After five successful duckweed conferences in China, USA, Japan, India and Israel, the 6th ICDRA will takes place in Germany for the first time. The conferences in the past have highlighted tremendous progress in all fields of duckweed research as well as a rapid growth of the community dealing with duckweed in basic research and commercial applications. 

Beside the major efforts in the USA and in Asian countries, several European institutions are contributing to establish duckweeds as a model for developmental biology, genome evolution and ecology and to transform it into a novel aquatic crop. To have the upcoming meeting in Europe should reflect and promote these efforts.

ICDRA6 is organized by the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, the International Steering Committee for Duckweed Research and Applications (ISCDRA), the German Society for Plant Breeding (GPZ) and the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK).