Following the 2000 conference and the high degree of satisfaction expressed by the many delegates and the organising committee, the International Society of Parametric Analysts (ISPA) in collaboration with the Society of Cost Estimating and Analysis (SCEA), have decided to repeat the experience by returning to Noordwijk in The Netherlands for the 2008 Conference. Noordwijk is located on the North Sea coast and is the Home of the European Space Agency’s Research and Technology Centre (ESA/ESTEC) who is the main sponsor of the event.

The theme of this year's conference will be The Cost of Technology. Under this theme, we want to capture all aspects of the cost of integrating technological progress into the definition of Aerospace and Defense hardware, software, and systems.

In all domains, the "low hanging fruits" have already all been picked and there is little interest for Commercial or Institutional organizations to replicate what has already been achieved. The challenge ahead is to keep our companies and agencies on the leading edge and to contribute in a significant manner to the development of our economies and societal objectives.

But integrating new technologies is always a challenge and possibly a disturbance in our well-established processes. Short term considerations often lead to resistance to technology changes; this explains why technology progress evolves through steps. It is when we are able to reconcile the urgency to progress and the risks associated with the breakthrough that new technologies can emerge.

The cost estimators have an important role to play in accompanying the decision makers in this difficult analysis by providing quantified answers to fundamental questions such as:

• Is the encompassed technology worth the investment?
• Will the cost benefit be justified and under what hypothesis?
• What will be the cost penalty if the development arrives late?
• What is the schedule and cost risk if we implement immature technologies?
• Organization and benefits of In-flight demonstration programs versus project specific development?

The Space Systems Cost Analysis Group (SSCAG) in collaboration with the Society for Cost Analysis and Forecasting (SCAF) and the European Aerospace Cost Engineering Working Group (EACE) will hold a joint meeting immediately following the ISPA/SCEA 2008 Conference, to give the regular delegates the opportunity to make progress on their endeavours within their respective associations, and allow those attending for the first time to discover these international leading-edge organisations and explore the art of cost estimating.

You may consult the Societies websites at:

For ISPA: For SCEA: For SSCAG: For SCAF:

www.ispa-cost.org www.sceaonline.net http://sscag.saic.com http://www.scaf.org.uk