In May 2002 a number of about 20 scientists from various disciplines were invited by the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities to participate in an interdisciplinary workshop on structures and structure generating processes. The site was the beautiful little castle of Blankensee, south of Berlin. The disciplines represented ranged from mathematics and information theory, over various fields of engineering, biochemistry and biology, to the economic and social sciences. All participants presented talks explaining the nature of structures considered in their fields and the associated procedures of analysis.?