Nine years ago I walked through the streets of London towards the impressive Royal Society building to attend the inaugural E-Cigarette Summit. I went to a conference where the debate was split, where optimism based on basic science was confounded by a dearth of studies, and where it looked like the UK faced an imminent ban on vaping devices. 

How things have changed. After ten years in which vaping has been banned or severely restricted in much of the world, the UK has become the beacon of hope for tobacco harm reduction in the form of vaping. Much of that is due to the E-Cigarette Summit, which brings leading researchers, policymakers and more to share the latest research and views.