• "Intelligent" Compression (adaptive compression, progressive transmission, focalisation, ...).
• New compression algorithms: wavelets, fractals, ...
• Participation to JPEG standardisation (ISO / SC29 / WG1): I have been part of CN29 Commision of French Normalization body AFNOR. I know well the technical of the JPEG standard (ISO/IEC 10918, including extensions of part 3 which have been approved in 1997). I also followed the beginning of the work for defining a new lossless JPEG ("JPEG-LS", approved in 2000 under reference ISO/IEC 14495-1), and the first steps toward the definition of the next generation standard ("JPEG-2000") covering very low bit rates using new technologies and that should be approved soon under reference ISO/IEC 15444.
• I also know (and have been developping some stuff around) the JPEG freeware of IJG (Independant JPEG Group).
• I was also part of the steering committee of the international conference on

MULTIMEDIA & STANDARDISATION '97 held in Paris.

- "Intelligent Compression of Still Images", F. Gilbert & F. Moutarde, proceedings of 6th ACM International Multimedia Conference, Bristol, 12-16 septembre 1998. [idem in postscript format]

- "Adaptive compression of still images: automating the choice of algorithm and parameters",
F. Gilbert & F. Moutarde, proceedings of "Electronic Image Capture and Publishing" symposium (Europto series), Zurich, 18-22 Mai 1998. [idem in postscript format]

- "Images fixes : de la numérisation à  la normalisation", F. Moutarde, tutorial du colloque "Multimedia et Standardisation 1997" (MUST'97), Paris, avril 1997.

Compression in general:

• First, the FAQ on compression : local copy (OLD!!)or the (distant) reference version.
• Some introductive pages about main compression techniques.
• Homepage of DCC, the main annual american conference on data compression.
• Newsgroups : comp.compression et comp.compression.research.

Still image compression:

• FAQ on JPEG compression : local copy (OLD!!) or the (distant) reference version.

Moving picture compression:

• FAQ on MPEG standards, formats and products.
• Official homepage of MPEG standardisation committee (JTC1/SC29/WG11).

• AVELEM, french company with a good knowledge and experiencein various image related topics: digitalisation, coding and compression, storage, indexation (etc...), and involved in JPEG standardisation.
• Ceresys, french company spécialised image processing and compression, in tight relation with Neuroscience laboratory of Paris VI university.
• IMAGE etc... french company located near Bordeaux.
• Pegasus, american company specialised in JPEG.
• Summus, american company specialised in wavelet-based compression.
• Iterated Systems, american company specialised in fractal-based compression.
• Cartesian Products, also located in USA, but specialised in compression of scanned documents.
• RICOH (California Research Center), working on wavelet-based compression basée, in particular for medical applications.
• Livepicture (previously FITS), company created in Toulouse (France) but now located in California, specialised in tools for creation and modification of numerical images. It has recently launched with Hewlett-Packard the "Imaging for the Internet" project, based on FLASHPIX format of Kodak (a kind of multi-resolution JPEG).