Proceedings of the 7th Symposium of Aluminium Surface Science and Technology

It is with great pride and satisfaction that I can close the Proceedings of the VIIth Symposium of Aluminium Surface Science and Technology (ASST), held here in marvelous Madeira Portugal. The reviewed papers have again been presented in a special volume of surface and interface analysis. What started in 1997 in Antwerp as a symposium with the aim of mixing industry and university has survived after all these years. Both industries and universities have totally changed over these time periods, experienced by many participants who have attended several previous versions in Antwerp, Manchester, Bonn, Beaune, Leiden, Sorrento, Madeira, etc. We have always endeavoured to achieve a good mixture between industry and researchers, encouraging young PhD students to meet up with the important companies. The symposium has always been a success from that prospective, and now, some that attended as young researchers in earlier ASST versions are often seen to participate as industrial partners. I would like to thank Mikhail Zheludkevich (Helmholtz-Zentrum) and Mario Ferreira for taking the initiative to organize this successful event in Madeira, together with the organizing team with A. Mol, Technical University Delft; B. Kernig, Hydro Aluminium; E. McAlpine, Innoval Technology; F. Bellucci, University of Naples “Federico II”; G.E. Thompson, The University of Manchester; H. Dunlop, Constellium; I. De Graeve, Vrije Universiteit Brussel; and S. Davis, University of Manchester, for presenting such an interesting program. I am also happy to announce that the next ASST VIII will be held in 2018 in Denmark, organized by Rajan Ambat. So, I hope that we can meet up again, bringing academia and industry together in a lovely place in the north of Europe and continue the good work in high spirits!