The International Workshop on Hybrid Metaheuristics reached its third edition with HM 2006. The active and successful participation in the past editions was a clear indication that the research community on metaheuristics and related areas felt the need for a forum to discuss speci?c aspects of hybridization of metaheuristics. The selection of papers for HM 2006 consolidated some of the mainstream issues that have emerged from the past editions. Firstly, there are prominent examples of e?ective hybrid techniques whose design and implementation were motivated by challenging real-world...