For twenty years the European Forum of Good Clinical Practice has acted as a forum to bring all parties with an interest in health care research together and debate current topics. The focus of the 2013 Annual Conference will be the ethics of emerging technologies in clinical care, trials and research. The new digital technologies are now part of our lives, shaping and changing our health care and research.   We recognise there is already a large literature on this subject but it’s clear that they raise important ethical questions that we must address. For health care professionals their use must be evidence based; for researchers they must use new methods fairly; for Ethics Committees the fear of the new must not be grounds for unwarranted hostility or even unfavourable review. Our conference will focus onthe importance of researching these interventions before implementation,  andthe ethical use of these technologies in research.  It will particularly address  What can these modern technologies offer health care?How do patients see care using these technologies?How should we research this new care?What are the ethical issues around research using these new technologies and are they any different from those arising from “traditional” research?How do we ensure quality in research using modern technologies?How should we regulate such research when it crosses all regulatory boundaries?Is care and research using modern technologies inclusive or exclusive?What is the effect for vulnerable populationsWhat is the effect for resource poor countries?