12th World Congress of the International Association for Semiotic Studies

The strategic objective of this Congress is the expansion and reinforcement of the semiotic web. The Congress will not only attract the leading figures in contemporary semiotics but will, with Sofia as host city, provide exceptionally favourable conditions for wide participation. These include a specially organized low fee, comfortable budget accommodation and excellent organization. "Innovation" is not only a theme from the title but also informs the organization of the Congress. The Congress will be preceded by a broad discussion on social media so as to enable participants to select the most interesting topics and facilitators for scientific sessions and round tables. This will also provide an opportunity to highlight the profile of new semiotics – that which constantly occurs on separate sites but which today needs to be strengthened by common formulations and a common strategy, new tactics for the affirmation of this disciplinary field both in the new academic realities and outside the university, in the labour market and the market of research services. New semiotics is thus global, project-oriented, and focused on its contribution to human endeavour within the flexible boundaries of interdisciplinarity. Mirroring the innovations of semiotics, New Bulgarian University, the host of the Congress, was founded by a mandate of the Bulgarian Parliament in 1991 and is the largest private university in the country today. It is the host of the South-East European Center for Semiotic Studies (the organizer of the famous Early Fall School of Semiotics since 1995) and is the university which introduced and continues to be the seat of the major innovations in Bulgarian academia. At a time of challenge for the university as an institution, for the humanities, as well as for culture as a whole, "New Semiotics: between Tradition and Innovation" has two main aims. It aims to facilitate presentations of cutting-edge research and it aims to seize the opportunity to demonstrate to the global community the central role that semiotics will continue to play in the analysis of life in contemporary societies.