The 28th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE), which opened in Shanghai on May 20, is the first to be held in a developing country.

 

More than 1,200 participants from 54 countries, including 711 from outside the Chinese mainland, are attending the week-long conference. 

 

Some 40 seminars, along with four specialized international expositions on information and telecommunications, integrated circuits and software, IT applications, and e-commerce and e-government affairs will be featured at the conference. 

 

ICSE, an annual event, is the premier software engineering conference, providing a platform for researchers, practitioners and educators to present and discuss the most recent innovations, trends, experiences and concerns in the field of software engineering. 

 

The conference wraps up on Sunday, May 28. 

 

By 2020, at least one quarter, or 400 million of China's population will be connected to the Internet, according to an IT development forecast published by the Chinese government for the 11th Five-year Plan period (2006-2010) and up to 2020.

 

(Xinhua News Agency May 25, 2006)