The 20th International Conference on Practical Applications of Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (PAAMS) and the concurrent conferences DCAI, ISAMI, MIS4TEL, PACBB, DECON and BLOCKCHAIN organised by the BISITE Research Group have proven to be a resounding success. The event was held from 13 to 15 July at the University of L’Aquila, Italy, and was attended by more than 200 researchers, developers and academics from different parts of the world, who participated online and in person.

The plenary sessions were hosted by Tiziana Catarci, professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the Sapienza University of Rome (Italy), Hugues Bersini, co-director of the IRIDIA laboratory at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium) and Juan Manuel Corchado, director of the BISITE Research Group and president of the AIR Institute, who inaugurated the congress and gave a talk entitled “Intelligence 5.0: the human being at the centre of the production chain”.

During the talk, Corchado spoke about Artificial Intelligence, the evolution of intelligent computer systems and the current trend in the use of AI, which is moving towards the development of sophisticated social machines, in which humans are part of the decision-making process of AI algorithms. He also presented some of the projects that are being developed both at BISITE and AIR Institute, in order to showcase all that we have developed thanks to AI and other technologies such as Blockchain, Internet of Things or Cybersecurity.

We share with you a video of Juan Manuel Corchado’s presentation.

About PAAMS Conference

PAAMS is an international forum that brings researchers together every year to present and discuss the latest scientific advances and their effective applications in the field of multi-agent systems, as well as to facilitate technology transfer. PAAMS started as a local initiative, but has since grown to become an annual international platform for presenting, discussing and disseminating the latest developments and most important results related to real-world applications. PAAMS is currently ranked B2 by CAPES Qualis CC-Events and B by CORE Ranking.

As every year, we have had many fascinating presentations that have allowed us to learn about the latest developments in Multiagent Systems, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, economics or bioinformatics. The next year’s conference will be held at the University of Minho, Guimarães, Portugal, and we hope to continue bringing together leading specialists to discuss and contribute innovative ideas in the fields of research featured both in PAAMS and in the joint conferences.

Posted by Juan M. Corchado

Juan Manuel Corchado (15 May 1971, Salamanca, Spain) is Professor at the University of Salamanca. He has been Vice-Rector for Research from 2013 to 2017 and Director of the Science Park of the University of Salamanca. Elected as Dean of the Faculty of Science twice, he holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Salamanca and a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from the University of the West of Scotland. He leads the renowned BISITE (Bioinformatics, Intelligent Systems and Educational Technology) Research Group, created in 2000. Director of the IoT Digital Innovation Hub and President of the AIR Institute, J. M. Corchado is also Visiting Professor at the Osaka Institute of Technology since January 2015, Visiting Professor at the Universiti Malaysia Kelantan and Member of the Advisory Group on Online Terrorist Propaganda of the European Counter Terrorism Centre (EUROPOL). J. M. Corchado has been president of the IEEE Systems, Man and Cybernetics Society, and academic coordinator of the University Institute for Research in Art and Animation Technology at the University of Salamanca, as well as researcher at the Universities of Paisley (UK), Vigo (Spain) and the Plymouth Marine Laboratory (UK). He currently combines all his activity with the direction of Master programmes in Security, Digital Animation, Mobile Telephony, Information Systems Management, Internet of Things, Social Media, 3D Design and Printing, Blockchain, Z System, Industry 4.0, Agile Project Management, and Smart Cities & Intelligent Buildings, at the University of Salamanca and his work as editor-in-chief of the journals ADCAIJ (Advances in Distributed Computing and Artificial Intelligence Journal), OJCST (Oriental Journal of Computer Science and Technology) or Electronics MDPI (Computer Science & Engineering section). J. M. Corchado mainly works on projects related to Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Blockchain, IoT, Fog Computing, Edge Computing, Smart Cities, Smart Grids and Sentiment Analysis. He has recently been included in the board of trustees of the AstraZeneca Foundation, along with other health professionals and researchers recognised for bringing scientific knowledge closer to society.