This meeting will gather the astrophysical community working theoretically and observationally in the field of massive star formation. Various theoretical concepts for the formation of massive stars are currently discussed, and it is important to derive predictions which can be tested observationally, and which discriminate between the various models. Furthermore, new observations, ranging from the Infrared and X-ray regime to (sub)mm and cm wavelengths, reveal intriguing features requiring theoretical explanations.

Observationally, the Galactic plane surveys from Spitzer (GLIMPSE and MIPSGAL) are expected to reveal many new insights, CARMA is coming online soon, the submm regime will be exploited with new instruments like APEX and the SMA, existing observatories are upgraded (e.g., IRAM30m, JCMT, PdBI, VLA, VLTI, MOPRA) and new telescopes like ALMA, Herschel, and LBT are at the horizon.

From the theoretical/modeling perspective, the ever-increasing computational power allows to incorporate more and more physical and chemical parameters important for the formation of massive stars and their surrounding clusters.
It is an important goal of this meeting that the different "disciplines" in high-mass star formation research interact, and together try to solve the outstanding questions of massive star formation.

The format of the meeting should stress new results. A few selected reviews will be given outlining the current status of the several sub-fields, but the major focus will be on the presentation and discussion of the recent results and the implications for the formation of massive stars. Controversial discussion to constrain the potential and limitations of observations, theory and modeling will be highly encouraged. Furthermore, selected open panel discussions about the hottest current topics may even better constrain the directions the massive star formation community should head for.