During the last few years, computers have evolved from pure number crunching machines to "intelligent" problem solving tools. Increasing effort has been spent on the investigation of new approaches and the application of solutions to real world problems. In this way, exciting new techniques have evolved providing support for an increasing number of technical and economical aspects. Applications range from the design and development of ultra highly integrated circuits to totally new man-machine interfaces, from software engineering tools to fault diagnosis systems, from decision support to even the analysis of unemployment. Following a first joint workshop on Advanced Information Processing held in July 1988 at the Institute for Problems of Informatics of the USSR Academy of Sciences (IPIAN) at Moscow, this was the second time that scientists and researchers from the USSR Academy of Sciences and Siemens AG, Corporate Research and Development, exchanged results and discussed recent advances in the field of applied computer sciences. Initiated by Prof. Dr. I. Mizin, Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences and Director of IPIAN, and Prof. Dr. H. Schwartzel, Vice President of the Siemens AG and Head of the Applied Computer Science & Software Department, a joint symposium was arranged at the USSR Academy of Sciences in Moscow on June 5th and 6th 1990. The meetings on Information Processing and Software and Systems Design Automation provided a basis both for presentations of ongoing research and for discussions about specific problems.
