The Collaboration & Interoperability Congress is...

 ...dedicated to fostering and improving collaboration and interoperability in product design, development and manufacturing.

CIC is the only vendor/product-neutral event in the world addressing collaboration and interoperability in manufacturing and business communications. This makes it the only place to get an unbiased perspective to help guide long-term collaboration and interoperability strategies.  The three-day international event gives attendees a unique opportunity to network, learn and strategize with thought leaders from automotive, aerospace, heavy equipment, electronics industries, as well as with representatives from government and defense communities. Attendees take part in a diverse choice of highly interactive sessions and lively panel discussions, enabling direct interaction with fellow manufacturing leaders and industry experts who deeply understand issues and solutions that help people work better together in the complex world of global manufacturing.  Valuable networking time is also provided to enable continued dialog with colleagues and experts in the field.

The conference also provides an opportunity to learn about the latest collaboration and interoperability technology and its providers.

If you are in product design, development or IT, CIC is a must for you to attend. Nowhere will be found a more distinguished collection of fellow executives, managers and other engineering, manufacturing and IT professionals who deal with these complex issues daily.

Collaboration and Interoperability...

Without doubt, the most powerful weapon any company has in its competitive arsenal is its people. And the biggest challenge in deploying this formidable force is getting people to work together effectively – engaging many brains in a common direction so they can innovate bold new products. It takes people working together – global collaboration – to innovate. Yet, global collaboration continues to be an area in great need of improvement. People can’t collaborate if they can’t share data. That's where interoperability comes in – sharing of product data and processes throughout the product lifecycle – enabling global collaboration. Poor interoperability remains the single largest source of waste in product design, development and manufacturing.

Many new developments are pushing collaboration and interoperability processes and solutions into new frontiers, while significant improvements in tools and solutions that are already known and trusted are reducing the negative impact poor interoperability is having in the business of manufacturing, every day. The CIC is dedicated to sharing and discussing these new frontiers, with a goal of improving the productivity and effectiveness of our most important asset - our product design, development and manufacturing people.

With a focus on 3D collaboration and interoperability solutions...

...and best practices in global product development and manufacturing the conference will cover such topics as:

• Multi-CAD interoperability: strategies & best practices
• Migrating CAD Data
• Best practices, technologies and processes for managing legacy data
• Strategies & solutions for verification and quality checking
• Interoperability with downstream CAD applications
• Cross-PDM interoperability
• PMI/GD&T: standards & best practices
• Overview and comparison of Light-weight 3D file formats
• Aligning 3D Formats to Data Requirements
• Security & Intellectual property issues and solutions
• STEP (ISO 10303) implementations, status
• Enabling implementation of STEP
• Feature-based translation: technology overview & update
• Recent successes in real-time, fully functional interoperability
• Future trends in CAD interoperability and/or collaboration technology
• Interoperability with downstream non-CAD applications such as maintenance, purchasing, aftermarket and documentation
• Cost and ROI tradeoffs: Justifying investments in interoperability/collaboration solutions and/or services