Transforming research

Our commitment to advancing life sciences extends globally, with a significant focus on supporting and empowering the European scientific community. Our Society’s collaborative platform catalyzes more than 20,000 researchers from academia, industry and government alongside developers and providers of progressive laboratory automation tools. Together, we pursue advancements in pre-clinical drug discovery and life sciences research to create change.

SLAS embeds itself in the European life sciences landscape. We offer several engaging events throughout the continent to serve as the meeting place for the life sciences community, such as our Regional SLAS Meet-Ups, our topical symposia and our annual SLAS Europe Conference and Exhibition.

Next year, we’ll gather in Hamburg, Germany, 20-22 May, for SLAS Europe 2025: Interconnecting Lab Automation. This premier event will offer unparalleled opportunities for professional development, networking and exposure to the latest innovations, making it an essential gathering for European life sciences professionals. If you’re eager to see the latest laboratory automation, discover and embrace new developments and leave inspired to propel research forward, save the date for Hamburg! We offer Student Poster Awards and generous travel grants to selected podium and poster presenters. Start-ups can gain valuable exposure through our Innovation AveNEW initiative.

Before our 2025 Europe conference, we’ll be in Toulouse, France, for the SLAS 2024 Sample Management Symposium on 16-17 October at Evotec’s Campus Curie. Sample and compound management experts will converge to explore the field’s latest best practices, challenges and innovations. Key sessions will focus on bio-sample management, highlighting experiences handling biological samples alongside traditional small molecules and the added value of effective compound management in scientific projects. Each session will offer insights into the evolving demands of research facilities and the role of digital innovation in meeting these challenges.

We reward academic excellence

We bestow Student Poster Awards to up to three students, and at our annual international conference in the U.S., we present the $10,000 Innovation Award recognizing the work behind one cutting-edge podium presentation. For our technology providers, we honor the best New Products, and celebrate the most promising start-up companies with the Ignite Award.

The Society’s SLAS Ignite Program underscores the Society’s foundational commitment to collaboration, enabling scientists, academic researchers and business development professionals to build relationships as potential strategic partners. The program includes:

• academic collaboration presentations showcasing the latest research partnerships between academia and industry,
• panel discussions and online discussions focused on entrepreneurship,
• Innovation AveNEW – a designated area of our exhibition floor for start-up companies fully funded by SLAS, and
• the SLAS Ignite Award given to the most promising start-up company featured on Innovation AveNEW.

To innovation and beyond

We aim to empower our members to lead the industry rather than follow. At SLAS2025, we are introducing NexusXp, a new interactive pavilion at SLAS2025 in San Diego, to showcase collaborative and integrated lab automation scenarios around the Design – Make – Test – Analyze cycle for drug discovery.

Find out more: slas.org