ECAL 2013, the twelfth European Conference on Artificial Life, presents the current state of the art of a mature and autonomous discipline collocated at the intersection of a theoretical perspective (the scientific explanations of different levels of life organizations, e.g., molecules, compartments, cells, tissues, organs, organisms, societies, collective and social phenomena) and advanced technological applications (bio-inspired algorithms and techniques to building-up concrete solutions such as in robotics, data analysis, search engines, gaming).This volume contains research by leading scientists in the field, from fifty different countries and five continents, and describes an impressive array of results, ideas, technologies and applications, including such new and exciting tracks as Adaptive Hardware & Systems and Bioelectronics, Adaptive Living Material Technologies & Biomimetic Microsystems, Artificial Immune, Neural and Endocrine Systems, Artificial Immune Systems–ICARIS, Bioinspired Learning and Optimization, Bioinspired Robotics, Biologically Inspired Engineering, Evolvable Hardware, Evolutionary Electronics & BioChips, Foundations of Complex Systems and Biological Complexity, Mathematical Models for the Living Systems and Life Sciences, Music and the Origins and Evolution of Language, Programmable Nanomaterials, and Synthetic and Systems Biochemistry and Biological Control. This edition also highlights a more profound integration of concepts and ideas from life sciences, artificial intelligence, mathematics, engineering and computer science than have past volumes, as well as a greater integration between dry and wet lab biological results.This is an open access title from MIT Press: https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/advances-artificial-life-ecal-2013