Society has prized glass artefacts for millennia, from decorated Egyptian amphora, to the extravagantly engraved vases of the Romans, from stained glass windows, to the chandeliers of The Middle Ages….
Society has prized glass artefacts for millennia, from decorated Egyptian amphora, to the extravagantly engraved vases of the Romans, from stained glass windows, to the chandeliers of The Middle Ages. Bottles and tableware help us to cook and preserve our food, to store our wine, and deliver our medications cheaply in tip-top condition, while windows and lamps give us well lit, warm buildings and safe transport systems. Quality glass lenses for microscopes, telescopes and cameras helped to revolutionize our understanding of biology and astronomy, and now deliver pictures from international news events or instant personal images on Facebook. Our mobile telephone and internet traffic travels along glass fibers which can amplify or switch the signal. Glass fibers insulate our houses and engineered glass sheets with printed solar cells generate our power. Even our wind turbines use glass fiber reinforced blades. Glass containing cements can repair our teeth and bones, doped glasses can target radiotherapy within our bodies, and spare body parts can be grown on glassy scaffolds. Such a rich heritage does not automatically lead to an exciting future, but we can expect many surprises, and that glass will certainly remain the bedrock of a modern, sustainable, low-carbon society. The International Commission on Glass (ICG) is promoting research and development (R&D) on glass and ensures that the necessary support framework in the form of Technical Committees (TCs) is in place. With that mission, the Coordinating Technical Committee (CTC) of the ICG initiated a roadmap exercise on future glass R&D, starting with a kick off meeting at the ICG2007 congress in Strasbourg; this promoted the construction of a road-map that anticipates the challenges that the glass community will face. Key players in that roadmap process have been the various TCs with their numerous experts organized by the ICG together with the Chair and the members of the department of Innovation and Technology Management at University of Kassel (in the context of a research project granted by the German Research Society). Together, aspects of glass melting, advanced materials with a focus on biomaterials, glass surface properties and functional coatings and key scientific principles have been studied in particular depth. The methodology adopted has been focused workshops and questionnaires with a 25-year perspective. Valuable support from the European Community through an EFONGA Framework 6 grant is acknowledged. The results obtained by the glass experts in the several topical workshops but also from the questionnaires have been summarized in a small booklet which contains many graphical representations of roadmaps in the different R&D fields of glass. The road mapping process however does not stop here. Continuous revision will be required as our knowledge base expands and as new pressures arise. The reader will be surprised by the first comprehensive vision of the future of glass and the manifold possible applications outlined within this booklet. The ICG intends the book to create a solid basis for forward-looking roadmap discussions on future glass R&D and hopes that its readers will want to contribute with their ideas on the improvement of the roadmaps and their fulfilment. Our goal is that this booklet will help to focus the limited resources of the glass community on the right topics for a proud future for glass. ICG is a non-profit international glass society consisting of 34 national organizations in glass science and technology. The aim of ICG is to promote cooperation between glass experts. ICG organizes Technical Committee (TC) work (laboratory round robins, publication of scientific and technical papers). ICG organizes the International Congress on Glass every three years.