This week saw the opening of the 28th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE) in Shanghai.

This is the first time in the past 30 years for this premier software engineering conference to be held in a developing country.

Themed "China's Software Industry Integrates into the World", ICSE 2006 features 1271 delegates from 54 countries and regions in the world.

Additional highlights of ICSE 2006 are a Far East Experience track dedicated to examining recent events and progress in software development specifically in the Far East environment. An Achievements and Challenges track will focus on critical issues in past software engineering research achievements and enduring research challenges.

Leon J. Osterweil, chair of ICSE 2006, says that the conference's meeting in Shanghai is recognition of Shanghai's rapid growth in software development in the early 21st century, and in the bringing of the Chinese software engineering community into the ICSE mainstream.