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Six long years that the NDT "family" had not been able to come together and celebrate innovation. This will be done from June 6 to 8 at Parc Chanot in Marseille for the tenth edition of the Journées Cofrend.
"NDTs, see and predict". It is under this central theme that Cofrend brings together the entire community of NDT. Scientists, industrialists, institutions, partners, students, etc. All are invited to this great gathering which could not take place since the Strasbourg edition in 2017. The community was getting impatient, as there have been so many innovations and technical developments in the field in recent years. "This year we received a record number of abstracts, 230, from which we had to select the 186 papers that will make up the programme of the Days. Five sessions of scientific conferences will take place in parallel over the three days of congresses, the maximum we could do, "says Pierre Calmon, president of the scientific committee composed of academic and industrial experts. This technical and scientific content constitutes the great richness of the Cofrend Days, which remains the event during which engineers and researchers present to their peers the most recent advances and results obtained. And to get the technical and scientific program off to a good start, Cofrend is organizing a major plenary conference. "Cofrend is very pleased to announce that Pietro Barabaschi, Director General of Iter, has done us the honour of agreeing to give the inaugural conference of the Days on Tuesday 6 June. Iter is currently the most ambitious energy project in the world, it faces many technological challenges, including that of non-destructive testing in the manufacture of its components and during their assembly on site. It contributes in a major way to the international influence of the France and the South Paca region and the opening of the Cofrend Days by Mr. Barabaschi further reinforces the impact of the event," says Mireille Rapin, president of Cofrend's events and communication division. As a sign that SNEs are fully involved in innovation, the scientific programme of the 2023 edition echoes the technological changes underway in many industrial sectors. "Traditionally, the program has been structured around themes centered on different techniques. This year, we were led to present a scientific program organized around the transversal topics that animate the community today. For example, sessions will focus on control and additive manufacturing, NDT digitization, statistical learning and artificial intelligence, or robotic NDTs," says Pierre Calmon.
Simultaneous events
The technical and scientific program does not forget the doctoral students. Participants of the Cofrend days will be able to discover the posters of twenty young researchers on the occasion of the 6th edition of the Doctoriales – a competition organized every 18 months to promote their research work. Particularity of the 2023 edition: a preliminary highlighting of the projects thanks to a presentation session entitled "my thesis in 180 seconds", a session that will be held from the first evening of the congress. The Cofrend-Claude Birac Prize will be awarded at the end of the doctoral students' pitches and the exchange time during the poster exhibition.
June 7 will also be [email protected] Day, the annual meeting of the SHM (Structural Health Monitoring) community.
June 7 will be open to young people. A real seduction operation, this "Open Day", set up with the support of the rectorate of the Aix-Marseille academy, is aimed at students in the region, in order to make them better acquainted with the different professions of the NDT, the training courses and the many companies that recruit.
Spend time together
How to gather more than 2,500 people expected for 3 days in Marseille? By offering a rich program of conferences, certainly, but also by offering them to spend time together. Especially in the exhibition area. " The 5000 m2 available for the Exhibitor Village is allocated to accommodate 80 stands. Manufacturers, service providers, training organizations, will benefit from the regular visit of the participants of the Days, as we will organize coffee breaks and lunches in the center of this Village. In addition, to differentiate the scientific program from market conferences, we organize commercial presentations open to exhibitors in this space ," explains Mireille Rapin. This success concretizes the community's need to come together and share. In order to further promote moments of exchange, the Cofrend is no exception to the rule and organizes its gala evening on Wednesday evening. "*We will be welcomed at the Palais du Pharo for a dinner with a full view of the Old Port of Marseille illuminated all evening...*", says Mireille Rapin.
Finally, for the last day, Friday morning, participants will be able to register for tours of the region's emblematic industries and research centers.
" The program of the Cofrend Days 2023 is a reflection of the changes currently at work in the field of non-destructive testing and testing," concludes Pierre Calmon.
Yaël ZAJAC and Nicolas GOSSE
