This International Symposium is only the second to be held in Europe, after the very successful event in Brighton (UK) in 1999. It is also INCOSE's first Symposium venue in a non-English speaking environment. As such, it represents an important milestone in the organization's transition towards a truly international and global systems engineering organization. Of today's more than 5100 INCOSE members, roughly 1300 reside in "Region 3", composed Europe, Israel and South Africa. The Symposium programme is designed to strongly stimulate the exchanges across many different industrial sectors and regions in the world.

Toulouse and the Pyrenees region offer a multitude of cultural stimuli for all of us in the INCOSE family and our guests. Toulouse builds bridges between a rich cultural past and modern hi-tech research. Many thanks for the combined efforts to the European Symposium Committee with contributors from Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Norway, Sweden, South Africa, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom as well as to our local hosts from AFIS, who together have prepared this 14th International Symposium well! It will be a genuine European and International event with unforgettable memories for all participants. A hearty welcome to all delegates from wherever around the world they may have come!
Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Heinz Stoewer M. Sc. - President INCOSE

The theme of this year is relevant when considering the engineering challenges of today’s world and the increasing rate of technological change and system complexities. AFIS and the INCOSE Region 3 chapters are planning and hosting this event concurrent with our 4th European Systems Engineering Conference. Toulouse was selected because it is a centre of highly skilled Systems Engineers and I feel confident that the location will attract representatives of all countries, giving the opportunity to establish closer “bridges” between the geographically dispersed communities of Systems Engineers. The Congress Center Pierre Baudis is located in the heart of the city, and welcomes our Symposium. I also welcome our visitors to extend their visit to take advantage of our unique Technical Tours and the beauty of the surrounding region of Toulouse. The charm of the city, the quality of the program and the highly international audience are all strong inducements to attend this milestone INCOSE event. I look forward to seeing you in Toulouse.
Phillippe SOUCHAY - INCOSE 2004 Symposium General Chair

I hope you will agree that this year the technical program delivers something of value to each INCOSE International Symposium participant. This is the result of the significant number of paper, panel and tutorial proposals submitted this year and the creative thinking and innovations of the planning committee.
The Technical highlights for the INCOSE 2004 Symposium include:
- tutorials contain innovative, educational, thought-provoking and interesting topics;
- panels will not compete with other Symposium activities and will be documented;
- you may familiarize yourself with the papers selected for presentation by reading the abstract available at the Symposium web site;
- during the closing reception, participants will receive a summary of the Symposium to take away – a tangible souvenir with value to you as a delegate and to your company.

The Symposium theme "Systems Engineering: managing complexity and change" focuses on higher-level complex Systems Engineering design and constant technological change. It is axiomatic that systems complexity has a multiplying effect on the impact of change. Likewise, change itself is part of life and its rate is also on the increase. The papers and panels presented show - in different companies, disciplines and application areas - how Systems Engineering is being used to manage complexity and change, and mitigate the consequences.
It is my pleasure to encourage you to join us, and I welcome you to the INCOSE 2004 Symposium in Toulouse, France. I would close by quoting a dear friend of mine: "Make it happen – and have fun".
Terje Fossnes - INCOSE 2004 Symposium Technical Program Chair - President, Norwegian Systems Engineering Council (NORSEC).