One year after the official founding of the German Bladder Cancer Association the interdisciplinary association organized its first symposium on bladder cancer at the meeting center"Schloss Mickeln" in Düsseldorf in June 2009. The focus of the symposium was on the initiation and implementation of primary objectives of the association. Members from national and international research groups presented and discussed current projects. A period of 12 months has been required to establish a national tissue bank for bladder cancer speciem which will be started in January 2010. The meeting not only stirred new ideas but also promoted new collaborations and served as an innovative platform to discuss novel questions and methodological approaches to study bladder cancer. Additionally, the website www.forschungsverbund-blasenkarzinom.de will provide further information about the German Bladder Cancer Association.