The increasing need to protect civilian infrastructure and industrial facilities against unintentional loads arising from accidental impact and explosion events as well as terrorist attacks is reflected in the sustained interest in the SUSI meetings over three decades. While advances have been made over this period, many challenges remain, such as to develop more effective and efficient blast and impact mitigation approaches than those that currently exist. The primary focus remains the survivability of physical facilities and the protection of people, as well as reducing economic losses and impact on the environment, with emphasis on innovative protective technologies to support the needs of an economically growing, modern society. The application of this technology ranges from the safe transportation of people and dangerous materials to defences against natural hazards such as floods, wind, storms, tsunamis and earthquakes.