First time that the International Conference on Composite Materials (ICCM) will be held on the island of Ireland, in the historic city of Belfast. It is appropriate that Belfast, with its rich pioneering and engineering heritage, should be chosen to host ICCM 23. The birthplace of Lord Kelvin and home to John Boyd Dunlop, Belfast was a global powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution, becoming Ireland’s pre-eminent industrial city, where the RMS Titanic was built in what was then the world’s largest shipyard.