More than four hundred and fifty scientists, researchers, and industry executives attended the 9th edition of the triennial NGC symposium in Lyon, whose historic 2,000 year old city center is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Lyon's role as a major European center of the refining, petrochemical, chemical and gas industries, coupled with its strong network of high level public and private research centers made it an excellent venue for the meeting.

The Local Organizing Committee reflected the diverse background of both Lyon and the NGC symposium series, with IRCELYON-CNRS-UCBL representing academia, IFP the public and private research centers, and Total the energy industry.  In addition to four full days of symposium presentations and poster sessions, the event included a site visit to IFP's extensive research center, and a social program that offered a taste of the culture and gastronomy for which the city is world famous.  The event concluded with an announcement that the next edition of the  symposia series would be held in Doha, Qatar in 2013.