This paper gives an account of the symposium organized in May 2002 in the memory of Dr Wolf, who died in November 2001. Many experts in the field of continuous casting have participated to this symposium, which has been the occasion to review the progress made in the continuous casting of conventional and thin slabs and to evaluate the state of the art and perspectives of thin strip casting. At the same time, general trends for the future in the steel industry have been discussed.