This conference series was originally initiated in Berlin, where a long-standing tradition of research on complexity and self-organization in various fields of science exists. Cooperation between both parts of the city started already before the fall of the Wall, eventually leading to the establishment of the Collaborative Research Program SFB 555 with Werner Ebeling as its chairman. In 2000 the first symposium "Engineering of Chemical Complexity" took place with about 50 participants. Its success prompted continuation every two years until 2008. After termination of the SFB 555 program, a new organizational framework for the ongoing activities was created by the foundation of the Berlin Center for Studies of Complex Chemical Systems. From 2011 on, the meeting grew considerably in size, in 2013 it was organized for the first time outside from Berlin in Warnemünde, so that the next conference in Munich will be the number eight in a successful series. We welcome all participants heartily at the science campus of Garching in the heart of Bavaria and we are looking forward to interesting and stimulating presentations and discussions.