This article is part of the themed issue ‘Soft interfacial materials: from fundamentals to formulation’.

The science of soft interfaces (lipid membranes, emulsions, particle-stabilized droplets, etc.) is rapidly moving into an era of predictive capability that allows the design and development of advanced materials to be based on secure scientific knowledge. This Theme Issue reports papers presented at a Discussion Meeting intended not only to address the fundamental science, focusing on generic design principles for self-organization and interfacial structure, but also to explore the resulting prospects for ‘informed formulation’ of new and improved industrial products.

At the end of this introductory essay, we briefly summarize some of the scientific progress reported in the individual research and review papers included in this volume. Before doing so, we take the opportunity to describe some of the background thinking that shaped the content and aims of the Meeting as conceived by the organizers.

This essay is intended to be thought provoking, not definitive; much of it is based on a wrap-up discussion that two of us (Alex Lips and Wilson Poon) contributed at the end of the Meeting itself. In it, we focus on the relationship between science (‘fundamentals’) and technology (‘formulation’). At least in the soft materials area, this represents a subtler and more interesting form of symbiosis than is often assumed.