In the period from July 1^st, 1999 to June 30^th, 2000, FIPA transitioned into a mature organization capable of meeting the needs of its members in this highly dynamic technological environment. Membership has grown from 55 members from 15 countries to 59 members from 16 countries.

The financial situation of the Association is sound: As of June 30, 1999, FIPA had 134,000 CHF in retained funds. The projected budget for 2000-2001 sees about the same level of funds on 30 June 2001.

In this period of time FIPA has made a number of accomplishments:

The FIPA process for advancement and adoption of specifications has been thoroughly revised to ensure coherence, completeness and consistency in its work. Specification work is now carried out by Technical Committees adhering to stated and approved workplans with varying, yet ambitious, timeframes. Specifications undergo a well-defined two-step process before achieving Standard status. The FIPA Architecture Board serves as the technical clearing-house for workplans and specifications. Although the establishment of and complete transition to the new FIPA process took some time, technical work has resumed at high levels of quality and scope.

FIPA has taken measures to improve its image and relationship to the outside world, including introducing the quarterly newsletter FIPA Inform!, making the FIPA website more accessible, as well as sponsoring relevant conferences. FIPA has continued its close relationship with the Object Management Group, and has established new ties with the Holonic Manufacturing Society and the JAVA Community Process.

FIPA completed and made available the implementation of a FIPA application and the FIPA competition in Lisbon showcased a number of exciting applications of FIPA technology. FIPA members and non-members have announced 5 open-source and 11 private implementations of the FIPA specifications.

The degree of cooperation among FIPA members has been outstanding. FIPA met at Kawasaki, Japan (October 99), London, UK (January 00), Lisbon, Portugal (April 00) and Baltimore, USA (July 00).

For the next year, I recommend that FIPA continue to enhance its public image and take measures for actively promoting its quality technology to the industrial community. I further recommend that FIPA take carefully into account not only the needs of its members, but also the needs of the extended industrial community for adopting, deploying and promoting intelligent agent technology.

I would like to thank FIPA members for their dedication and whole-hearted support of FIPA and for offering me the opportunity to guide FIPA during this period of transition.

Donald Steiner