The International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine is organized in collaboration with the Departments of Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine of Erasme University Hospital, Université Libre de Bruxelles, and with the Belgian Society of Intensive Care Medicine (SIZ). The meeting is held every year in March. Started in 1980, this meeting has become established as one of the largest in its field, now attracting more than 6200 participants from countries world-wide.