Bid to hold FSCD 2023 in Tallinn, Estonia We propose to organize FSCD 2023 in Tallinn. Here are our plans. * Conference Chair: Niccolò Veltri, researcher in the Logic and Semantics Group, Department of Software Science, Tallinn University of Technology (https://niccoloveltri.github.io/) * Local Committee: Members from the Logic and Semantics Group (https://cs.ioc.ee/lsg/) and the Support Unit of the Department of Software Science Tarmo Uustalu, lead research scientist (http://www.ru.is/faculty/tarmo/) Ruth Laos, head of the support unit Kristel Toom, project coordinator Philipp Joram, PhD student Cheng-Syuan Wan, PhD student Possibly further members from the Compositional Systems and Methods Lab (https://compose.ioc.ee) of Pawel Sobocinski Members of the team have previously organized a number of international events in Tallinn. They know the potential venues in the city well. They are experienced in budgeting and running a international conference in TCS. Niccolò Veltri was general chair of PPDP/LOPSTR in 2021. * Estonian Convention Bureau (https://www.ecb.ee/) supports conference organizers with information, events to get to know venues, services providers etc. The Tourist Board of Tallinn (https://visittallinn.ee/eng/professional) also supports conference organizers with their know-how. These services are free. Enterprise Estonia supports conference organization with grants funded by the European Regional Development Fund (https://www.eas.ee/teenus/support-for-international-conferences/?lang=en). The conditions of this grant scheme may be too rigid and constraining to be useful for organizing a conference like FSCD. The department is positive about increasing its visibility through conference organization and is happy to offer administrative help free of charge. The university is supportive of conference organization in declarations, but in 2021 the university's finance office took us by surprise by taking 15 pct of the fees we had collected as overheads. If the university does not change their policy, we will run FSCD through some non-profit association (we could approach, e.g., the Estonian Mathematical Society). For ticketing (registration, invoicing and fee collection, we plan to use the services of the Estonia start-up Fienta (https://fienta.com/organizer). They can handle federated conferences with a complicated fee structure, the organizer is in control of the setup and can change it dynamically if needed, can see the status of all registrations at any moment. The company's commission fee on registrations is 3.5 pct, which includes credit card transaction fees by their providers; registrations of participants that that do not pay (e.g., online participants) are processed for free. * Tallinn is mainly accessible by plane via the Tallinn Lennart Meri airport (TLL,https://www.tallinn-airport.ee/en/), which is located 4 km southeast of the city centre and connected to it by a tram line. A number of airlines operate routes at Tallinn airport, including Aeroflot, airBaltic, Finnair, LOT, Lufthansa, Norwegian, Ryanair, SAS, Swiss, Turkish and Wizz Air. The main airline hubs to connect to Tallinn are Frankfurt (Lufthansa), Riga (airBaltic) and Helsinki (Finnair). Apart from connections to Tallinn through Riga, airBaltic also has direct flights to Tallinn from Amsterdam, Paris, Munich. Tallinn can also be reached by ferry from Helsinki and Stockholm, and by bus from Riga and Vilnius. * Tallinn has an excellent municipal transportation network (https://transport.tallinn.ee/#/en) with many bus, trolleybus and tram lines that run frequently (many services every 6-10 mins during peak hours) and punctually. The ticket for one ride is 1.50€. Taxis and ride-share services are relatively cheap, especially Bolt (https://bolt.eu/en/cities/tallinn) and Yandex (http://yandex-taxi.ee/en/). E.g. a ride with Bolt between the airport and the city centre costs less than 10€. * Suggested dates: 15-22 June or (preferably) 3-10 July. Fri-Sat 23-24 June is a major national holiday in Estonia (Jaanipäev, St John's = Midsummer Day). Fri-Sun 30 June-2 July 2023 Tallinn will host the 13th Estonian Youth Song and Dance Celebration (https://2023.laulupidu.ee/en/), an event that is held every five years and will bring to Tallinn tens of thousands of youth (choirs, orchestras, folk dance groups) from over the country and abroad. The Song and Dance Celebration is quite an attraction, a life-time experience in fact. (But of course it can only take place if the pandemic will subside by spring 2023.) To run the event in the week of 25 June-2 July 2022 is likely not realistic since the hotels will be full of guests and participants of the festival. * A physical vs an online event: We plan for a hybrid event. Even if the pandemic will be over (which we very much hope), we want that people that cannot travel (for financial difficulty, health issues, family situation, any other reason) can participate. * Estimated registration fees for FSCD 2023: Regular in-person participation: 300-400€ Student in-person participation: 150-200€ We will try to keep remote participation free of charge. In-person workshops participation: 200-250€, or 100-150€ for FSCD participants. * There are many possible venues in the city that can accomodate an event like FSCD 2023, with a suitable plenary hall and a good number of smaller rooms for workshops, with adequate internet connectivity. The required audiovisual equipment (also for online streaming) and professional technical support is either available at the venue or can ordered from a company specializing in these services, e.g., Art Konverentsitehnika (http://artko.ee/in-english/). Possibilities include: - Tallinn Teacher's House (in the Old Town) https://opetajatemaja.ee/en/majast/ It hosted PPDP/LOPSTR 2021. - House of the Brotherhood of the Blackheads (in the Old Town) https://www.filharmoonia.ee/en/mustpeademaja It hosted ICFP/GPCE/TFP 2005, CADE 2005, Testcom-FATES/FORTE 2007, TYPES 2015. - Kultuurikatel (just outside the Old Town) https://kultuurikatel.ee/en/ - Swissotel (in the city) https://www.swissotel.com/hotels/tallinn/ It hosted ETAPS 2012. Tallinn University of Technology also has appropriate facilities for hosting the event, e.g. the Maritime Academy (https://taltech.ee/en/estonian-maritime-academy), which hosted MFCS 2021. * There are plenty of hotels, hostels and apartments in the city centre. Examples include: Hotels: - Kalev SPA (almost in the Old Town) http://kalevspa.ee/ - Meriton Old Town Garden Hotel (in the Old Town) https://www.meritonhotels.com/ - L'Ermitage (just outside the Old Town) http://www.lermitagehotel.ee/ Hostels: - Fat Margaret's Hostel (in the Old Town) http://www.fatmargarets.ee/ - Tallinn Backpackers (in the Old Town) http://www.tallinnbackpackers.com/ Some representative prices: Double room in Kalev SPA (including unlimited use of water park, saunas and gym): 65€ per night. Twin room in Fat Margaret's Hostel: 34€ per night. * The best local restaurants specialize in modern Estonian cuisine, an exciting fusion of Nordic and Eastern European influences. Just some good restaurants in the city include: - Restoran Pegasus (in the Old Town) https://restoranpegasus.ee/en/home/ - Restoran Moon (just outside the Old Town) https://restoranmoon.ee/en/ - Restoran Salt (in Kadriorg) https://saltrestoran.ee/ A meal at these restaurants, including main course, beverage and dessert, would typically cost around 25€. There are also many budget-friendly cafes and street food vendors in and around the city centre, especially in the new Balti Jaam market behind the central train station. * There are many touristic and leisure activities which one can indulge in in Tallinn during summertime. The municipality's official tourist info site is here: https://www.visittallinn.ee/eng Above all there is the medieval Old Town of Tallinn with its views and atmosphere, a UNESCO World Heritage site. There are green spaces like the Kadriorg park or the Kadriorg-Pirita seaside promenade. Some attractive museums and exhibition spaces include: - KUMU (Estonian Art) and other branches of the Estonian Art Museum https://kumu.ekm.ee/en/ - Estonian Open Air Museum (rural buildings from different parts of the country) https://evm.ee/eng/home - Seaplane Harbour https://meremuuseum.ee/lennusadam/en/ - Patarei Prison (crimes of communism) https://patareiprison.org/en/ - Fotografiska (photography) https://www.fotografiska.com/tallinn/in-english/ The Telliskivi and Noblessner areas, which are at a walking distance from Tallinn's Old Town, offer plenty of restaurants, bars and clubs. Tallinn has a number of water parks and swimming pools, which always include traditional Estonian saunas. Entry fees are friendly. There are a couple of nice beaches in the city (Pirita, Stroomi, Kakumäe), easily reachable by public transportation. Estonia is a well-recognized hub for craft beer. There are many good pubs and tap rooms scattered around Tallinn's city centre.