European analytical column No. 37 from the Division of Analytical Chemistry (DAC) of the European Association for Chemical and Molecular Sciences (EuCheMS)

The European Analytical Column again has a somewhat different format. We have once more invited a guest columnist to give his views on various matters related to analytical chemistry in Europe. This year we have invited Prof. Manfred Grasserbauer of Vienna University of Technology to present some of the current challenges for European analytical chemistry.

During the period 2002– 2007 Manfred Grasserbauer was Director of the Institute for Environment and Sustainability, Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, Ispra. There is no doubt that many challenges exist at the present time for all those representing a major branch of chemistry, namely, analytical chemistry.

The global financial crisis is affecting all branches of chemistry, but analytical chemistry in particular since our discipline by tradition has many close links to industry. We are already noticing a decreased industrial commitment with respect to new research projects and sponsoring of conferences.

It is therefore important that we strengthen our efforts and that we keep our presence at analytical chemistry meetings and conferences unchanged. Recent activities of the Division of Analytical Chemistry (DAC) and details regarding the major analytical chemistry event this year in Europe, Euroanalysis XV in Innsbruck, are also reported.