Categorical methods have a long history in automata and language theory, but a coherent theory has started to emerge only in recent years. Some recent examples of categorical methods in automata theory include monadic, coalgebraic, functorial, fibrational and profinite approaches. Such an abstract viewpoint can provide a unifying perspective on various forms of automata; it can make it easier to bootstrap a theory in a new setting; and it provides conceptual clarity regarding which aspects and properties are fundamental and which are only coincidental.

Due to being in its early stages, the field is currently still divided into several different communities with little connections between them. The purpose of this seminar is to connect these communities; to initiate collaborations; and to discuss recent developments and possible ways to go forward. The seminar will mix researchers of different backgrounds, in order to achieve a healthy balance between abstraction and applications in automata theory.

We hope that the meeting will foster further interaction between the different communities. It should benefit category theorists, who may or may not have studied computation theory before, by inspiring them to look at problems motivated by automata and formal languages. It should also be useful to automata theorists, who may or may not be familiar with categorical techniques, by exposing them to the scope and strength of these techniques. We hope that this interaction will be both productive and enjoyable for all participants.

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Achim Blumensath, Mikolaj Bojanczyk, Bartek Klin, and Daniela Petrisan