At the 12th International Association for Plant Biotechnology (IAPB) Congress 2010 in St Louis, USA I was honoured with the selection as President of the Association through 2014 and with the opportunity to host the next IAPB Congress in 2014 in Melbourne, Australia. It is with a great sense of pride that I assume this role and affirm my commitment to advance the Association and its objectives to promote plant biotechnology including cell and tissue culture applications, and in so doing to support the goal of advancement of plant biotechnology development and usage to the benefit of humankind. We live at a time of unprecedented new discoveries, some of these expected to transform life sciences and technology development for years to come. They are to offer a unique opportunity for people to improve their lives and the environment we live. We cannot ignore these. Technologies have always been at the heart of human progress and development. And it is critical that we harness the benefits of technological advances – while at the same time safeguarding against the possible new risks that may accompany them. This is no different for plant and agricultural biotechnology. It is undeniable that timely access to technology provides us with better tools; tools that are ultimately instrumental in satisfying society’s needs and desires. The food security challenge of doubling food production in only 50 years has become a daunting task to feed a world with an expected population of over 9 billion people by 2050. We must double food production in a sustainable and resource use efficient manner using less water, less fossil fuel and less nitrogen, on approximately the same area of arable land. And at the same time we must mitigate some of the challenges associated with climate variability and change. In addition, we need to face the urgent and essential humanitarian need and moral responsibility to alleviate poverty, hunger and malnutrition which now afflict more than 1 billion people. The outcomes of research and development in plant biotechnology are contributing to harvests of hope – with transgenic crops representing a potential tool providing options for sustainable development. Since the first commercial planting of transgenic crops in 1996, we have seen over the last 16 years, a record 94-fold increase in acreage of transgenic crops, and cumulatively over 1.2 billion hectares of transgenic crops planted by 2011, which makes these crops, products of plant biotechnology, the fastest adopted crop technology in the history of modern agriculture. However, the growing of transgenic crops remains controversial in parts of the world, in spite of 160 million hectares of transgenic crops grown by 16.7 million farmers in 29 countries in 2011. This highlights the need for our ongoing engagement in dialog with those that do not practice the science of plant biotechnology or develop products from plant biotechnology to enhance general public understanding of the technology and address any concerns. As the newly established leadership of IAPB, we hope you will join us in Melbourne in August 2014 for the 13th International Association for Plant Biotechnology Congress, to learn about and share exciting developments in plant biotechnology and plant science of interest to the diversity of the IAPB membership. Melbourne promises to be a wonderful host for this diversity, being one of the most cosmopolitan and multicultural cities in the world, with 140 nations represented, 100 religious faiths and 180 languages, each enriching the cultural life of the city.