DRIP was established at Montpelier by Prof. J. P. Fillard, the organizer of the first DRIP conference in 1985 and since that time a series of 15 conferences have been held in Europe, Asia and America. DRIP was originally an acronym for “Defect Recognition and Image Processing”. Although defect imaging is still the mainstream of this conference, image processing itself originated in the field of computer science and its contribution to this conference has lessened. It was felt that inclusion of the term “image processing” might distort the conference scope. Defect physics, in contrast, has recently become prevalent, for example, computer simulation of defect formation processes. We, therefore, refined DRIP to mean “Defects – Recognition, Imaging and Physics in Semiconductors“. For almost 30 years, DRIP has focused on all aspects of defects in semiconductors including point, line, planar and volume defects studied by a variety of techniques. This comprehensive approach has allowed for a discussion of the multifaceted effects of growth, processing and device fabrication and their interrelationships.