The International Conference of Women Scientists and Engineers will open in Seoul this week with some 550 participants discussing the theme "shaping the future," organizers said Tuesday.

The BIEN 2017 conference will be held for three days starting Thursday. The name of the meeting takes its initials from bio, IT, environment/energy/earth and nano technologies, which are the areas dealt with by female scientists at the event, in addition to space and convergence technologies. The conference was inaugurated in 2003 as a venue for women scientists to share their research work and findings. It has since been organized in 2009 and 2013. This year's conference is expecting attendees from 23 nations.

Plenary speakers include Justine Cassell, professor at Carnegie Mellon University, on socially aware artificial intelligence, and Jung Jae-ung, professor at the University of Southern California, on the Zika virus and brain defects in babies. Special sessions have been arranged on the fourth industrial revolution and future technology. (Yonhap)