Major and current issues to be highlighted at 11th GPD Conference

The GPD Conference has released the final program for the top glass summit to be held on June 12-15, according to a Feb. 19 GPD release. As before, the versatile, modular agenda offers the latest information and visions of the glass world in a condensed executive format. Top political, solar and glass industry executives will present in the opening ceremony June 12.

The contents of the program reflect the most current issues affecting the industry. The 2009 conference makes no exception as it turns to focus on the interaction between builders and processors of advanced glass products and today’s rapidly expanding PV, CSP and thermal technologies, according to the release.

Two new elements have been added in the GPD 2009 program1. Through the GPD Web service, participants can contact speakers, exhibitors and other participants to organize for meetings on location, i.e., during GPD 2009. This offers a direct link to the key professionals who otherwise may be hard to reach and certainly do not normally appear at the same venue at the same time.

2. The Architect Forum will be a meeting point between the specialists who design buildings and the suppliers of the glass components used to build them and the entire supply chain in between. When experts have an open exchange of information, new solutions and procedures will most likely come to the fore.

"True innovations come from understanding the technology," said Keith Boswell, technical architecture director, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, in the release. "This applies to design as well as functionality of buildings. For example, better understanding of the capabilities available in glass technology enables architects to better inform builders what it takes to turn ideas into reality by means of glass.”

Almost 300 high level presentations will be delivered in GPD 2009. A large part of the conference program is devoted to the use of glass in architecture, case studies, solar and glass technologies and energy efficiency.Twenty workshops, each four to eighthours long, will provide participants with in-depth knowledge of the chosen specialty, according to the release.

The GPD concept has been successfully adapted to the rapidly growing Chinese market as well. GPD China 2009 will be held May 12-11 in Shanghai. The state-of-the-art presentations will have special relevance to the booming construction markets in China and Far East Asia.The GPD China final program is currently being prepared and is expected to be ready by the end of February, 2009. Participant registration will start in March, 2009, according to the release.