The 6th International Congress of Mechanical Engineering Societies (ICOMES) was held in Shanghai, China on November 19 through 21.

ICOMES is the meeting of presidents of mechanical engineering societies and held every two years. The 6th meeting was convened with the participation of the representatives of the engineering societies and institutions of the following countries:

Japan, Korea, China, Bangladesh, Australia, USA, Canada, UK, France, Belgium, Sweden, Greece, Cyprus, Slovakia, Czeck, Egypt, Vietnam (observer)

The keywords of the meeting were interdisciplinary educational program and Internet. A society reported that it is directly involved in the preparation of university curriculum, and demand for this interdisciplinary program was great concern for most societies. Another emergent question for them is the overwhelming surge of Internet technology which may wash away some societies running business with small number of members and limited budget. Reorganization and regional collaboration of societies must be inevitable, and competition for providing more information through Internet will become major part of their strategy.

With rapid development of computer and Internet, many universities will accept students of every country on line. No national border or financial question will be obstacle to them anymore. They will be able to study in their own country. This new trend will lead the engineering societies to reviewing their functions accordingly.

And it will be major subject of next meeting to be organized by Association Francaise de Mechanique in 2002 in France.