Since the beginning of this century, the International Exhaust Gas and Particulate Emissions Forum has established itself as one of the most important gatherings in the engine and automotive industry for experts in exhaust gas aftertreatment and the resulting challenges that it poses in terms of metrology. The Forum on February 23rd and 24th, 2016, at Forum am Schlosspark in Ludwigsburg near Stuttgart is already the ninth event in a row and will be attended by over 300 national and international guests.

In more than 20 contributions, the professional audience is informed about various possible concepts and solutions for complying with pollutants and CO₂ limit values, while providing ample time for the necessary exchange and discussions among specialists.

The 9th International Forum will not only focus on further developments of classical methods of combustion using conventional and alternative fuels, but also on major changes to be expected in the drive train given the increased application of electrical and hybrid systems. This allows new potentials to be tapped which are apt to ensure conformity with future CO₂ and exhaust emissions regulations.

To organize future mobility which meets customer expectations, too, the diversity and complexity of various technological approaches is bound to increase both for car manufacturers and suppliers. In this context, new challenges arise when it comes to determining the plausibility of and adherence to ambitious emission limits as well as to providing sufficiently sensitive and robust measuring technology.

Legislation foresees complementing cycle-based homologation at the testbed by exhaust gas monitoring of vehicles under real-world driving conditions. This will present new challenges to the development process as a whole and call for convincing solutions.

At the same time, new and far-reaching standards in the fuel sector need to be reconciled with the statutory CO₂ targets. Inter alia, the importance of natural gas as a fuel will increase both for on-road and offroad applications. This is owed, on the one hand, to the comparatively greater availability of this energy source and, on the other hand, in particular to the benefits it offers in terms of CO₂ and exhaust gas emissions.

Hence, the 9th International Exhaust Gas and Particulate Emissions Forum will focus thematically on questions related to the further development of sparkignition and compression-ignition combustion processes including hybrid solutions and the use of conventional and alternative fuels. In all of this, capturing real driving emissions is as important as quantifying lowest emissions during steady-state and transient operations via measuring techniques.

On behalf of AVL Germany as well as on behalf of the members of the Program Advisory Board I wish all participants a pleasant and informative stay at the Forum am Schlosspark in the beautiful city of Ludwigsburg, the former seat of the Kings of Württemberg on February 23rd and 24th, 2016.

I am confident that our guests will not only appreciate the wealth and diversity of expertise that will be shared with them at this conference, but will also remember the personal exchange of thoughts and our traditional evening event.