Intelligent systems make vascular surgery ever safer, more exciting and more efficient. Endovascular interventions with lower radiation exposure, computer-assisted operation planning, robot-assisted surgery, EDP-controlled neuromonitoring, perioperative 'on demand pain management': artificial intelligence has already found its way into our everyday medical life - whether you have noticed it or not. However, our patients do not want automated medicine alone. You need care, understanding and empathy. Technology, artificial intelligence and empathetic attention are not contradictory. Rather, they complement each other. This exciting, future-oriented topic is to be the focus of our annual conference in 2020 in Bremen stand. From the 23rd to the 26th of September 2020 we will examine important innovations and research results of our subject under the congress motto 'Vascular surgery between technology and empathy'. Bremen is the ideal location for the location of the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) and the city of space travel.

In times of scarce resources, shorter stays and centralization, it is all the more important to address our patients with empathy. We would like to draw our special attention to this side of the coin. We are human physicians, with all sympathy for technical progress.

It is a pleasure and honor for us to invite you all to the 36th annual meeting of our specialist society in Bremen.