Ibersensor I (1998)

1-Introduction
    The first Iberoamerican Congress on Sensors and Biosensors (IberSensor´98) took place at the University of Havana, Cuba, on November 9-13, 1998. It was organized by the Physics Faculty and the Institute for Materials and Reagents with the cooperation of other Cubans research centers.
    The Congress was sponsored by Havana University, the Cuban Physics Society, the Latinoamerican Physics Center (CLAF) and the Sensors and Biosensors Group of The Autonomous University of Barcelona
    The congress presented the recent scientific and technological results of our region on all aspects of the theory, design, fabrication and applications of Sensors and Biosensors.
2- Activities
    The scientific program was conformed by invited lectures, oral and poster contributions, informal talks about the works of the different laboratories and groups of Iberoamerica, a round table about applications of sensors and biosensors and visits to different Cubans research centers. A parallel social program was conformed with visits to historical, cultural and tourist interest places.
3- Structure and works presented

The main topics, which coincided with the sections of the Conference, were:

  1. Theory and Design of Sensors and Biosensors.
  2. New Materials and Technologies.
  3. Physical Sensors.
  4. Chemical Sensors.
  5. Biosensors.
  6. Applications of Sensors and Biosensors.
 Invited conferences:
 
1- "CMOS-based integration of physical and chemical sensors"
        Prof. Dr.Wilfried Mokwa (Germany).
        Institute of Materials for Electrical Engineering, University of Technology Aachen, and Fraunhofer Institute of Microelectronic Circuits and Systems, Duisburg.
2- "ISFET applications in biological matter"
       Prof. Dr. Francisco Valdés (Mexico).
       Departamento de Ingeniería Eléctrica y Electrónica, Instituto Tecnológico de La Laguna, Coahuila.
3- "Growth of III-nitrides on Si(111) by MBE. Properties and applications"
        Prof. Dr. Enrique Calleja (España).
        Dpt. Ing. Electrónica. ETSI Telecomunicación, Univ. Politécnica, Madrid, Spain.
4- "Biosensing systems with renewable surfaces"
       Prof. Dr. Salvador Alegret (España)
       Grupo de Sensores y Biosensores, dpto. de Química, Universidad Autónoma Barcelona,
5- "Chemooptical Sensors: An overview"
        Prof. Dr. Paul V. Lambeck (The Netherlands).
        MESA Research Institute, Lightwave Devices Group, University of Twente,
6- "Molecularly imprinted polymers for developing biomimetic optical sensors"
       Prof. Dr. Marta Díaz (España).Departamento de Química Física y Analítica, Universidad de Oviedo.
7- "Technological advances in the development of semiconductor-based ionizing radiation sensors"
        Prof. Dra. Angelina Díaz (Cuba).
        Centro de Estudios Aplicados al Desarrollo de la Energía Nuclear.
8- "Developments of sensors research in Cuba"
        Prof. Dr. Leonel Pérez (Cuba).
        Institute of Materials and Reagents, Havana University.

 

Contributions
Topic oral poster total
1- Theory and Design of Sensors and Biosensors 2 10 12
2- New Materials and Technologies 3 9 12
3- Physical Sensors 3 11 14
4- Chemical Sensors 5 24 29
5-Biosensors 7 5 12
6-Aplications of sensors and biosensors 1 4 5

Totals

21 63 84

 

Distribution of papers per countries (according to the country of the first author) *
Country Invited conferences Contributions Total
Cuba 2 27 29
Spain 3 20 23
Brazil - 9 9
México 1 8 9
Argentine - 8 8
Portugal - 8 8
Germany 1 2 3
Italy - 2 2
The Netherlands 1 - 1

Totals

8 84 92

* Scientifics from Colombia and Uruguay were also present. They do not appear because they were not the first authors.

Participants per countries

Country

Number of participants

Cuba 40
Spain 12
México 8
Argentine 6
Portugal 6
Brazil 3
Germany 2
Italy 2
The Netherlands 1
Colombia 1
Uruguay 1
Chile 1
Total of participants: Cubans 40
Not Cubans 43
Companions (not Cubans) 2

4- General results

  1.     IberSensor 98 met as a first time a wide group of professionals from different technological fields and Latin-American countries in order to exchange and present works, knowledges, points of view, etc. about sensors and biosensors R & D.
  2.     The works showed a high both scientific and technological level in the world framework. Furthermore, important potentialities in diverse groups and labs have been observed.
  3.     Apart from the successful exchange between researchers and technician, a great advance in collaborations between groups and institution was also achieved.
  4.     A Permanent Committee in order to impulse the continuity of the IberSensor meeting was created. This Committee will be formed for members whose will represent the major number of Latin-American countries. The first representation will be composed for all members from the International Organizing Committee of the last IberSensor 98, and one or more members from each of the Latin-American countries will be added. Each country will have its own IberSensor Committee in order to encourage the both R & D and industrial professionals involved in the sensors and biosensors field. These meeting will be hold each two years, being a proposal for the 2000-year that in Argentina will be placed.
  5.     The IberSensor assistants agree with the creation of a wider project devoted to welcome a framework with the goal of develop R & D activities, such as students exchange, workshops celebration, etc. In order to reinforce these activities the searching of funding should be the main objective. On the other hand, the possibility of creating a network in the Programa Iberoamericano de Ciencia y Tecnología para el Desarrollo (CYTED) is being evaluated.

    Finally, the IberSensor assistants agree with the realization of a wide divulging task in each country in order to stimulate participation in next meeting and activities in next congress editions.