To celebrate its 125th anniversary, the German Bunsen Society for Physical Chemistry extended invitations to its annual conference in Jena – the City of Sciences. Industry and science have a tradition of working closely together in the optics metropolis and the Beutenberg Campus in Jena is home to numerous institutions of renowned research societies such as Fraunhofer, Max Planck, and Leibniz. The focus of the 118th assembly held at Friedrich Schiller University Jena was placed on functional materials that are at the heart of modern technologies, such as energy conversion and storage, heterogeneous catalysis, implants, biosensors, and optical devices. About 800 visitors attended the three-day international symposium with an excellent program and its associated exhibition. (maa)