This book is based on a workshop entitled.: Model " Identification and Adap­ tive Control: From Windsurfing to Telecommunications" held in Sydney, Aus­ tralia, on December 16, 2000. The workshop was organized in honour of Pro­ fessor Brian (BDO) Anderson in recognition of his seminal contributions to systems science over the past 4 decades. . The chapters in the book have been written by colleagues, friends and stu­ dents of Brian Anderson. A central theme of the book is the inter relationship between identification and the use of models in real world applications. This theme has underpinned much of Brian Andersons own contributions. The book reflects on these contributions as well as makirig important statements about possible future research directions. The subtitle of the book (From Windsurfing to Telecommunications) rec­ ognizes the fact that many common life experiences, such as those we en­ counter when learning to ride a windsurfer are models for design methods that can be used on real world advanced technological control problems. In­ deed, Brian Anderson extensively explored this link in his research work.