The recent INVEST Conference in Bremen, Germany, discussed the scientific research goals of IODP in the decade beyond 2013. This paper provides a brief report of the conference, and introduces five scientific frontiers to be addressed by the future IODP, namely: Interactions between the Earth′s deep and surface, hot-house climate, deep biosphere and carbon cycling, observatory system, Earth and human. The specific features of IODP in its new stage are also discussed.