The 18th annual IEEE International Conference on Data Mining (ICDM) saw record-breaking attendance this year, hosting more than 800 attendees who spent four days enjoying keynote talks, paper presentations, workshops, exhibits, and attractions at Resorts World Sentosa on Sentosa Island in Singapore.

ICDM 2018, which was held November 17-20, is the world’s premier research conference on data mining.

Since 2001, the IEEE International Conference on Data Mining series has provided an international forum for the presentation of original research results covering all aspects of data mining, including algorithms, software and systems, and applications.

In addition, ICDM draws researchers and application developers from a wide range of data mining related areas such as statistics, machine learning, pattern recognition, databases and data warehousing, data visualization, knowledge-based systems, and high performance computing.

By promoting novel, high quality research findings, and innovative solutions to challenging data mining problems, the conference seeks to continuously advance the state-of-the-art in data mining. Besides the technical program, the conference features workshops, tutorials, and panels.

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2018 ICDM Keynote Speakers

Keynote speakers for ICDM 2018 included Xindong Wu, president of Mininglamp Academy of Sciences in Beijing, C. Mohan of IBM Almaden Research Center, and Ramamohanarao (Rao) Kotagiri of the University of Melbourne.

Wu’s talk, titled “On Big Wisdom,” defines big wisdom with a HAO/BIBLE framework, which integrates human intelligence (HI), artificial intelligence (AI) and organizational/business intelligence (O/BI) with big data analytics in large environments, for industrial intelligence in organizational activities.

Big Wisdom starts with big data, discovers “Big Knowledge,” and facilitates human and machine synergism for complex problem solving.

Mohan’s speech “Landscape of Practical Blockchain Systems and their Applications” examines how the concept of a distributed ledger was invented as the underlying technology of the public or permission-less Bitcoin cryptocurrency network and considers the practical adoption and further adaptation of it for use in the private or permissioned environments.

Kotagiri’s keynote was titled “Automatic Optical Coherence Tomography Imaging Analysis for Retinal Disease Screening using Machine Learning Techniques.”

Kotagiri discussed the retina and the choroid, which are two structures of the eye that have many tissue layers. These layers can be visualized using Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) imaging. He revealed how abnormalities in these layers are indications of several eye diseases that can lead to blindness such as Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) and Glaucoma.

Record-breaking attendance and paper submissions for 2018

In addition to record-breaking attendance at over 800, other records were broken after this year’s conference. According to Wu: “This year, the numbers of paper submissions (948) and paid registrations were both record high.  The numbers of industrial sponsors (13) and student travel awards (78) were also very impressive. The Data Challenge (with about 1800 teams from all over the world), the 3 keynotes, and the ICDM Blockchain Day attracted a lot of enthusiasm.”

Resort World Sentosa on Sentosa Island in Singapore provided an atmosphere and experience unparalleled for conference guests.

“The Conference Banquet in the Sea Aquarium was simply unique!  The poster session at Malaysian Food Street and the ICDM Connect were also well-attended,” Wu said.

Photo highlights of the 2018 ICDM Conference

Feida Zhu, general chair of ICDM 2018, associate professor with the School of Information Systems, and academic director for Pinnacle Lab for Analytics at Singapore Management University, welcomes conference guests.

C. Mohan of IBM Almaden Research Center presents “Landscape of Practical Blockchain Systems and their Applications.” Mohan describes some use-case scenarios, especially those in production deployment. He also surveys the landscape of private blockchain systems with respect to their architectures in general and their approaches to some technical areas, specifically.

C. Mohan of IBM Almaden Research Center enjoys a laugh with an audience member.

Front row: PhD forum chair, program committee co-chair, steering committee chair, and another panel member for the ICDM 2018 PhD forum. Back row: students at the PhD forum.

Ying Li of the EV Analysis Corporation presents research at ICDM 2018.

Representatives from Gluu, a global Wi-Fi cloud platform that, according to the company, is “powered by everyone, everywhere and accessible to anyone, anywhere.” Gluu’s global community of hotspots support the Gluu Wi-Fi cloud. Their mission is to build an always available and secure WiFi cloud that follows you, wherever you are, especially when you travel.

Attendees interact with the UBTech robot “Cruzr” in the Convention Center at Resort World Sentosa. Cruzr is a cloud-based intelligent humanoid robot that provides service applications for a variety of industrial and domestic uses.

A young boy finds a new friend in Cruzr.

UBTECH is a global leading AI and humanoid robotic company featured at ICDM 2018. The company has successfully developed consumer humanoid robots, robots for business use, and JIMU Robot building kits following breakthroughs made in digital servos, the core part of humanoid robots. This year, UBTECH achieved a valuation of $5 billion USD following the single largest funding round ever for an artificial intelligence company, underscoring the company’s technological leadership.

An attendee browses the PhD forum listings that highlight the work of PhD and PhD-bound masters-degree students, which span various topics of data mining and related fields such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, statistics, databases, information retrieval, social media analysis, and multimedia and web mining.

ICDM attracts guests from all over the world.

ICDM 2018 banquet attendees listen to a talk by Graham Williams, Director of Data Science, Cloud AI and Research, Microsoft Asia Pacific.

Guests enjoy Singaporean cuisine at the Hard Rock Hotel’s Cooking Sessions restaurant.

Resort World Sentosa offers musical entertainment at the ICDM Connect event on Saturday night.

Food Instagrams from Singapore!

Guests enjoying a beer at Sessions.

Feida Zhu, general chair of ICDM 2018, and C. Mohan of IBM Almaden Research Center (one of the keynote speakers).

Sally Cripps, professor of statistics at the Centre for Translational Data Science in the School of Mathematics and Statistics at University of Sydney, presents “Advanced Probabilistic Data Science to Transform Management of Australia’s Natural Resources.”

More guests enjoying Singapore’s fine cuisine.

Xindong Wu, president of Mininglamp Academy of Sciences in Beijing, poses with three young best paper award winners.

The SEA Aquarium provided a fine dining experience against a backdrop filled with glowing sea animals and stunning light art installations. Exhibits include mesmerizing jellyfish, colorful corals, and mysterious deep sea creatures brought to life in a mystical holographic experience.

Xindong Wu, president of Mininglamp Academy of Sciences in Beijing, gets photobombed by a hammerhead shark!