From 1997 to October 2018, the chair was leaded by Prof. Dr. Eckhard Beyer. At the same time, he was also director of Fraunhofer IWS in Dresden. The chair is currently being updated, since its denomination will change. Since 2023, Prof. Andrés Lasagni is responsible for the chair (on a provisional basis), and the laser topics have been migrated to the Chair of Laser-based Manufacturing. Prof. Lasagni received his MSc degree in Chemical Engineering from National Comahue University, Argentina (2002) and his PhD degree in Materials Science from Saarland University, Germany (2006).

The Chair of Laser and Surface Technology is currently being finalised. Focus on laser research is now performed at the Chair of Laser-based manufacturing, under the supervision of Prof. Andrés Lasagni. Further information can be found at his homepage.

The chair works closely with different institutions around the world and Germany. In Dresden, we are strongly cooperating with the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS in research and training. For instance, both TU Dresden and IWS offer together the International Summer School "Trends and new developments in Laser Technology" since 2012.