization of FUSION 2014.

• The research group BISITE will be happy to offer grants (food + accommodation) to the volunteers of FUSION 2014.

16. Post-Award Activities and Deadlines Thanks to ISIF-provided information1, the Committee is fully aware of and sensitive to the various post-award activities and deadlines, even if our bid is accepted. These entail the main segmented activities along the following timeframes (we do not repeat the point-by-point actions, etc of the 2012 Conference letter): -Before and at the 2011 Conference -Before Fusion 2014 (after Fusion 2013) -At Fusion 2014 -After Fusion 2014

17. Accommodation Grants The BISITE research group (http://bisite.usal.es) of the University of Salamanca, offers 50 grants/awards to facilitate the attendance to doctoral and young doctors to the event. The BISITE research group will act as Sponsor of FUSION 2014, with a contribution of 6000 €. The BISITE research group will facilitate a list of grant recipients to the residence and will cover the accomodation costs. Grant recipients will indicate their names when they arrive to the residence, and will automatically have access to their corresponding room. Call Rules 1) Number: 50 grants/awards are offered.

1 The award letter for the 2011 Chicago Conference, on the ISIF website.


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2) Amount: the funds will cover accommodation during the conference. The accommodation will be in a residence. Each grant recipient shall receive a diploma.

3) Accommodation address: Colegio Mayor Hernán Cortés, Paseo San Vicente, 103-139, 37007, Salamanca, Spain.

4) Making the grant/award request: Send an e-mail to [email protected] with the following information:

a. Subject: BECA FUSION 2014 b. text Body: First name, Last name, Affiliation, indicate whether you are a

doctor or doctoral student. c. Attach a PDF file with the following information:

i. Last name ii. First Name iii. National Identity Number (or passport) iv. Postal address, including Post Code, Telephone (mobile if

possible), email and URL. v. University / Centre vi. Research group vii. Thesis director viii. Thesis title (presented or in – tentative – development) ix. Titles and authors of articles sent to FUSION 2014 (including

Special Sessions - Please indicate the name of the Special Session for each article)

x. Other information. Include information considered relevant for supporting the grant/award request in terms of evaluation criteria described in Section 7.

d. Dates: The dates will be defined once the dealines for the conference be established. The applicants will receive an email confirming receipt of the request within 24 hours. On (dates to be defined) applicants will be informed of the results of their request.

5) Evaluation Panel: The evaluation will be carried out by members of the BISITE research group of the University of Salamanca and the final decision will be revised by the Co-Chairs of the FUSION 2014 Programme Committee or whoever they delegate to do so.

6) Requirements: Applicants should be registered for the FUSION 2014 event in which they have publications accepted.

7) Evaluation Criteria: a. The quality of the contribution/s shall be taken into account and, as

such, the evaluation of the article reviewers shall be used for assessment purposes.

b. Every attempt shall be made to distribute the grants/awards evenly among institutions.

c. 25% of the grants/awards shall be reserved for those research groups with a high number of presentations in FUSION 2014 (including Special Sessions).

d. 25% of the grants will be reserved for doctoral students with works of high quality and who belong to research groups with limited funding.

8) More information will be available at the FUSION 2014 website.


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APPENDICES


29

APPENDIX A CONFERENCE PLANNING CREDENTIALS OF THE

ORGANIZING TEAM

A.1 CREDENTIALS OF THE BISITE GROUP The following scientific conferences and workshops have been or will be organized by the BISITE research group: 2011 9th International Workshop on Practical Applications of Agents and Multi-Agent Systems Salamanca, 6th to 8th of April 2011, University of Salamanca, Spain Web: http://paams.usal.es President of the Program Committee: Dr. Yves Demazeau NATO ASI : 5th International Workshop on Soft Computing Models in Industrial Applications Salamanca, 19th to 30th of September 2011, Salamanca, Spain Web: http://canadiannatomeetings.com/asispain2011/ President of the Program Committee: Dr. Eloi Bosse 5th International Workshop on Practical Applications of Computational Biology & Bioinformatics (PACBB 2011) Salamanca, 6th to 8th of April 2011, Salamanca, Spain Web: http://pacbb.usal.es/pacbb2011/ President of the Program Committee: Dr. Florentino Fdez-Riverola Ambient Intelligence (AmI 2010) Salamanca, 6th to 8th of April 2011, Salamanca, Spain Web: http://isami.usal.es President of the Program Committee: Dr. Davy Preuvens ISCIF 2011: International Intelligent Systems for Information Fusion Malaga, 7th to 10th of June 2011, Malaga, Spain Web: http://iscif.usal.es/ President of the Program Committee: Dr. Juan M. Corchado International Symposium on Distributed Computing and Artificial Intelligence 2011 (DCAI'11) Salamanca, 6th to 8th of April 2011, Salamanca, Spain Web: http://dcai.usal.es/ President of the Program Committee: Dr. Sigeru Omatu, Dr. Ajith Abraham WICT 2011: Track on Ambient Intelligence Mumbai, 11th to 14th of December 2011, Mumbai, India Web: http://www.mirlabs.net/wict11/ President of the Program Committee: Dr. Javier Bajo 2010


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8th International Workshop on Practical Applications of Agents and Multi-Agent Systems Salamanca, 26th to 28th of April 2010, University of Salamanca, Spain Web: http://paams.usal.es President of the Program Committee: Dr. Yves Demazeau SOCO 2010: 5th International Workshop on Soft Computing Models in Industrial Applications Salamanca, 16th to 18th of June 2010, Guimaraes, Portugal Web: http://soco2010.di.uminho.pt/ President of the Program Committee: Dr. Emilio Corchado 4th International Workshop on Practical Applications of Computational Biology & Bioinformatics (IWPACBB 2010) Salamanca, 16th to 18th of June 2010, Guimaraes, Portugal Web: http://iwpacbb2010.di.uminho.pt President of the Program Committee: Dr. Florentino Fdez-Riverola Ambient Intelligence (AmI 2010) Salamanca, 16th to 18th of June 2010, Guimaraes, Portugal Web: http://isami2010.di.uminho.pt President of the Program Committee: Dr. Juan Carlos Augusto HAIS'10: 5th International Workshop on Hybrid Artificial Intelligence Systems Salamanca, 20th to 25th of June 2010, San Sebastian, Spain Web: http://www.ehu.es/ccwintco/hais2010 President of the Program Committee: Dr. Emilio Corchado International Symposium on Distributed Computing and Artificial Intelligence 2010 (DCAI'10) Salamanca, 7th to 10th of September 2010, Granada, Spain Web: http://dcai.usal.es/ President of the Program Committee: Dr. Sigeru Omatu ICEUTE 2010: First International Conference on EUropean Transnational Education Salamanca, 24th of September 2010, Burgos, Spain Web: http://gicap.ubu.es/iceute2010 President of the Program Committee: Dr. Frank Heubach 2009 7th International Workshop on Practical Applications of Agents and Multi-Agent Systems Salamanca, 25th to 27th of March 2009, University of Salamanca, Spain Web: http://paams.usal.es President of the Program Committee: Dr. Yves Demazeau 10th International Work-Conference on Artificial Neural Networks (IWANN2009) Salamanca, 10th-12th June, 2009 , University of Salamanca, Spain Web: http://iwann.usal.es


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President of the Program Committee: Dr. Alberto Prieto 2nd International Symposium on Distributed Computing and Artificial Intelligence (DCAI'09) Salamanca, 10th-12th June, 2009 , University of Salamanca, Spain Web: http://dcai.usal.es President of the Program Committee: Dr. Sigeru Omatu 3rd International Workshop on Practical Applications of Computational Biology & Bioinformatics (IWPACBB'09) Salamanca, 10th-12th June, 2009 , University of Salamanca, Spain Web: http://iwpacbb.usal.es President of the Program Committee: Dr. Miguel Rocha International Workshop of Ambient Assited Living 2009 Salamanca, 10th-12th June, 2009 , University of Salamanca, Spain Web: http://iwaal.usal.es President of the Program Committee: Dr. Juan M. Corchado Madrinet 2009 Salamanca, 10th-12th June, 2009 , University of Salamanca, Spain Web: http://madrinet.usal.es President of the Program Committee: Dr. José M. Molina HAIS’09 – 4th International Workshop on Hybrid Artificial Intelligent Systems Salamanca, 10th-12th June, 2009 , University of Salamanca, Spain Web: http://hais.usal.es President of the Program Committee: Dr. Emilio Corchado SOCO’09 - 4th International Workshop on Soft Computing Models in Industrial Applications Salamanca, 10th-12th June, 2009 , University of Salamanca, Spain Web: http://soco.usal.es President of the Program Committee: Dr. Juan M. Corchado CMMSE’09 - International Conference on Computational and Mathematical Methods in Science and Engineering, CMMSE 2009. Special Session: Mathematical Models in Artificial Intelligence Gijón, 30 June - 3 July, 2009 , University of Burgos, Spain Web: http://gicap.ubu.es/ssessions/cmmse09/ President of the Program Committee: Dr. Juan M. Corchado IDEAL 2009 10th International Conference on Intelligent Data Engineering and Automated Learning Gijón, 23th - 26 September, 2009 , University of Burgos, Spain Web: http://gicap.ubu.es/ideal2009/main/home.shtml President of the Program Committee: Dr. Hujun Yin 2008 International Symposium on Distributed Computing and Artificial Intelligence 2008


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Salamanca, October 22-24th, 2008, Universidad de Salamanca, España Web: http://gsii.usal.es/~dcai President of the Program Committee: Dr. James Llinas 3th Symposium of Ubiquitous Computing and Ambient Intelligence 2008 Salamanca, October 22-24th, 2008, Universidad de Salamanca, España Web: http://ucami.usal.es President of the Program Committee: Dr. Juan M. Corchado 2nd International Workshop on Practical Applications of Computational Biology & Bioinformatics (IWPACBB'08) Salamanca, October 22-24th, 2008, Universidad de Salamanca, España Web: http://gsii.usal.es/~iwpacbb President of the Program Committee: Dr. Florentino Fernández MADRINET 2008 - User-Centric Technologies and Aplications Workshop Salamanca, October 22-24th, 2008, University of Salamanca, Spain Web: http://gsii.usal.es/~madrinet President of the Program Committee: Dr. José M. Molina

2007

CAEPIA 2007: Conference of the Spanish Association for Artificial Intelligence Symposium Salamanca, 12th-17th November, 2007, University of Salamanca, Spain. web: http://caepia.usal.es President of the Program Committee: Dr. Daniel Borrajo IWPAAMS 2007: International Workshop on Practical Applications of Agents and Multiagent Systems Salamanca, 13th November, 2007, Pontifical University of Salamanca, Spain. web: http://www.web.upsa.es/IWPAAMS2007/es/home.html President of the Scientific Committee: Dr. Javier Bajo 2006

IDEAL 2006: 7th International Conference on Intelligent Data Engineering and Automated Learning Burgos, 20th-23rd September, 2006, University of Burgos, Spain. web: http://www2.ubu.es/ideal2006/ President of the Program Committee: Dr. Emilio S. Corchado Submits papers: 528 Accepted papers: 149 People registered: 238 IWPAAMS 2006: International Workshop on Practical Applications of Agents and Multiagent Systems Segovia, 13th November, 2007, University of Valladolid, Spain. web: http://www.iwpaams.org/ President of the Program Committee: Dr. Fernando Díaz President of the Scientific Committee: Dr. Juan M. Corchado Submits papers: 96 Accepted papers: 47


33

People registered: 62 HAIS 2006: Hybrid Artificial Intelligence Systems Workshop, Under the frame of the International Joint Conference IBERAMIA/SBIA/SBRN 2006 27th October, 2006, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil. web: http://www.icmc.usp.br/iarn2006/ President of the Scientific Committee: Dr. Juan M. Corchado Submits papers: 65 Accepted papers: 19 People registered: 82 2003 IWPAAMS 2003: First International Workshop on Practical Applications of Agents and Multiagent Systems Salamanca, 10th-12th November, 2007, University of Salamanca, Spain. web: not available President of the Program Committee: Dr. Juan M. Corchado Submits papers: 32 Accepted papers: 25 People registered: 41 2000 SEID 2000: 4th Spanish Symposium on Distributed Computing Ourense, 25th-27th September, 2000, University of Vigo, Spain. web: not available President of the Program Committee: Dr. Juan M. Corchado Submits papers: 262 Accepted papers: 102


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A.2 CREDENTIALS OF THE GIAA GROUP The following scientific special sessions and workshops have been or will be organized by the GIAA research group: Special session “Context-based Information Fusion Strategies”. 14th International Conference on Information Fusion. Chicago, USA. July 5th-10th, 2011. Chair: Jesus Garcia, Lauro Snidaro, Ingrid Visentini, Jose M. Molina Special session “Hybrid Systems for Context-based Information Fusion”. 6th International Conference on Hybrid Artificial Intelligence Systems, HAIS 2011. Wroclaw, Poland. May 23th-25th, 2011. Chair: Lauro Snidaro, Jesus Garcia, Jose M. Molina Workshop ISICIF 2011 “Intelligent systems for context-based information fusion”. 11th International Workconference on Artificial Neural Networks Malaga, Spain. June 8th-10th, 2011. Chair: Juan M. Corchado, Javier Bajo, Jesus Garcia, Jose M. Molina Special session “Hybrid Techniques for Robust Data Fusion Systems”. 13th International Conference on Information Fusion Edinburgh, United Kingdom. July 26th-29th, 2010. Chair: Jose M. Molina and Jesus Garcia Special session “Information Fusion: Frameworks and Architectures”. 5th International Conference on Hybrid Artificial Intelligence Systems, HAIS 2010 San Sebastian, Spain. June 23th-25th, 2010. Chair: James Llinas, Jose M. Molina and Jesus Garcia Workshop: “Fourth International Workshop on User-Centric Technologies and applications (CONTEXTS’10)”. Valencia, Spain. September 10th, 2010. Organizers: Jose M. Molina, José Ramón Casar, Felipe Cátedra, Javier Ortega-García Special session “Hybrid Techniques for Adaptation of Data Fusion Systems”. 12th International Conference on Information Fusion Seattle, USA. July 6-9th, 2009. Chair: Jose M. Molina and Jesus Garcia Special session “Evolutionary Approaches to Multiobjective Optimization and Applications”. 10th International Work-Conference on Artificial Neural Networks (IWANN’2009) Salamanca, Spain. June 10-12, 2009. Organizers: Jose M. Molina and Antonio Berlanga Workshop: “Third International Workshop on User-Centric Technologies and applications (MADRINET’09)”. Salamanca, Spain. June 10-12th, 2009. Organizers: Jose M. Molina, José Ramón Casar, Felipe Cátedra


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“International Symposium on Distributed Computing and Artificial Intelligence (DCAI 2008)”. Salamanca, Spain. October 20-24th, 2008. Scientific Committee Organizers: James Llinas, Jose M. Molina Special Session “Extending perception systems using Context-Based Information”. 2nd International Work-Conference on the Interplay between Natural and Artificial Computation, IWINAC-2007 Murcia, Spain. June 18-21th, 2007. Organizers: Jose M. Molina and Miguel A. Patricio Special Session “Video Interpretation based Surveillance”. 2nd Internacional Work-Conference on the Interplay between Natural and Artificial Computation, IWINAC-2007 Murcia, Spain. June 18th -21st, 2007. Organizers: Jose M. Molina and Miguel A. Patricio Special Session “Context Information in Data Fusion”. 10th International Conference on Information Fusion FUSION 2007 Québec, Canada. July 9-12th, 2007. Chair: Jose M. Molina and Jesus Garcia Special Session “International Workshop on Agent-Based Ubiquitous Computing”, within Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems Conference, AAMAS 2007. Hawai, USA. May 14-18th, 2007. Organizers: Jose M. Molina and Javier Carbo Special Session “Soft Computing” de la Conferencia de la Asociación Española de Inteligencia Artificial CAEPIA’2007, Salamanca, Spain. November 14th, 2007. Organizers: Jose M. Molina and Antonio Berlanga Workshop “User-Centric Technologies and Applications (MADRINET)” within Conferencia de la Asociación Española de Inteligencia Artificial CAEPIA’2007, Salamanca, Spain. November 12th, 2007. Organizers: Jose M. Molina, José Ramón Casar, Felipe Cátedra Special Session “Intelligent Systems in Data Fusion Engineering”. 9th International Conference on Information Fusion, Firenze, Italy. July 10-13th, 2006. Chair: Jose M. Molina and Jesus Garcia “Evolutionary Computation I” within “7th Internacional Conference on Intelligent Data Egineering and Automated Learning” Burgos, Spain. September 20-23rd, 2006. Organizers: Jose M. Molina Workshop “Sensor Fusion. Set new standards in network centric warfare” Barcelona, Spain. 2-5 November 2-4th, 2005. Chair: Jesus Garcia, organized by Marcus Evans


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Special Session “Data Fusion Applied to Surveillance and Monitoring Systems for Airport Surface” within 8th International Conference on Information Fusion FUSION 2005, Pensilvania, USA. July 27-29th, 2005. Chair: Jose Manuel Molina, Jesus Garcia and Juan Besada Special session “Image Understanding” sesión especial within 1st Internacional Work-Conference on the Interplay between Natural and Artificial Computation, IWINAC-2005, Las Palmas, Spain. June 15-18th, 2005. Chair: Jose M. Molina and Miguel A. Patricio Special session “New Trends in Data Fusion Alforithms for ATC Applications” dentro de la 7th International Conference on Information Fusion FUSION 2004 Stockholm, Sweden. June 28th-July 1st, 2004. Chair: Jose M. Molina, Jesus Garcia and Juan Besada


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APPENDIX B

DETAILED FINANCIAL ANALYSIS AND PROPOSAL DATA The details of conference budget, in Euros, is presented here. The financial analysis have been done considering three possible scenarios with low, medium and high numbers of participants. Prices are adjusted and realistic, taking into account the wide experience in organizing similar events. The number of attendees have been estimated taking into account the data from the last 5 FUSION conferences. All lunches and dinners during the conference are included in the registration fee (3 lunches, 2 dinners and gala dinner). We have considered the number of students as 1/4 of the total of attendees for each of the scenarios. The costs for keynote speakers include travel, accommodation, expenses and gifts. The costs for Social Programme include guided visits and organized events. On-site organization includes the costs of the Fundación General de la Universidad de Salamanca. In the three scenarios yields a Profit that we (USAL and UC3M) will share equally with ISIF according to mutual agreement. This Profit level is adjustable in various ways that can be developed post-award with ISIF, if desired. ISIF and the organizers will share both profit and risk equally (50% ISIF and 50% USAL + UC3M). Additionally, we will collect ISIF’s $25 fee from each participant and remit that to ISIF; that is included in the budget. On-site organization section in the budget includes: students, other staff, external promotion, external general, brochure design and printing. Scenario 1: Low number of participants Estimated Registration Regular Students

187 63 Estimated number of attendees, coffee breaks and dinners Attendees Coffee Breaks Lunches and dinners

250 12 7


38

Euros per Service Total Euros

COSTS Exhibition and Conference Centre (Euros) 15.000 15.000

(for this type of conference the whole venue must be rented for 5 days)

Key speakers 10000 10000

Social Programme 6000 6000

Personnel during conference (hostesses, recepcion clerks, technical services…) (Euros) 7.000 7.000

Technical equipment (spotlight devices, transparency projectors, slide projectors, frontal screens, fax, 2Mb DSL line, RDSI lines, telephone lines, computers, poster displays, photocopies, wireless microphones) (Euros) 3.000 3.000

Conference bags (Euros/person) 15 3750

Conference Proceedings (Euros) 6.000 6.000

Office Suplies (Euros) 2.000 2.000

Some social events :

Coffee breaks (Euros/Person/C.B.) 3,5 10500

Opening reception (Euros/Person) 15 3750

Lunch and Dinner (Euros/Person) 32 56000

Gala Dinner (Euros/Person) 75 18750

On-Site organization (Students, other Staff…) (Euros) 25.000 25.000

Health Insurance (if required) (Euros/Person) 40 10000

ISIF Membership (if required) (Euros/Person) 20 5000

TOTAL COST (Low) 181.750INCOME Institutional sponsors (Ministry of Science and Technology, Junta de Castilla y León,….) (Euros) 25.000 25.000

Private sponsors (IBM (Insa), HP, Telefónica I+D, Telefónica Móviles, Matchmind, Indra, etc.) (Euros)

20.000 20.000

Grants offered by the BISITE group (Accommodation and food for Volunteers) (Euros) 6000 6.000

Exhibitors (Euros) 6000 6.000

Registration fees (Regular) (Euros) 700 130900

Registration fees (Student) (Euros) 345 21735

TOTAL INCOME (Low) 209.635PROFIT 27.885


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Scenario 2: Realistic number of participants Estimated Registration Regular Students


400 12 7

Euros per Service Total Euros



Key speakers 10000 10.000

Social Programme 7000 7.000



Conference bags (Euros/person) 15 6.000



Some social events : Coffee breaks (Euros/Person/C.B.) 3,5 16.800

Opening reception (Euros/Person) 15 6.000

Lunch and Dinner (Euros/Person) 32 89.600

Gala Dinner (Euros/Person) 75 30.000


Health Insurance (if required) (Euros/Person) 40 16.000

ISIF Membership (if required) (Euros/Person) 20 8.000

TOTAL COST (Realistic) 259.400


40

INCOME

Institutional sponsors (Ministry of Science and Technology, Junta de Castilla y León,….) (Euros) 25.000 25.000Private sponsors (IBM (Insa), HP, Telefónica I+D, Telefónica Móviles, Matchmind, Indra, etc.) (Euros)

20.000 20.000

Grants offered by the BISITE group (Accommodation and food for Volunteers) (Euros) 6000 6.000Exhibitors (Euros) 6000 6.000Registration fees (Regular) (Euros) 700 210.000Registration fees (Student) (Euros) 345 34.500TOTAL INCOME (Realistic) 301.500

PROFIT 42.100


41

Scenario 3: Optimistic number of participants Estimated Registration Regular Students


500 12 7

Euros per Service

Total Euros



Key speakers 10000 10.000

Social Programme 8000 8.000



Conference bags (Euros/person) 15 7.500



Some social events : Coffee breaks (Euros/Person/C.B.) 3,5 21.000

Opening reception (Euros/Person) 15 7.500

Lunch and Dinner (Euros/Person) 32 112.000

Gala Dinner (Euros/Person) 75 37.500


Health Insurance (if required) (Euros/Person) 40 20.000

ISIF Membership (if required) (Euros/Person) 20 10.000

TOTAL COST (Optimistic) 315.500


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INCOME

Institutional sponsors (Ministry of Science and Technology, Junta de Castilla y León,….) (Euros) 25.000 25.000Private sponsors (IBM (Insa), HP, Telefónica I+D, Telefónica Móviles, Matchmind, Indra, etc.) (Euros)

20.000 20.000

Grants offered by the BISITE group (Accommodation and food for Volunteers) (Euros) 6000 6.000Exhibitors (Euros) 6000 6.000Registration fees (Regular) (Euros) 700 262.500Registration fees (Student) (Euros) 345 43.125TOTAL INCOME (Optimistic) 362.625

PROFIT 47.125


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Appendix C Brief Analysis of Recent ISIF Conference

Programs

The contents of technical program in the four past Fusion conferences is summarized in table 4 (the list is not exhaustive, and especial sessions, usually covering around one third of technical program, are not included). They have been grouped in the following categories: classical and advanced estimation techniques, high-level fusion, lateral techniques and application domains. The traditional areas related with sensor data processing, target tracking and estimation theory have flourished and advanced towards very sophisticated techniques in the history of conference. The high-level fusion techniques have also gained an important weigh in the conference. As “lateral techniques” we call those providing additional capabilities in the fusion tasks, mainly applied in the higher levels of fusion architecture. Fuzzy and Dempster-Shafer reasoning are the most traditional ones, and other more recent such as data mining or ontologies have been joined to the recent programs. Finally, the applications sessions reflect the on-going fusion projects and call attention to industry and other related communities with close problems in which information fusion techniques provide valuable solutions.

Table 4. Technical Programs in 2008-2010 Fusion Conferences

Fusion 2008 Fusion 2009 Fusion 2010 Fusion 2011 Classical Estimation Techniques

Target Tracking Target Tracking Bayesian inference

(particle filters, MCMC etc)

Multiple target tracking

Tracking Maneuvering Targets

Multistatic Tracking I registration Track fusion

Estimation and Filtering

Data Association detection and signal processing

Multistatic filtering

Ground Target Tracking and Classification

Sensor Bias Correction

Group target tracking

Track Initialization and Maintenance

Multistatic Tracking I Radar target tracking

Track-before-detect

Particle Filters and MonteCarlo Methods I

MHT tracking

Advanced Estimation Techniques

Advances and Feature-Aided Dempster-Shafer, Unscented


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Applications of DSmT for Information Fusion

Tracking evidential reasoning, etc

approaches

Finite Set Statistics (FISST): Theory and Applications

Finite Set Statistics (FISST)

random sets, including Finite Set Statistics (FISST)

Finite set statistics

Advances in Nonlinear State Estimation

Estimation Theory Feature-aided Tracking, Hard Soft Data Fusion, Target Tracking, group tracking, etc)

Gaussian mixtures

Particle Filters and Monte Carlo Methods

Beyond Classical Bayesian Estimation

Novel dynamic and measurement models

Bearings-only Tracking

Nonlinear Filtering

Robust nonlinear filtering

High-level Fusion Techniques

Situation Sensing, Fusion and Management

Distributed Fusion Recognition classification

Pattern Analysis for Situational Awareness

Fusion Performance

Sensor Management Situation assessment, prediction

Mission Planning And Execution

Distributed Inference and Decision-Making in Multisensor Systems

Automated Support of Model and Context-Based Information Fusion in Intelligence

Distributed fusion process and sensor resource management

(Distributed) Multi Sensor Fusion Engines

Higher-level Fusion

High Level Fusion Pattern and behavioral analysis

Integrating Comm and Fusion Processes

Distributed Fusion Algorithms

Resource Mgmt & Scheduling

Situation Awareness

Distributed Inference and Decision-Making

Lateral Techniques

Belief Functions, Theory

Applications of DSmT for

Fuzzy sets and fuzzy logic

Hard/Soft Information Fusion

Anomaly Detection

Fusion Evaluation

Sequential inference

Fusion for Collaborative Sensing

Classification Dynamic Data and Intelligent Targets

Data Mining Network Science


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Optimization Image Processing Machine Learning Video Tracking Image Fusion Integrating the

Human Analyst into Hybrid Sensing

Ontologies Learning

Image Segmentation and Analysis

Information Fusion in Socio-Cognitive and Communication Network

Data and Information Representation, Data Assimilation

Hard/Soft Information Fusion

Evaluation of Techniques for Uncertainty Representation

Challenges of and Methods for Information Fusion of Soft Data

Information Fusion under Unknown Dependencies

Teams

Sensor Deployment strategies

Grid-based Methods

Application Domains

Sensor Networks UAV Planning Aerospace, Automotive, Transportation)

Localization

Surveillance Intelligent Transportation

Economics and financial

Navigation

Collaborating Mobile Sensors

Fusion & Policy Issues and Capabilities for Coalition Operators

Environmental and medical

Wireless sensor networks

Civil Security Data Fusion on Networks

Natural Language Processing & Inf. Retrieval

Car-driver Assistance Systems

Command and Control through Sensor Management and Picture Compilation

Personnel Detection

Tracking with Sensor Networks Localisation


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APPENDIX D Events held at the Palacio de Congresos de Castilla y

León, Salamanca

References of the Palacio de Congresos de Castilla y León. Activities held at the Palacio de Congresos de Castilla y León

2009:

• Conferences: 49 Conferences with a total attendance of 22.600 people. • Performances: 43 Performances with a total attendance of 38.670 people. • Other Activities: 27 other activities with a total attendance of 64.200 people. • Exhibitions: 5 exhibitions with a total attendance of 34.435 people.

2008:


2007:


2006:


2005 (Salamanca was the European Cultural Capital during this year):

• Conferences: There were 48 Conferences with a total attendance of 63.505 people.

• Performances: There were 69 Performances with a total attendance of 56.910 people.

• Other Activities: 31 activities with a total attendance of 54.150 people. Exhibitions: 5 different exhibitions with a total attendance of 28.700 people.


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APPENDIX E RESERVE / BACKUP FACILITIES

Hospedería Fonseca The Hospedería Fonseca is one of the conference and cultural centre belonging to the University of Salamanca. It was founded by Archbishop of Toledo Don Alonso de Fonseca. Building first began in 1519 but it has recently been totally renovated and refurbished, to offer a custom built conference venue. Meetings for up to 500 people can be held there with a main hall for up to 500 people, a smaller hall for 150 and 10 rooms for meetings of 30 to 80 people each.


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APPENDIX F SUMMARY OF HOTELS IN SALAMANCA

SOME HOTELS IN THE CITY CENTRE 5 Star hotels ***** AC Palacio de San Esteban rooms 51 Alameda Palace Hotel rooms 103 Grand Hotel Don Gregorio rooms 17

Total rooms 171 4 Star hotels **** Abba Fonseca rooms 86 Artheus Carmelitas Salamanca rooms 69 Catalonia Salamanca Plaza rooms 67 Estrella Albatros rooms 43 Hall88 Apartahotel rooms 88 Hotel Casino del Tormes rooms 22 Hotel Monterrey rooms 144 Hotel Plaza del Ángel rooms 23 Hotel Rector rooms 13 Melia Las Claras Boutique Hotel rooms 72 Melia Trip Salamanca rooms 63 NH Palacio de Castellanos rooms 62 NH Puerta de la Catedral rooms 37 Parador de Salamanca rooms 110 Puente Romano de Salamanca rooms 35 Rua Salamanca rooms 19 Tryp Salamanca rooms 63 Vincci Ciudad de Salamanca rooms 81

Total rooms 1097 3 Star hotels *** Hotel Castellano III rooms 73 Hotel San Polo rooms 36 Hotel Torre del Clavero rooms 26 Petit Palace Las Torres rooms 44 Room Mate Vega rooms 38 Salamanca Plaza del Mercado rooms 38 Silken Rona D´Alba rooms 89

Total rooms 344 2 Star hotels ** Amefa rooms 33 Hotel Concejo rooms 18 Hotel Ibis Salamanca rooms 62


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JCH Congreso Apartamenteos rooms 12 Microtel Placentinos rooms 9

Total rooms 134

TOTAL rooms 1746 Some of the hotels are within 2 to 10 min. walk from the Palacio de Congresos de Castilla y León and the Hospedería Fonseca.

SOME OF THE UNIVERSITY RESIDENCES Arzobispo Fonseca College rooms 41 Cuenca College rooms 344 Fray Luis de León College rooms 64 Hernán Cortés College rooms 194 Oviedo College rooms 345

TOTAL rooms 988

These residences are within 1 to 15 min. walk from the Palacio de Congresos de Castilla y León and the Hospedería Fonseca.

AC PALACIO SAN ESTEBAN ***** Arroyo de Santo Domingo 3 37001 - Salamanca Tel: +34 923 262 296 Fax: +34 923 268 872 E-mail: [email protected] Web: http://www.ac-hoteles.com 5 min. walk

ALAMEDA PALACE ***** Paseo de la Estación 1 37004 - Salamanca Tel: +34 923 282 626 Fax: +34 923 282 700 E-mail: [email protected] Web: http://www.hotelalamedapalace.com 15 min. walk


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GRAND HOTEL DON GREGORIO ***** San Pablo 80-82, 37008 – Salamanca Tel: +34 923217015 E-mail: [email protected] Web: http://www.hoteldongregorio.com 5 min. walk

Plaza San Blas 2, 37007 – Salamanca Tel: +34 923011010 Fax: +34 923011011 Web: http://www.abbafonsecahotel.com 5 min. walk

Paseo Carmelitas 67, 37002 – Salamanca Tel: +34 923212500 Fax: +34 923216080 Web: http://www.artheushoteles.com 5 min. walk

CATALONIA SALAMANCA PLAZA **** C/ Espoz y Mina 23-25 37002 - Salamanca Tel: +34 923281717 URL: http://www.hoteles-catalonia.com 5 min. walk

PLAZA DEL ÁNGEL **** Pza. del Ángel 5-7 37001 - Salamanca Tel: +34 923 217 518 Fax: +34 923 219 697 E-mail: [email protected] URL: http://www.hotelplazadelangel.com 5 min. walk

MELIÁ TRYP SALAMANCA **** C/ Álava 8-14 37001 - Salamanca Tel: +34 923 261 111 Fax: +34 923 262 429 E-mail: [email protected] URL: http://www.solmelia.es 10 min. walk


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BYBLOS **** Tel: +34 923 212 500 Fax: +34 923 216 080 E-mail: [email protected] URL: http://www.hotelbyblos.com 10 min. walk

NH PALACIO DE CASTELLANOS **** San Pablo 58 37008 - Salamanca Tel: +34 923 261 818 Fax: +34 923 261 819 URL: http://www.nh-hoteles.es 5 min. walk

HOTEL MONTERREY **** Azafranal 21 37001 - Salamanca Tel: +34 923 214 400 Fax: +34 923 214 400 E-mail: [email protected] URL: http://www.helcom.es/monterrey 10 min. walk

HOTEL SAN POLO *** Arroyo de Sto. Domingo 1 37008 - Salamanca Tel: +34 923 211 177 Fax: +34 923 211 177 E-mail: [email protected] URL: http://www.hotelsanpolo.com 5 min. walk


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APPENDIX G HISTORY, ART AND CULTURAL KEYS OF SALAMANCA

History Throughout its long existence, Salamanca, has borne witness to some of the most important events in Spanish history. Pre-Roman remains have been found in the Teso de San Vicente, a Roman bridge overlooks the River Tormes, and at the end of the bridge there is a 'verraco', an Iberian statue representing a bull. Numerous inscriptions have also been uncovered in the city walls, and there are still traces of the Calzada de la Plata (Silver Route) which passed through.

The Main Square (Plaza Mayor) The city was besieged by Hannibal around 220 BC, and from about 50 BC onwards, it was part of the Roman province of Lusitania. Little information remains from the Visigothic era, and between 6th and 10th centuries AD Salamanca found itself in the heart of the No-man’s land between the Christian and Islamic kingdoms, changing hands several times before it was finally reconquered by the great pro-European king, Alfonso VI. In 1096, he handed responsibility for the repopulation of the city to his son-in-law, Count Raimundo de Borgoña, who subsequently granted Salamanca its first municipal charter. In 1200 Alfonso IX founded what was to become the University of Salamanca some eighteen years later. So, in many ways, the city owes its fame and prosperity to him. The new University soon received recognition from Kings Fernando el Santo (The Saint) and Alfonso X el Sabio (The Wise), establishing the number and type of professorships that should make up the University structure. Already, by 1254, Pope Alexander IV had dubbed the University of Salamanca “one of the four leading lights of the world”.


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Old Library (Biblioteca Antigua)

Salamanca was visited several times by the Catholic Monarchs, once after the death of their son, Prince Don Juan, in 1497, and King Ferdinand also resided there from October 1505 to March 1506. Carlos I visited Salamanca in 1534, and in 1543, Felipe II married his first wife, María of Portugal in the city. Felipe III visited Salamanca in 1600 with his second wife, Margaret of Austria. The city took part in the War of Succession, on the side of Felipe V, founder of the Bourbon dynasty. It was occupied by the troops of Archduke Charles of Austria, but was soon recovered by Felipe V. He stayed here for several days in 1710 and subsequently ordered the construction of the Plaza Mayor. Salamanca was badly affected by the Peninsular War. From 1808 to 1811 it was occupied by both the French and the British as they used Spanish soil as a battleground for European dominance. During the period, many of Salamanca’s most valuable architectural treasures were destroyed, including the Colegio Mayor de Cuenca. Finally, the Battle of Arapiles, at the very gates of the city, saw the defeat of the French at the hands of Wellington. The engagement was decisive in the eventual withdrawal of the French from Spanish territory. Meanwhile, the city developed a lively community with life at the University, the distribution of professorships and relations between lecturers and students, evolving side by side with the rest of the town. Artistically, a catalogue of the most exquisite styles has left their mark on the city. The most beautiful examples of Spanish Plateresque (silverware) style, with its decorative quality and fine execution, can be found in Salamanca. The style perfectly suited the local stone with its soft, malleable texture and beautiful golden colour. Innumerable renowned historical figures, including Fray Luis de León, Antonio de Nebrija, Francisco de Vitoria, Cervantes, Menéndez Valdés, San Juan de la Cruz, Miguel de Unamuno and Gonzalo Torrente Ballester, have connections with the city, both within the University and as members of the city’s artistic community, adding further to Salamanca’s rich heritage. Today, life in the city is not so different from any other in Spain, although its


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spiritual foundations (especially with the Pontificia – Catholic University) and lively student community lend it a unique atmosphere. With the Plaza Mayor at its hub, this Spanish Oxbridge thrives as one of the major cultural tourist destinations in Spain. It has been recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, and in 2002 enjoyed the prestigious mantle of European Capital of Culture.

Art and Architecture Prehistoric and Roman periods. Important archaeological discoveries have been made including dolmens, paintings and stellar stones as well as Phoenician and Celto-Iberian remains, including the 'verraco' (Iberian statue, representing a bull). The Roman bridge itself which formed part of the Via de Plata (Silver route) from Astorga to Merida still survives.

Roman bridge

Romanesque Period. After the Moorish occupation, new cultures and structures emerged, influenced by styles borrowed from the Camino de Santiago, located further to the north. The Old Cathedral is the most representative example. The Gothic Period. The gothic style was introduced, as in other communities, either


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renovating existing buildings or constructing new ones. The House of Shells (Casa de las Conchas) is a perfect example of this tendency.

Cathedral Casa de las Conchas

The Renaissance Period. During the XVI century the practice of patronage led to a creative explosion of impressive art. The period saw the construction of many of Salamanca’s most important buildings, including the New Cathedral, the Façade of the University, the Escuelas Menores and Colegio Mayor Fonseca, as well as many other buildings which unfortunately no longer exist. The ornamental style that gave Salamanca its distinctive architectural style during this period is known as Plateresque.

Facade of the University New Cathedral, Colegio Mayor

Fonseca and Escuelas Menores The Baroque Period. The influence of the Baroque style changed the appearance of the city, with a number of major buildings, such as the Clerecía, several Colleges, Hostelries and the Plaza Mayor (Main Square), constructed at the same time. From Neoclassical period to the Present Day, over the last two centuries few buildings of any particular interest have been constructed, although there are several notable exceptions, such as La Casa de Lis with its beautiful wrought iron work.


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Main Square (Plaza Mayor) Casa Lis

The University In a royal decree, drawn up in Valladolid on 16th April 1243 by Fernando III, Alfonso IX, King of Leon, is recognized as the founder of the Salmantino School in 1218. The University that then came into being is one of the oldest in Europe, established only a few years after those of Bologna and Paris. Its various original buildings represent some of the finest examples of Spanish Plateresque style, in particular the famous façade. Floral themes predominate and there is a dominant Italian style in the sculptures. The moulding and the panels include masks, fruits, children, baskets, etc. In the centre there is a medallion, a reproduction of a coin with the busts of the Catholic King and Queen, Ferdinand and Isabella. Above this, is the shield of Carlos V, flanked on either side by the two-headed imperial eagle of San Juan. The third level is less complicated, depicting naked children, women, spiral motifs and dragons. The upper part, decorated with medallions, has at its centre a pope exhorting cardinals and clergymen dressed in Italian habits.

Inside the University, a chapel houses a remarkable central painting depicting the


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university staff making the oath to the Mystery of the Immaculate Conception. There is also an extraordinary early 16th century staircase consisting of several flights whose decorations represent in earthy, medieval style, the happiness of married life and scenes of games, tournaments and bullfighting on horseback.

The old library is closed off by a beautiful iron gate from the 16th century. The original library collapsed in 1664 and was rebuilt in 1749 by the great architect Manuel de Lara Churriguera who also designed the rich Baroque bookcases full of exquisite books from the various faculties and an inner room, also Baroque, where the rare manuscripts are kept. The classroom of Fray Luis de León is well worth a visit with original benches used by the students, the dais for the graduates and the professor and the desk below where the reader presented the professor’s class. The Paraninfo (Assembly room) contains some Baroque tapestries from Brussels and a portrait of Carlos IV, by Goya.

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