We consider the problem of designing error correcting codes (ECC),
a hard combinatorial optimization problem of relevance in the
field of telecommunications. This problem is tackled here with two
related techniques, scatter search and memetic algorithms. The
instantiation of these techniques for ECC design will be
discussed. Specifically, the design of the local improvement
strategy and the combination method will be treated. The empirical
evaluation will show that these techniques can dramatically
outperform previous approaches to this problem. Among other
aspects, the influence of the update method, or the use of path
relinking is also analyzed on increasingly large problem
instances.