Glass - the challenge for the 21st century

The 9th ESG Conference of the International Commission on Glass (ICG) was hosted by the Slovak Glass Society at Slovakia in June 2008. The conference was intended to deal with glass science and technology and also addressed questions of future developments, applications and challenges in glass science and technology. A variety of new opportunities were seen for glass in new energy-saving applications, glass in sustainable energy supply, glass as a construction material or lightweight glass products. The glass industry and ICG are expected to improve their external communication with other parties governments, politicians, funding organizations, the public, and especially the policy makers. ICG should take a leading role in defining, initializing and organizing consortia for major research activities, addressing innovative glass products and energy efficient glass production.