LONDON—The deadline is March 1 to submit an abstract for consideration to be included in the International Rubber Conference 2019, to be held Sept. 3-5 in London.
The IRC 2019 International Technical Committee is seeking papers that discuss innovations in elastomers, covering a wide range of categories, including product applications, material developments, material processing, sustainability, modeling and smart materials.
The abstracts should be no longer than 300 words and contain enough information for the committee to judge the paper and the main results.
More information on the call for paper process can be found at the event's website, www.irc2019.org.
"They're quite vigorous over whether a paper is accepted or not," said Gail Reader, who works in promotion for Rubber Consultants, which is the consultancy unit of the Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre.
Rubber Consultants is an IRC 2019 sponsor and has been visiting rubber-related events to promote the conference, including the ACS Rubber Division International Elastomer Conference last fall and the upcoming Tire Technology Expo in Germany. The conference is being organized by IOM Communications Ltd. on behalf of the Polymer Society of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.
Reader said this will be the first IRC in several years that will be a standalone event, with it being held in connection with a glove conference in Malaysia in 2018 and the Rubber Division's IEC in Cleveland in 2017.
"The IRC (organizers) are very conscious that they want their brand to be a recognizable, standalone, high quality conference," she said. "That's why it will not run along side of other events for the next couple of years. I think the idea is you will get a concentrated audience where networking opportunities will be far greater."
Reader said the plan is for the conference to not just be aimed at scientists and researchers, but at decision makers in the rubber industry as well.
She said the hope is to attract about 500 participants for the three days of four parallel paper sessions, along with an expo.
Most of the major sponsorships have been sold, said David Cawthra, who works in industry development and promotion for Rubber Consultants. He said a number of U.S.-based companies and organizations indicated at last fall's IEC that they plan to attend.
Reader said there will be a good European presence because of the location, but there also has been a good response from rubber associations in India and Southeast Asia.
A good number of booths also have been sold. Reader said booth space will be limited to about 60 exhibitors because of space constraints at the Kia Oval, the home of the Surrey County Cricket Club, where the IRC is being held
Exhibitors will be able to invite customers and associates to attend the exhibition part of the program without having to register for the full conference.
"It should be an all-encompassing exhibition and conference for the whole rubber industry, and hopefully be very international," she said. "With the response so far, people are quite excited by it."
Cawthra added that on Sept. 6, the day after IRC 2019 ends, there will be a delegation visit to Rubber Consultants' nearby headquarters, which is about 15 miles outside London. "They will get to meet all of our scientists and see our expertise in different fields," he said, "which we offer to North American clients as well as our worldwide client base."