INTRODUCTION

The Asian Control Association (ACA) is an organization that promotes control science and engineering in Asia consisting of voluntary individuals who are willing to support its activities. It is a successor of the Asian Control Professors Association (ACPA) that was formed in 1996 as an organization of professors in the area of control engineering in Asia and Oceania, which had been a steering body of control communities in the area. Asian Control Conferences were organized with the initiative of ACPA and the Asian Journal of Control was published in the name of ACPA.

Around 2004, some arguments were raised to expand the ACPA to include the industrial community. Also, it was thought to be timely to integrate various activities of Asian control communities in a more coherent framework. At the meeting held during the 4th ASCC in Melbourne in July 2004, nine leading people got together from seven countries. They decided to establish a new body of Asian control activities, called the Asian Control Association (ACA). They discussed the constitution of the ACA and a draft was devised. Prof. Kimura, who was not there, was elected to be a candidate for President. In July 2005, the group got together during the IFAC World Congress in Prague to discuss the constitution in detail. At that time, final approval of the constitution was granted. We decided to announce the selection of the members of the Steering Committee (AC) from each country. In February 2006, the selected members of the SC got together in Seoul and had the first SC Meeting. There, Prof. Kimura was formally elected to be the President. Three Vice-Presidents, Prof. Cao from Hong Kong, Prof. Fu from Taiwan and Prof. Won from Korea, were also elected, as well as Prof. Hong from Korea as the General Secretary. Prof. Kwon was nominated to be the Honorary Advisor. This was really the birth of the ACA. There, we discussed various issues required for starting the organization including the secretary office, which has been established in Seoul.

The major activities of the ACA are (1) organizing the Asian Control Conference (ASCC) held every two years, and (2) publishing the Asian Journal of Control (AJC) bimonthly. In addition to these activities, we have established some awards, which are given at every ASCC. We are thinking of starting a new award for education.

Our main objective is to create as many occasions to communicate, collaborate and exchange ideas among control people in Asia beyond the geographical, political, traditional, cultural and religious barriers. We have decided to do anything we can to serve this purpose. We are planning to organize a course on control theory and applications for graduate students in South Asia. Furthermore, we are planning to publish a series of textbooks in control emphasizing Asian aspects of control. We are also planning to propose some collaboration projects among Asian control professors to solve issues in Asian industry and societies. These are the challenges waiting for us.

We emphasize that the ACA is an organization of individuals, not countries, who are willing to volunteer their services to promoting the Asian control community. We cordially invite you to join us.