Current problems in star formation and infrared surveys

Star forming regions and young stellar objects are well known to be strong sources of infrared radiation. Such objects will be among the conspicous targets in the upcoming NIR surveys. Therefore, these surveys promise important new information on various unsolved questions concerning the star formation process. Among the problems where significant progress can be expected are the environmental effects on star formation, the derivation of star formation efficiencies and star formation rates, and all questions related to the fragmentation process and the initial mass function. Moreover, the NIR surveys may also help identifying new examples of protostars and PMS objects for follow-up investigations of their physical structure.