International Association for Pattern Recognition (IAPR)	PRIP'2011 The Eleventh International Conference on Pattern Recognition and Information Processing May 18-20, Minsk, Belarus
Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics	United Institute of Informatics Problems of National Academy of Sciences of Belarus	Belarusian State University

1. PRIP History

The First International Conference "Pattern Recognition and Information Processing" (PRIP) was held in Minsk in 1991.

The contribution of Belarusian scientists in the field of Pattern Recognition and Image Processing was well recognized in the former Soviet Union. As a result, Belarusian scientists were given the honour to host The First All-Union Conference "Pattern Recognition and Image Analysis" (ROAI) in 1991.

An initiative group of Belarusian scientists organized the conference. The host organization was Institute of Engineering Cybernetics, Belarusian Academy of Sciences. More than 200 researchers participated in the conference. Four volumes of the Proceedings have been published (Table 1).

Our scientists closely cooperate with the International Association for Pattern Recognition (IAPR), a leading establishment in the field. In 1992, after consultations with IAPR it was decided to create a Belarusian association. The meeting of Belarusian researchers, working in image analysis and pattern recognition, was held on December 14, 1992. At the meeting, Belarusian Association for Image Analysis and Recognition (BAIAR) was created. BAIAR was officially registered as a non-profit public organization in Belarus. In March 1993, IAPR considered all submitted documents and officially accepted BAIAR as a national representative of Belarus in IAPR.

PRIP 1991-2009: papers, countries, language and chairs

Financial difficulties in the former Soviet Union republics (1992-1993) had a negative impact on scientific events held annually in the USSR. Only the most known and well-established conferences continued to be held, but with poor attendance. In spite of all these problems, BAIAR decided that PRIP Conference should take place. The goal of the conference: to establish cooperation between Belarusian researchers and the International Community in the field of Pattern Recognition and Image Analysis.

The Second PRIP Conference was held in October 1993. The host organization was Institute of Engineering Cybernetics. The official language was Russian and one volume of the Proceedings has been published.

The strong attempt to increase the significance of the Conference was made in 1995 (the Third PRIP). BAIAR initiated several important decisions:

• two conference languages: Russian and English;
• to change the title of the conference: "Pattern Recognition and Information Processing";
• to start intensive cooperation with International Institutions.

Three volumes of Proceedings have been published: one volume was published in English in Poland, and two volumes were published in Russian in Minsk.

It was decided that three Belarusian organizations (Institute of Engineering Cybernetics of the Academy of Sciences, The Belarusian State University and Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics) would organize the Conference on a rotation base.

The Fourth PRIP Conference was held in The Belarusian State University in 1997. For the first time, PRIP has obtained the IAPR Sponsorship that immediately attracted more scientists to the Conference. There were about 100 participants, and 130 papers were submitted to the PRIP`97. The Conference Proceedings (720 pages) have been published in two volumes (one volume in Poland, and the second one in Belarus).

In 1999, the Fifth PRIP Conference was held in The Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics. Papers from 22 countries have been presented. It attracted more than 100 participants and 113 papers. The Proceedings (636 pages) have been published in two volumes (one volume in Poland, and the second one in Belarus).

For 2001, BAIAR decided that English would be the only Conference language. In 2001, Institute of Engineering Cybernetics hosted the Sixth PRIP Conference. 74 papers from 22 countries have been accepted for the Conference. The Proceedings (about 600 pages) were published in two volumes (one volume in Poland, and the second one in Belarus).

The Seventh - Tenth PRIP Conferences (2003, 2005, 2007, 2009) were fully international conferences where English was the main language.

2. PRIP Topics

The main topics of the PRIP Conference:

• Pattern Recognition
• Image Analysis
• Signal Processing
• Biometric Technologies
• Systems and Parallel Architectures for Signal and Image Processing
• Knowledge-Based Expert and Decision Support System
• Application of Pattern Recognition and Image Analysis
• 3D Image Processing and Modelling

In addition to these traditional topics, new emerged topics are being discussed at the PRIP. Some examples of new topics are: moving object recognition, watermarking, human identification approaches, fuzzy classifiers, and others.

3. PRIP Organizers

PRIP is a biannual event that is organised by:

• United Institute of Informatics Problems (former Institute of Engineering Cybernetics of BNAS);
• The Belarusian State University;
• The Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics

PRIP is sponsored by:

• International Association for Pattern Recognition - since 1997
• Belarusian Association for Image Analysis and Recognition (IAPR national member) - since 1993
• IEE Belarus Centre - 1993-2001
• IEEE Computer Society Belarus Sub-Committee - 1999-2005
• INTAS - in 2001, 2003
• Ministry of Education - in 1997, 1999, 2003, 2005
• Belarusian Fund of Fundamental Research - in 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005
• Belarusian Fund of Informatization - in 1995

4. Belarusian Association for Image Analysis and Recognition

The Belarusian Association for Image Analysis and Recognition (BAIAR) was founded in December 1992. The main goals of the BAIAR:

• development of pattern recognition theory and applications in Belarus;
• exchange of information and experience between different scientific groups working in the field;
• organization of conferences, seminars, exhibitions;
• assistance to establish relations with foreign researchers;
• publication of Belarusian scientists results in the field of pattern recognition.

The number of researchers who work in pattern recognition field in Belarus is about 200.

BAIAR Governing Board

5. Main Results and Future Prospects

Nowadays, the PRIP Conference has become a well-known and established Conference. Information about PRIP can be found in all major home pages on computer vision and pattern recognition. The Conference proceedings are cited in INSPEC, the main world database of publications.

One of the principal goals of the PRIP is to increase the presentation level of results achieved by Belarusian scientists, i.e. to give Belarusian researchers (especially young ones) a chance to present their results for international community. Thanks to PRIP, many researchers got fellowships and contracts in Western Institutions. PRIP can be considered as a top form of our International collaboration because many published papers are the result of joint projects.

BAIAR formulates the main goals for the future as follows:

• to increase the quality of papers presented at PRIP and make PRIP a top-level International Conference on Pattern Recognition and Image Analysis;
• to continue our tradition to hold PRIP in Minsk, the capital of The Republic of Belarus, one of the beautiful European cities.