Though bioprocessing is quite an ancient technique—beer has been brewed for several thousand years—modern biotechnology is still in its infancy. Bioprocess engineers make use of living cells and their components to produce many products for industrial use and bioprocesses are used to improve human living conditions. New applications such as stem cell cultivation may evolve to powerful tools in personalized medicine. There are lively debates about recent trends such as single-use equipment, automation, and perfusion culture. Scientists and engineers must keep track of these developments and consider associated issues, such as validation requirements, control strategies, and scale-up/scale-down approaches.