A major event in the life of the international mathematics education community is formed by the quadrennial International Congress on Mathematical Education, ICME, held under the auspices of ICMI. The site of an ICME is decided upon by the ICMI EC. Moreover for each ICME the scientific program is planned by an International Program Committee, IPC, appointed by but in principle working independently of the ICMI EC. However, in order to ensure continuity and conformity with general ICMI principles, the ICMI EC normally has representatives on the IPC (the President and Secretary of ICMI being ex officio members of the IPC), one of whom is acting as a liaison officer with the Local Organizing Committee of the congress.
The practical and financial organization of the ICMEs are the independent responsibility of the Local (or National) Organizing Committee, again under the observation of general ICMI principles. In other words, while it is not ICMI as such which is organizing an ICME, neither in terms of the scientific nor of the practical aspects of the Congress, all ICMEs are held under ICMI auspices.
In addition to the rather formal Congress Proceedings, a wide variety of ICME-related publications on specific themes and topics normally appear as well, as a result of a given ICME.
The years and sites of the first ICMEs were
ICME-1, 1969, Lyon (France)
ICME-2, 1972, Exeter (UK)
ICME-3, 1976, Karlsruhe (Germany)
ICME-4, 1980, Berkeley (USA)
ICME-5, 1984, Adelaide (Australia)
ICME-6, 1988, Budapest (Hungary)
ICME-7, 1992, Québec (Canada)
ICME-8, 1996, Sevilla (Spain)
ICME-9, 2000, Tokyo/Makuhari (Japan)
The Proceedings of ICME-9 are due to appear in 2003.
The Executive Committee of ICMI has accepted in December 1999 the invitation received from the Danish ICMI Committee to hold the 10th International Congress on Mathematical Education (ICME-10) in Copenhagen on July 4-11, 2004. This invitation was presented on behalf of the Nordic countries Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, which have agreed to support the holding of ICME-10 in Copenhagen and to combine efforts in providing the Congress with a distinctive Nordic flavor.