Dear Friends and Colleagues,

It is a great pleasure for me to welcome you to the 44th PIERS (i.e. “PhotonIcs & Electromagnetics Research Symposium”) to be held in Prague at the Prague Congress Centre from 3rd to 6th July 2023.

Motto of this PIERS is “Photonics & Electromagnetics Event dedicated to Europe”. Which means that the main aim of this PIERS is to support the photonics & electromagnetics community in the Europe region and promote related research activities. And to create new environment, where the photonics & electromagnetics community from the Europe region will meet with photonics & electromagnetics community from all the other parts of the World.

We plan to associate this PIERS with industrial exhibition. And so the related industry will be an essential part of this event, alongside academia and research centers. PIERS will provide an international forum where researchers, scientists and industrialists will have occasion to report and discuss on the latest advances in all areas of electromagnetics and photonics theory, techniques and technology, with applications in communications, industry, science, medicine, etc.

In the period July to December 2022, the Czech Republic holds the presidency of the European Union. And so, at this time, Prague is one of the most important cities in the European Union. Many important meetings, political, cultural etc., take place here.

The venue of this PIERS, the Prague Congress Centre, is located near to the Old Town of Prague, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Arrival guide can be found e.g. on this webpage: https://www.praguecc.cz/en/how-to-get-here.

Prague is a beautiful, historical city with a very busy lifestyle and culture, see please e.g. the webpage: https://www.prague.eu/en. There are numerous theatres, museums and other outstanding historical monuments and buildings. Most world renowned is Prague Castle, Charles Bridge, Old Town Square and many other historical sites both in and outside of Prague. Each evening there are several concerts in different historical buildings to choose from.

I would like to thank very much The EM Academy for providing an international forum and an exhibition intended to serve the microwave community in Central Europe. The EM Academy is also gratefully acknowledged for the generous support to the conference.

And I would like to thank to all of you - PIERS participants - for your interest and support of the PIERS 2023 in Prague. I hope you will enjoy your stay in Prague from both professional and personal point of view!

Jan Vrba
Professor
Department of EM Field, Faculty of Electrical Engineering
Czech Technical University in Prague
Czech Republic