The International Committee for the History of Technology takes great pleasure in congratulating the Society for the History of Technology on its 50th anniversary. Cooperation between these two organisations has been continuous and fruitful. Uniting bonds have not been limited to common scholarly interests but also strengthened through personal ties that have been frequent and close from the very beginning: Melvin Kranzberg was the main founding father of both organisations.

ICOHTEC - A Global Organisation of Expertise

ICOHTEC was founded in Paris during the Cold War in 1968. A major objective was to provide a forum for scholars working on the history of technology from both sides of the "iron curtain." It was constituted as a Scientific Section within the Division of the History of Science of the International Union of the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology (IUHPST/DHST). "The fall of iron curtain" had immediate impacts on the interaction of our field. After the reforms in the 1990s, ICOHTEC became a prominent global organisation in the history of technology discipline based on high-level scholarship and direct personal interaction instead of hierarchical communication between national committees.

The membership base of ICOHTEC is mainly in Europe but also in the Americas, Japan, India and Australia. Research activities of ICOHTEC members reflect this special interest. Issues investigated are mostly country specific but also on a comparative cross-country basis, stressing aspects of cooperation between various nations, regions or institutions.

ICOHTEC holds annual symposia and venues are spread round the world. Last August, Copenhagen in Denmark hosted our 34th symposium and the next meeting will take place in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, on 5 - 10 August 2008. ICON is the organisation's journal containing scholarly articles. Current issues are recounted in the Newsletter, which also contains country reports on activities in the history of technology and bibliographical surveys. Further information on the benefits of membership is available at the website.

Since the period of détente and peaceful co-existence, ICOHTEC has dedicated a lot of efforts to the first rate scientific quality of its annual activities and also to the amiable atmosphere of its symposia, informal conversations and enjoyable social events. Consequently, communication is not limited to scholarly exchange of ideas and knowledge. To sum up, ICOHTEC provides rewarding experience of genuine international cooperation. Carpe diem!

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updated 16 Sept. 2007