As the General Chair of WCCA'2014 – VII World Congress on Communication and Arts it is my pleasure to say once again that we are delighted to have you to participating and sharing experiences in its seventh edition, in the beautiful city of Vila Real, Portugal. An event that is a top class scientific event hosted by University of Trás os Montes and Auto Douro – UTAD.

The congress is a valuable opportunity for professionals from across the world to come together and share their knowledge, skills and contacts in place of millenary history. Vila Real, the capital of the province of Trás-os-Montes and birthplace of Diogo Cão (the explorer who discovered the Congo River in 1482), is the ideal starting point to explore the Douro and follow the famous Port Wine Route.

The theme of this edition is “The Challenge of Developing Creative Artists in a Standardized World” and we can say that WCCA'2014 has achieved the objective to provide a high level forum for experts to discuss both common and critical advancements in order to meet the growing needs in communication and arts areas, and the exchange of new ideas and experiences. It has been also an opportunity for those who are interested in collaboration and investment in communication and arts.

The program has been designed to ensure that all attendees have an opportunity to enjoy the historical and cultural life style, to meet colleagues from different countries, exchange experiences, renew old friendships and build new ones that will continue long after the closing ceremony.

The WCCA'2014 – VII World Congress on Communication and Arts is organized by COPEC – Science and Education Research Council and promoted by WCCA - World Council on Communication and Arts in Technical Cooperation (in alphabetical order): AAMP (Fishing Museum Friends Society), ABENC (Brazilian Society of Civil Engineers), ABENGE (Brazilian Society for Engineering Education), AENUI (Asociación de Enseñantes Universitarios de la Informática), ASEE (American Society for Engineering Education), ASIBEI (Ibero-American Association of Engineering Education Institutions), GCMM (Global Congress on Manufacturing and Management), IEEE-Ed.Soc. (Education Society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), IFEES (International Federation of Engineering Education Societies), IGIP (Internationale Gesellschaft für Ingenieurpädagogik), INTERTECH (International Council for Engineering and Technology Education), ISTEC (Ibero-American Science & Technology Education Consortium), OERN (Institute of Engineers of Portugal – North Region), Porto Gente (PortFolk), RBE (Brazilian Network of Engineering), RCI (Réseau Carthagène d’Ingénierie), SBA (Brazilian Automation Society), SEFI (Société Européenne pour la Formation des Ingénieurs), SHERO (Safety, Health and Environment Research Organization ), SPEE (Portuguese Society for Engineering Education), SPEED (Student Platform for Engineering Education Development) and WCSEIT (World Council on Systems Engineering and Information Technology) and Cultural Cooperation of Vila Real, Mais Brasil Association and General Consulate of Brazil in Porto.

We have to thank in special our sponsors FAPESP (State of São Paulo Research Foundation), CNPq (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development), CAPES (Coordination for Improvement of Personnel of Superior Level) and SUPNET - Technology & Information.

The congress committees consist of many world-class experts from high profile organizations and institutions that make us proud of this volunteer team and that provide us a high level international congress. We would like to express our appreciation for the hard work of the team that helped us throughout the congress and that really cooperated for the success of the event such as the local organizing committee members, the staff. Our deepest gratitude to the Local Chairs Prof. Dr. Galvão dos Santos Meirinhos Director of Communication Sciences at UTAD and Prof. Dr. Carlos José Vieira Mendes Cardoso, for their exceptional efforts. We could not forget to show our deep gratitude to the host Institution University of Trás os Montes and Auto Douro – UTAD.

The congress is well on its way to becoming synonymous with technical excellence and has attracted the worlds’ top researchers in this field.

Those many of you who travel long distances serves to remind us all just how important our work is. Thank you for coming and collaborating for the success of WCCA'2014.

Thank you all.

Prof. Dr. Claudio da Rocha Brito
GENERAL CHAIR
President of COPEC