Messages from Local Arrangements Chairs

Welcome to Hong Kong soon! The following messages provide practical information for you to plan and visit Hong Kong during the congress.

Visa Visitors from most countries can enter Hong Kong without a visa for periods of seven days to six months, depending on nationality. For authors who need visas to visit Hong Kong, the congress secretariat can send you invitation letters and visas may be applied at a Chinese Consulate or Visa Office. It is recommended to apply at least six weeks in advance. Mainland Chinese can apply passes to visit Hong Kong from their local public security bureaus. Overseas Chinese with mainland passports may stay in Hong Kong for up to a week without visa in transit to/from the mainland China with valid airline tickets.

Language About 96% of the local population is Chinese. Chinese and English are the official languages. Cantonese is the most widely spoken Chinese dialect, though use of Mandarin (Putonghua) is growing significantly.

Currency The Hong Kong dollar is officially pegged to the US dollar (around HK$7.80 to US$1). However, the actual exchange rates for currency exchange transactions fluctuate slightly based on market conditions and are determined by the banks or money exchangers at the time when such transactions are made.

Venue The congress venue is the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center (HKCEC), a premier conference site by all standards. At nearby Wanchai and Causeway Bay districts, you will be able to enjoy the liveliness of the shopping, dining and entertainment activities of Hong Kong Island.

Transportation The Airport Express train provides a rapid way of transport from the airport. It takes only 23 minute to go from the airport to the Hong Kong Station in Central, at HK$100. Airport bus A11 is available that passes Wanchai, with a fare of HK$40.

There are many types of local transportation to the conference venue (HKCEC): taxis, railway (MTR), buses, trams, ferries, and walking. The site (HKCEC) is conveniently linked by covered walkways to adjacent hotels. For MTR riders, Wanchai station of the Island Line is the closest station to HKCEC, and the walk from this station (Exit A5) to HKCEC through the footbridges should be within 15 minutes via the Immigration Tower and Central Plaza. For Airport Express passengers who want to go to HKCEC from the airport, a free airport express shuttle bus operates from the Hong Kong Station to HKCEC as well as a number of hotels. Taxis are readily available everywhere. A taxi can be shared by up to 5 persons.  All taxis are metered, with HK$16 as the starting fare for downtown taxis. A trip from the airport to the Hong Kong island by a taxi would cost around HK$350, with traveling time about 45 minutes.

Weather  Hong Kong has a subtropical climate with distinct seasonal changes. In late May and early June, it is usually warm and humid. Temperature ranges from 26^o - 33^oC (78^o - 91^oF). Humidity can rise above 86 percent. Occasional rainfalls would occur.

Foods  Most people in or coming to Hong Kong enjoy foods here. A variety of foods are available in Hong Kong.  There are several restaurants inside HKCEC:

Golden Bauhinia (Cantonese cuisine), telephone number: 2582 7728
Congress Restaurant (international cuisine), telephone number: 2582 7250
Harbour Kitchen (Hong Kong flavors), telephone number 2582 7241
For quick lunches at a moderate cost near the congress venue, you may try some of the following:   
Pret A Manger, Shop 114 & 116-118, Harbour Centre, 25 Harbour Road
Oliver's Super Sandwiches, Shop 118-119 &123-125, Sun Hung Kai Centre, 30 Harbour Road
Café De Coral, Shop 103-104,119A, Harbour Centre, 25 Harbour Road
Délifrance Café, G/F, 80 Gloucester Road

Several restaurants are also available at the nearby Great Eagle Centre, China Resources Building, and Sun Hung Kai Centre.  

Electricity  The standard electrical voltage in Hong Kong is 220 volts AC, 50HZ. Most electrical outlets accept plugs with three-rectangular pins in British style. Adaptors may be borrowed from some hotels or purchased in local markets (HK$6-10).

Safety  Hong Kong is a safe city to live or visit, with a very low crime rate. Although there are occasional pickpockets, there are very few violent crimes.

Health  In Hong Kong, the Centre for Health Protection is in charged with the responsibility to achieve effective prevention and control of diseases in the area. Although there had been quite many outbursts of influenza in February/March this year, the peak seasons of influenza in Hong Kong are mainly from January to March and from July to August every year. So, cases of influenza in Hong Kong are expected to drop with the peak season ending in April.

Harborview  The conference site provides a wonderful view of the famous Victoria Harbor. At night, the lights from buildings and streets on both sides of the harbor adorn the scenery like glittering jewels. You may also view the Symphony of Lights, which is a spectacular multimedia display commencing at 8 pm daily. This display creates an all-round vision of colored lights, laser beams and searchlights performing a spectacle synchronized to music and narration.

We wish you a pleasant stay in Hong Kong and hope that you will bring back good memories of staying here.

James T.-Y. Kwok, Peter Tam, Eric W.-M. Yu

Local Arrangements Chairs
 

The 2008 IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence (WCCI 2008) will be held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre during June 1-6, 2008 (Sunday - Friday). WCCI 2008 is composed of the 2008 International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN 2008), the 2008 IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems (FUZZ-IEEE 2008) and the 2008 IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC 2008). The congress will feature world-renowned plenary speakers, regular technical sessions, state-of-the-art special sessions, interactive poster sessions, moderated panel discussions, informative pre-congress tutorials, complementary post-congress workshops, and entertaining social functions.

WCCI 2008 received a record number of submissions (over 2500) from authors in over 70 countries across all six inhabitable continents  (Algeria, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China (including Mainland, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan), Colombia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, UK, USA, Venezuela, and Vietnam).  All contributed papers are being reviewed by experts in the fields based on the criteria of originality, significance, quality, and clarity. For general inquiries, please contact General Chair Jun Wang at jwang@mae.cuhk.edu.hk. For program inquiries, contact IJCNN2008 Program Chair Derong Liu at dliu@ece.uic.edu, FUZZ-IEEE2008 Program Chair Gary Feng at megfeng@cityu.edu.hk, or CEC2008 Program Chair Zbigniew Michalewicz at zbyszek@cs.adelaide.edu.au.
 

WCCI 2008 will also feature 9 pre-congress tutorials and 3 post-congress workshops covering fundamental and advanced computational intelligence topics. Any inquires regarding the tutorials should be addressed to Tutorial Chairs Wlodzislaw Duch at wduch@is.umk.pl, Russell Eberhart at reberhar@iupui.edu, and Qiang Shen at qqs@aber.ac.uk by January 1, 2008.  Any inquires regarding the workshops should be addressed to Workshops Chairs Irwin K.C. King  at king@cse.cuhk.edu.hk and Yangmin Li at ymli@umac.mo by January 1, 2008.
 

WCCI 2008 Technical Programs will include special sessions within the technical scopes of the three conferences. So far, 90 special sessions have been approved. Special sessions, organized by internationally recognized experts, aim to bring together researchers in special focused topics. Cross-fertilization of the three research areas of computational intelligence with new emerging technologies is strongly encouraged. Any enquiries about the special sessions can be sent to the special session organizers, IJCNN2008 Special Sessions Chair Jagath C. Rajapakse at  asjagath@ntu.edu.sg, FUZZ-IEEE2008 Special Sessions Chair Xiao-Jun Zeng at x.zeng@manchester.ac.uk, CEC2008 Special Sessions Chair Yuhui Shi at shi@ieee.org, or Special Sessions Chair on Emerging Areas Byoung-Tak Zhang at btzhang@bi.snu.ac.kr.
 

WCCI 2008 will host competitions to stimulate research in computational intelligence, promote fair evaluations, and attract students. The competitions will take place between December 2007 and May 2008. For questions, please contact the Competitions Chairs Isabelle Guyon at isabelle@clopinet.com for IJCNN2008, Leszek Rutkowski at lrutko@kik.pcz.czest.pl for FUZZ-IEEE2008, or Philip Hingston at p.hingston@ecu.edu.au for CEC2008.

The IEEE Computational Intelligence Society (CIS) Travel Grant Program offers a limited number of travel grants to assist IEEE CIS student members and members from developing countries for presenting papers at IEEE CIS-sponsored conferences. The applicants must have both IEEE and IEEE CIS memberships.  Past history of the IEEE CIS travel grants, as well as more information, can be viewed at the travel grant webpage at http://ieee-cis.org/edu/travel.

To apply for the support one must first register in the Grant Application System (http://ieee-cis.org/gas). All travel grant submissions are to be entered into the Grant Application System. No paper application needs to be sent to the Chair. The applications must reach the IEEE CIS Educational Activities Committee Chair by the due date of April 14, 2008. Only complete applications from eligible students will be accepted. Please, note that there is no need to send proof of IEEE and IEEE CIS membership as membership will be verified through the IEEE member databases. Decisions are expected to be announced by April 28, 2008.

The applicants will be required to present some documentation at the conference (please see the website for details). Travel grant amounts have not been determined yet. See previous travel grant results for an indication of possible travel grant amounts. If you have any questions please contact Dr. Rami Abielmona, rabielmo@ieee.org.