Aims : to highlight the latest developments in airway diseases; to provide new clinical evidence that can be used to help diagnose and treat patients with severe asthma and COPD; to analyse novel ways of defining the pathogenic mechanisms of disease and how this may lead to a new treatment approach for severe asthma and COPD; to describe the important role of comorbidities in patients with severe asthma and COPD as well as analysis of their effects on disease evolution; to discuss the early-life origin of airway diseases; to provide clear and practical take-home knowledge relating to the prevention, diagnosis, history and treatment of severe asthma and COPD.