This year, our congress is focussed on "Ophthalmology in the Ageing Society - Challenge and Chance". "Ageing" is an umbrella term and has become a mega trend of our societies. Especially in Germany with its demographic changes, we, as a professional organization, have to cope with the fact, that many of the diseases that we diagnose and treat are subject to a very high age progression. Many scientific presentations will therefore concentrate on diseases such as macular degeneration, glaucoma or cataract. However, beyond this we will try to answer socio-economic questions and investigate the development of medical expenses as well as the chances of primary and secondary prevention.

These themes will have increasing importance in the years to come. The programme of the symposia is promising to present ophthalmology at a high scientific level. But also every day clinical ophthalmologic practice will be covered by "state-of-the-art" presentations which cover the whole spectrum of ophthalmology. The wetlab programme has been enlarged considerably and now includes courses for the advanced phaco surgeon, glaucoma surgeon and offers the possibility to learn lamellar keratoplasty.

Support and promotion of young scientists is of particular importance to me. Thus, as a novelty, this year we offer courses for career management, on how to write grant proposals, scientific publications and how to do a successful scientific presentation.

Probably the most important objective of a meeting such as ours is to create an atmosphere that facilitates communication between all groups in ophthalmology. This will help to exchange new ideas and concepts for future research and the development of our society and science all together. This idea has already been integrated into our opening ceremony, where we will have a podium discussion with prominent representatives from research, politics and economy.

Prof. Dr. med. Norbert Pfeiffer
DOG President