Report on the MISSCA 2013 international crystallographic conference

Early in September 2013, only a few months away from the International Year of Crystallography (2014), nearly 230 scientists from more than 15 different Countries gathered in Como, for an International Conference co-organized by the Italian, Spanish, and Swiss Crystallographic Associations, presenting their most recent crystallographic results in variety of fields, in basic and applied Science. This brief account highlights the topics discussed during the conference, and the future of the European crystallographic research, with its relevance to distinct fields of physics, chemistry, biology, materials, and earth science, as well as in preservation of cultural heritage.