Preface to Hybrid Metaheuristics - 7th International Workshop, HM 2010

Research in hybrid metaheuristics is now established as a reference field in the areas of optimization and problem solving. Hybrid metaheuristics have a strong impact on applications because they provide efficient and powerful problem solving techniques for optimization problems in industry. Furthermore, the related interdisciplinary research community provides a fertile environment where innovative techniques are presented and discussed. The International Workshop on Hybrid Metaheuristics pursues the direction of combining application-oriented and foundational research. This is demonstrated by the papers in the proceedings of this 7th HM event. The contributions selected for this volume represent an important sample of current research in hybrid metaheuristics. It is worth emphasizing that the selected papers cover both theoretical and applicational results, including applications to logistics and bioinformatics and new paradigmatic hybrid solvers.