Diamond Conference Casts New Light

BARCELONA, Spain – The inaugural International Industrial Diamond Conference (IIDC) here in October drew almost 350 delegates from 34 countries, with stone getting plenty of attention.
The two-day conference featured 86 papers, with the presenters from Austria, China, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Pakistan, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, Ukraine and the United States. The individual papers reflected a wide range of industries, with the list of topics including diamond-wire sawing and stone/construction.
Keynote speakers included Christian Hultner of Element Six, Louis Pope of US Synthetic and Tanya Fratto of Diamond Innovations, all noting the importance of technological innovation to drive the business forward.
The entire conference focused on providing a technical forum for the promotion of the industrial diamond industry in general. It was strictly non-commercial, highlighting the main aims of conference organizer Diamond At Work to promote the value of diamond in applications, through key advantages such as performance improvements and environmental benefits.
All participants were manufacturers of equipment, tools or diamond products or engaged in active research into these areas.
Preliminary plans call for a second session of the conference in 2007, with dates and location to be determined.