We closed the 2022 with this sentence: “Sadly, we witnessed the beginning of another war. Let’s hope for a peaceful 2023, with no wars, no conflicts, no suffering”. It is hard to celebrate another year of RILEM successful events and remarkable publications knowing that Ukraine, the Palestinian territories, Sudan, and many more countries, are experiencing the devastation of war. It is because of the devastation of the second world war that RILEM was founded 76 years ago: the directors of the main laboratories in construction materials around the world joined forces to advance free-access scientific knowledge related to construction materials and to facilitate the reconstruction of what the war destroyed. Miserably, the world is experiencing again the same problems. We stand united in our unwavering support for all the victims and take comfort in the friendship and collegiality that RILEM offers to its community. We experienced these warm feelings during the main two RILEM events in 2023: the 2023 RILEM Spring Convention in March in Rabat, Morocco, and the 77^th Annual Week in September in Vancouver, Canada. In 2023, TAC approved the establishment of 5 new Technical Committees, 2 in March and 3 in September. Please, read here if you wish to join any of the RILEM TCs!  The RILEM TC members have been busy. You can check the latest RILEM publications here. RILEM Technical Letters has published 10 papers so far, included in Volume 8 (2023), all available in open access, amongst which the papers of the 2023 Colonnetti Medallists. Materials and Structures has published around 184 papers, many of which are open access, like the RILEM recommendations. The ROC&TOK series have been as successful as always, releasing 11 webinars in 2023; the recordings are all available on the RILEM YouTube Channel. Also the RILEM Youth Council (RYC) Peer-to-peer webinars have been very well attended. The RYC launched a new series of online events: the Pacific Webinar series. Two events have been offered in 2023, the recordings of which are all available here! In 2023 RILEM has secured new partnerships, like, for instance, the one with NEx, an ACI Center of Excellence for Nonmetallic Building Materials, and renewed the collaborations with old partners. We will catch up with many friends and colleagues in April in Milan, Italy, for the 2024 RILEM Spring Convention and later on, in August, in Toulouse, France, for the 78^th RILEM Annual Week. RILEM wishes everyone a serene festive period!