The NATO sponsored Advanced Study Institute 'The Biology and Tech­ nology of Intelligent Autonomous Agents' was an extraordinary event. For two weeks it brought together the leading proponents of the new behavior­ oriented approach to Artificial Intelligence in Castel Ivano near Trento. The goal of the meeting was to establish a solid scientific and technological foun­ dation for the field of intelligent autonomous agents with a bias towards the new methodologies and techniques that have recently been developed in Ar­ tificial Intelligence under the strong influence of biology. Major themes of the conference were: bottom-up AI research, artificial life, neural networks and techniques of emergent functionality. The meeting was such an extraordinary event because