The European Commission emphasizes, in its Fifth Research Framework, the “. . . emerging generic dependability requirements in the information society, stemming both from the ubiquity and volume of embedded and networked systems and services as well as from the global and complex nature of large scale information and communication infrastructures, from citizens, administrations and business in terms of technologies, tools, systems, applications and services". The series of Conference on Computer Safety, Reliability, and Security (Safecomp) contributes to satisfy these requirements by reviewing the state of the art, experiences, and new trends in the relevant scientific and industrial areas. Safecomp is intended to be a platform for technology transfer among academia, industry, and research institutions, providing the opportunity for exchange of ideas, opinions, and visions among experts. This year Safecomp celebrates the 20th anniversary, its first Conference having been organized in Stuttgart by EWICS (European Workshop on Industrial Computer Systems) in 1979, and we hope these Proceedings will contribute to the celebration by supporting Safecomp aims. The Proceedings include the 25 papers that have been presented orally at the Conference and the full version of the 14 papers that have been presented as posters, all of which were selected from 76 submissions. Papers almost uniformly take up Safecomp topics, dealing with the issues of Safety Assessment and Human Factors, Verification and Validation, Design for Safety, Formal Methods, and Security.
