The IBF 2018 highlights the newest developments within the scientific core competences of Industrial Biotechnology: Enzyme Catalysis and Metabolic Engineering, i.e. technologies delivering new and efficient biocatalysis pathways; and on the other hand, Bioprocess Engineering and Upscaling as well as Bioseparation Engineering to enable use of new biocatalysts in an efficient way on an industrial scale. In addition, two Special Sessions about topical subjects are scheduled, one on Synthetic Biotechnology and another on Bioinformatic Trends in Biotechnology.