International Workshop on Operator Theory and its Applications (IWOTA) was started in 1981 to bring together mathematicians and engineers working in operator theoretic side of functional analysis and its applications to related fields. These include:

Differential equations and Integral equations Complex analysis and Harmonic analysis Linear system and Control theory Mathematical physics Signal processing Numerical analysis

The other major branch of operator theory, Operator algebras (C* and von Neumann Algebras), is not heavily represented at IWOTA and has its own conferences.

IWOTA gathers leading experts from all over the world for an intense exchange of new results, information and opinions, and for tracing the future developments in the field. The IWOTA meetings provide opportunities for participants (including young researchers) to present their own work in invited and contributed talks, to interact with other researchers from around the globe, and to broaden their knowledge of the field. In addition, IWOTA emphasizes cross-disciplinary interaction among mathematicians, electrical engineers and mathematical physicists. In the even years, the IWOTA workshop is a satellite meeting to the biennial International Symposium on the Mathematical Theory of Networks and Systems (MTNS). From the humble beginnings in the early 80's, the IWOTA workshops grew to become one of the largest continuing conferences attended by the community of researchers in operator theory.

History of IWOTA

First IWOTA Meeting The International Workshop on Operator Theory and its Applications was started on August 1, 1981, adjacent to the International Symposium on Mathematical Theory of Networks and Systems (MTNS) with goal of exposing operator theorists, even pure theorists, to recent developments in engineering (especially H-infinity methods in control theory) which had a significant intersection with operator theory. Israel Gohberg was the visionary and driving force of IWOTA and president of the IWOTA Steering Committee. From the beginning, J. W. Helton and M. A. Kaashoek served as vice presidents of the steering committee.

West Meets East Besides the excitement of mathematical discovery over the decades at IWOTA, there was great excitement when the curtain between Soviet bloc and Western operator theorists fell. Until 1990, these two collections of extremely strong mathematicians seldom met due to the tight restrictions on travel from and in the communist countries. When the curtain dropped, the western mathematicians knew the classic Soviet papers but had a spotty knowledge of much of what else their counterparts were doing. Gohberg was one of the operator theorists who knew both sides and he guided IWOTA, a western institution, in bringing (and funding) many prominent FSU bloc operator theorists to speak at the meetings. As the IWOTA programs demonstrate, this significantly accelerated the cultures' mutual assimilation.

Previous IWOTA Meetings # Year Location Chief Organizer(s) Proceedings in OTAA-series Participation 1 1981 Santa Monica, CA, USA J. W. Helton40 2 1983 Rehovot, Israel H. Dym, I. Gohberg OTAA 1225 3 1985 Amsterdam, Netherlands M. A. Kaashoek OTAA 1960 4 1987 Mesa, AZ, USA J. W. Helton, L. Rodman OTAA 3550 5 1989 Rotterdam, Netherlands H. Bart OTAA 5055 6 1991 Sapporo, Japan T. Ando OTAA 5950 7 1993 Vienna, Austria H. Langer OTAA 8060 8 1995 Regensburg, Germany R. Mennicken OTAA 102 and 103115 9 1996 Bloomington, IN, USA H. Bercovici, C. Foiaş, J. Stampfli OTAA 11555 10 1998 Groningen, Netherlands A. Dijksma OTAA 12497 11 2000 Bordeaux, France N. K. Nikolski OTAA 129202 12 2000 Faro, Portugal A. F. dos Santos OTAA 142131 13 2002 Blacksburg, VA, USA J. A. Ball, M. Klaus OTAA 149100 14 2003 Cagliari, Italy C. V. M. van der Mee, S. Seatzu OTAA 160107 15 2004 Newcastle, UK M. A. Dritschel, N. Young OTAA 171145 16 2005 Storrs, CT, USA V. Olshevsky OTAA 17953 17 2006 Seoul, Korea I. B. Jung, W. Y. Lee, R. Curto OTAA 187160 18 2007 Potchefstroom, South Africa J. J. Grobler, G. J. Groenewald OTAA 19552 19 2008 Williamsburg, Virginia, U.S.A V. Bolotnikov, L. Rodman, I. Spitkovsky OTAA 202 and 203 236 20 2009 Guanajuato, Mexico N. Vasilevski OTAA 220109 21 2010 Berlin, Germany J. Behrndt, K.-H. Förster, C. Trunk OTAA 221355 22 2011 Seville, Spain A. Montes-Rodriguez OTAA 236245 23 2012 Sydney, Australia T. ter Elst, P. Portal, D. Potapov OTAA 240110 24 2013 Bangalore, India T. Bhattacharyya OTAA 247172 25 2014 Amsterdam, Netherlands A. C. M. RanOTAA 255304 26 2015 Tbilisi, Georgia R. DuduchavaOTAA 262161 27 2016 St. Louis, USA G. Knese 162 28 2017 Chemnitz, Germany A. BöttcherOTAA 268157 29 2018 Shanghai, China H. Lin, G. YuOTAA 278352 30 2019 Lisbon, Portugal A. BastosOTAA 282471 31 2021 Orange, CA, USA D. Alpay, D. Struppa OTAA 290191 32 2021 Lancaster, United Kingdom G. Blower OTAA 292299 33 2022 Kraków, Poland M. Ptak, M. Wojtylak OTAA 295375 34 2023 Helsinki, Finland J. VirtanenOTAA 30740535 2024 Canterbury, United Kingdom I. Wood38436 2025 Enschede, Netherlands F. Schwenninger, H. Zwart, E. Lorist 37037 2026 Québec City, Canada J. Mashreghi, F. Morneau-Guérin, L. Bouthat299

IWOTA Proceedings Proceedings of the IWOTA workshops appear in the Springer / Birkhäuser Verlag book series Operator Theory: Advances and Applications (OTAA) (founder: Israel Gohberg). While engineering conference proceedings often are handed to participants as they arrive and contain short papers on each conference talk, the IWOTA proceedings follow mathematics conference tradition and contain a modest number of papers and are published several years after the conference.

Funding Sources IWOTA has received support from many sources, including the National Science Foundation

, the London Mathematical Society, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Secretaría de Estado de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación (Spain), Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute, National Board for Higher Mathematics, International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Indian Statistical Institute, Korea Research Foundation, United States-India Science & Technology Endowment Fund, Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, the Commission for Developing Countries of the International Mathematical Union, Stichting Advancement of Mathematics (Netherlands), the National Research Foundation of South Africa, and Birkhäuser Publishing Ltd.

The IWOTA Steering Committee IWOTA is directed by a steering committee which chooses the site for the next meeting, elects the chief local organizer(s) and insures the appearance of the enduring themes of IWOTA. The sub-themes of an IWOTA workshop and the lecturers are chosen by the local organizing committee after hearing the steering committee's board. The board consists of its vice presidents: Joseph A. Ball, J. William Helton (Chair, 2018-present), Sanne ter Horst, Igor Klep, Christiane Tretter, Irene Sabadini, Victor Vinnikov and Hugo J. Woerdeman. In addition, past chief organizers who remain active in IWOTA are members of the steering committee. The board governs IWOTA with consultation and the consent of the full steering committee. Honorary members of the steering committee, elected in 2016, are: Israel Gohberg (deceased in 2009), Leiba Rodman (deceased in 2015), Tsuyoshi Ando, Harry Dym (deceased in 2024), Ciprian Foias (deceased in 2020), Heinz Langer (deceased in 2024), Nikolai Nikolski. Honorary member of the steering committee, elected in 2024, is: Rien Kaashoek (deceased in 2024; Chair of Vice Presidents 2009-2018).

Future IWOTA Meetings IWOTA 2027 will be held at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. Main organizers are Jani Virtanen, Håkan Hedenmalm and Ozan Öktem. Dates are July 5-9, 2027. IWOTA 2028 will be held at Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) in Hamburg, Germany. Main organizers are Christian Seifert and Marko Lindner. Dates are July 17-21, 2028.

Israel Gohberg ILAS-IWOTA Lecture

The Israel Gohberg ILAS-IWOTA Lecture was introduced in August 2016 and honors the legacy of Israel Gohberg, whose research crossed borders between operator theory, linear algebra, and related fields. This lecture is in collaboration with the International Linear Algebra Society (ILAS). This series of lectures will be delivered at IWOTA and ILAS Conferences, in different years, in the approximate ratio two-thirds at IWOTA and one-third at ILAS. The first three lectures will take place at IWOTA Lancaster UK 2021, ILAS 2022, and IWOTA 2024. Donations for the Israel Gohberg ILAS-IWOTA Lecture Fund are most welcome and can be submitted via the ILAS donation form. Donations are tax deductible in the United States.

References

External links Operator Theory: Advances and Applications Series on Springer website IWOTA's YouTube Channel IWOTA 2000 - Bordeaux, France IWOTA 2006 - Seoul, Korea IWOTA 2007 - Potchefstroom, South Africa IWOTA 2008 - Williamsburg, Virginia, U.S.A IWOTA 2010 - Berlin, Germany IWOTA 2011 - Seville, Spain IWOTA 2012 - Sydney, Australia IWOTA 2013 - Bangalore, India IWOTA 2014 - Amsterdam, Netherlands IWOTA 2015 - Tbilisi, Georgia IWOTA 2016 - St. Louis, Missouri, USA IWOTA 2017 - Chemnitz, Germany IWOTA 2018 - Shanghai, China IWOTA 2019 - Lisbon, Portugal IWOTA Chapman USA 2021 - Orange, California, USA IWOTA Lancaster UK 2021 - Lancaster, United Kingdom IWOTA 2022 - Kraków, Poland IWOTA 2023 - Helsinki, Finland IWOTA 2024 - Canterbury, United Kingdom IWOTA 2025 - Enschede, The Netherlands IWOTA 2026 - Québec City, Canada