Roadmaps are all the rage. As exhibit A I draw your attention to the recently published "Future semiconductor material requirements and innovations as projected in the ITRS 2005 roadmap" [Arden 2006], self-described as an attempt "to define future requirements and development of the semiconductor technology for the next 15 years". Ambitious stuff! Technology plans 15 years hence? I don't even know what's for dinner.

An article in Nature's latest <a href=http://www.nature.com/materials/index.html>Materials Update</a> entitled "Superconductivity fights back" [Sanderson, 2006] may have some wider lessons for science, including thermoelectrics. It seems Marx and Barth studied trends in recent paper and patent publications on superconductivity [Barth, 2006v1], concluding in part that:

"As a result the decrease of research activity can be extrapolated to reach zero between 2010 and 2015 provided that spectacular discoveries fail to appear."

Researchers in superconductivity have taken umbrage. Conceding the authors are technically correct, critics don't think their field will "reach zero" and complained. Apparently as a result of the criticisms the authors have revised their conclusions [Barth, 2006v2], dropping the "extraploated to reach zero" part in favor of

+- Report on ICT2006
+- Overview & Statistics
+- Proceedings
+- Awards: Best Paper, Goldsmid & Young Investigator
+- Selected Highlights
+- ICT2007 Sets Dates - June 3-7, 2007
+- Society Updates: ICT2008, Elections & Other News

+- Overview & Statistics
The 25th International Conference on Thermoelectrics was held August 6-10, 2006 in one of Europe's finest cities, Vienna. For those with the interest and time Vienna offers Castles & Palaces, Museums, music and some excellent bratwurst and beer. The Natural History Museum alone was worth the trip and qualifies as a business expense if you examine the skutterudite, bismuth telluride and lead telluride specimens in their mineralogy collection. The social highlight had to be the Reception held at the City Hall, complete with music and dance. The final day of the conference coincided with the breaking of the 'liquid explosives' plot in the UK and the associated air travel disruption and confusion which followed. Not a few of us managed to travel through London's Heathrow in the days following the conference, suffering some stress and delay but only that.

Fax your order directly to IEEE by September 30, 2006
Order Form attached below

ICT2006 participants should have already received the folloing announcement, but we are re-printing it here as a reminder.

From: Peter Rogl
Subject: ICT06-Book
Original Date (sent by email): Sat, 19 Aug 2006 09:16:58 +0200
To: ICT2006 Participants

Dear Participants of ICT06,
I hope you all arrived safely at home. Furthermore we hope you all could
enjoy ICT06 and Vienna.

Enclosed please find the order form for the hardcopy of the refereed ICT06
Proceedings plus CR-ROM for US $ 100.- -
In case you wish to receive the refereed proceedings with ISBN number (in