the Covid 19 pandemic has overwhelmed us all like a tsunami - unwanted, unanticipated and therefore completely surprising. It has plunged the global economy from a high into a deep crisis in a very short time. Nearly all areas of social and economic life have been affected and have to switch to standby or abort in the shortest possible time - or they have to find new ways and instruments to meet their obligations and responsibilities.

The pipeline conference with the greatest international impact - the ptc in Berlin - was about to take place when the pandemic became apparent. Cancellation of the date was unavoidable - but the question remained:

How can we secure as many preparations, expectations and investments as possible?

The organiser EITEP decided to turn everything into an online conference,
which was made available to all registered participants, sponsors and exhibitors on the scheduled conference days.

It was important to ensure that as many of the expectations that are associated with an attendance conference as possible were also met with the online conference.

Expectations are in particular:

1. Description of the state of the art in science and technology
2. Promoting the exchange of experience
3. Creation of a market place for suppliers and buyers

To be honest, the expectations of 1. and 2. can be achieved to some extent by a well thought-out online conference. The point 3. on the other hand is less easy to present.

In addition to the possibility of guiding visitors to the homepage of sponsors and exhibitors within the online programme, EITEP places all presentations and advertisements - if they are freely available - on the ptc homepage, adds the abstracts to their knowledge database and publishes the papers in the Pipeline Technology Journal (ptj) in several special issues. This is the first of these issues. This gives an idea of the quality of the 15th ptc - whether an attendance or online.

We have received much encouragement in the preparation of the conference. Regarding the transformation into an online conference, the response was almost even more positive, because almost everyone has had to accept cuts in their economic activities during the pandemic. All our partners know that imagination, motivation and energy are needed to continue to meet the existing challenges in the future.

In any case, we at EITEP are ready to continue providing a ptc that focuses on safety, reliability and cost-effectiveness of pipelines.

I would like to thank all of you who are at our side now and in the future, and I look forward to seeing you all again at the 16th Pipeline Technology Conference in Berlin from 15 to 18 March 2021.

Sincerely yours,

Dr. Klaus Ritter,
President EITEP Institute
Editor in Chief of ptj