Prof Dietmar Georg, Chair of the Scientific Programme Committee, discusses the highlights from the 2010 ESTRO conference and future aims for conference. Prof Georg considers the possibility of radiotherapy cancer treatments that use particles instead of electrons or photons, talks about intensity modulated radiotherapy and explains what obstacles have been overcome in the development of image guided radiotherapy. Prof Georg concludes by explaining how it is now possible to tailor the dose of radiation according to the different biology of different organs and identifies key advances that account for patient movement during treatment.