 As so often, an interesting and even pressing question is where all of this is going. Predicting the future might not be possible, but there are trends that can be identified and which can be expected to follow a similar trajectory in the near future. One such trend is the drive for big data. ‘Big’ here refers not only to the quantity but also to the different types of data collected. A derivative of this big-data drive is the goal to integrate all of the diverse data and mould it into models that can further our understanding of biological systems and the prediction of their behaviour. The relatively young discipline of systems biology, which could not be discussed in detail in this entry, will certainly play a key role in this endeavour.