Honorary Chair's Foreword
Laboratories are playing an increasingly important role in chemical, pharmaceutical, food, cosmetics, and environmental companies, but also in health care, and university institutes. They help maintain product quality, detect and prevent environmental threats, and support public health.
Due to the dramatic rise in the number of analyses, the recent years have generated numerous innovations in the field of automation. Major scientific advances were driven by innovations and inventions in both analytical methodology and automation technology.
The Fachhochschule Wiesbaden - University of Applied Sciences - is proud to host an international symposium which offers delegates a platform for interdisciplinary exchange about innovations and trends in the field of laboratory automation. On the podium, speakers will provide insights into different disciplines, motivating the exchange of ideas. An exhibition by technology providers will allow a view into existing applications, but also future developments.
Over the last 16 years, our Wiesbaden Computer Integrated Laboratory (WICIL) has collaborated in laboratory automation with a multitude of companies and research institutions across Europe and the United States. This work has yielded many innovative results, helping to set international standards. Many of our students have had the opportunity to contribute to these projects, providing excellent boosts for their careers. As a consequence of many excellent research collaborations with various foreign universities several of our computer science students also took exams as Masters of Science or even Ph.D. degrees.
And last but not least I would like to express my congratulations to the organizer, Prof. Dr. Reinhold Schäfer. He celebrates his 60th birthday on Dec. 13, 2005. His new year of life has an excellent start: Our Wiesbaden conference with participants from Germany and many other countries matches his reputation as an internationally renowned and respected professor and researcher, whose students find open doors at the world's most reputed organizations.
I hope that this conference will facilitate contacts within the scientific community - between decision makers, end users, technology providers, and academia. May it lay the groundwork for many fruitful collaborations and enhance the scientific network in the field of laboratory automation.
Prof. Dr. h.c. Clemens Klockner
President of the Fachhochschule Wiesbaden
University of Applied Sciences
