Glass - the challenge for the 21st century

The International Commission on Glass (lCG) invited international experts to take a look into the future of glass. The ICG organized a Top-level expert meeting on the "Future of Advanced Materials and Glass-Melting Technologies for the year 2020" in Brig (Switzerland), In March 2008, financed by the European Union within the framework of the EFONGA project. Two expert workshops were held in parallel and covered the topics "Advances in materials: glasses, glass-ceramics, ceramics" as well as "Innovation in glass melting technology: revolution or evolution". Three months later, the 9th ESG Conference along with the Annual Meeting of the ICG, hosted by the Slovak Glass Society, was held in June 2008 in Trencin, Slovakia. The conference was intended to deal not only with the state-of-the art in the areas (glass science and technology today) concerned, but also to address the questions of future developments, applications and challenges in glass science and technology. Special attention was paid to the future role of the ICG (International Commission on Glass).