The Nordic Symposium on Tribology, NORDTRIB, is arranged every second year in one of the Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, Norway or Sweden. In June 2010 the 14th NORDTRIB, organized by Luleå University of Technology, was held in a picturesque location at Storforsen, Sweden.One hundred and seventy eight tribologists from thirty countries participated in the symposium. It is the highest number of participants recorded during NORDTRIB history.The fact that interest in tribology continues to grow internationally was also reflected during a workshop held before the symposium. The theme of the workshop was “Why tribology is more important than ever”. The discussions focused on what tribology can do for sustainable growth and to limit climate change. Prominent scientists from Australia, Austria, China, Finland, Japan, Slovenia, and UK described current and future trends in tribology research as well as how such research is motivated in their home countries.One hundred and thirty four papers were presented at the symposium. The keynote lectures covered tribological challenges in wind turbine gearboxes, advancements of tribology in nano-manufacturing, atomic level studies, smart tribological coatings, and numerical methods for solving tribological problems.There was also a special poster session for young tribologists. This time the session was organized by the Swedish Research School in Tribology (www.ltu.se/tribology-school), which is a collaborative project between four Swedish Universities; Halmstad University, Luleå University of Technology, KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Uppsala University. Doctoral students presented their research projects and latest findings. The session was an inspiring and rewarding forum for the next generation of tribologists.Many excellent papers were presented at the symposium covering a wide range of research activities and recent developments in tribology. A selection of 7 papers, representing both experimental and theoretical studies, is included in this Special issue.We hope that those of you who were unable to attend the symposium will catch up on the latest research findings you missed and enjoy reading this issue.The next Nordic Symposium on Tribology will be held in Norway in June 2012.We are grateful to Tribology International for excellent cooperation and possibility to publish the selected contributions in this Special issue.