CALL FOR PAPERS

The Bled eConference has been shaping electronic interactions since 1988. Implementation of novel information technologies leads enterprises and governments towards digital transformation. Digital transformation will not be successful if sustainable aspects of human and social development will not be considered. European Commission emphasizes that in the future, competitiveness will be dependent on the ability to move towards sustainability, resource-efficiency and the ability to exploit the advantages of digital technologies. In the context of digital society, implementation of digital technologies and novel solutions to achieve higher efficiency, effectiveness and competitive advantage is insufficient. Society calls for different economic models; more responsible, righteous and less exploitative. Digital technologies should be used to implement and design business models, which will be sensitive for sustainable development in all aspects – economic, environmental and social (triple bottom line).  The community of Bled eConference aims to remain an active contributor in shaping economic and social growth, with environmental sensibility and thus raising the well-being of citizens around the world.

• A small supportive community offers the opportunity to benefit from the expertise of esteemed researchers;
• A fully-refereed Research Track and research in progress track, devoted to researchers in all aspects of digital transformation;
• Doctoral Consortium, offering students to present their ongoing masters and PhD study results;
• ePrototype Students Bazaar, offering students opportunities to present innovative e- or m-Business or Internet of Things ideas, models, prototypes and apps;
• A Business and Government Panel Track which attracts eminent business and government leaders from Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific;
• Business, Government and Academic Workshops and Meetings offering unparalleled opportunities to discuss share and learn with colleagues from around the world;
• EU projects dissemination meetings; enabling project partners to connect with other similar projects and to disseminate results to a wider community.

Bled’s highlights:

• The conference is shaping electronic interactions since 1988
• Strong relationships and cooperation with journals
• Coaching of doctoral students – Doctoral Consortium and Graduate Students ePrototype Bazaar
• Research in progress and poster presentations
• Special interest tracks (besides the regular track)

We invite submissions in all areas of research, teaching, and business related to the Digitial Economy and Society with special emphasis on digital transformation.

Submitted papers should make a significant contribution to theory, knowledge, and practice in the areas of information management, information systems, information technology, and information resources management. Papers based on both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies, in all traditional as well as new areas of Management Information Systems, Business Informatics, Computer Science, or Technology Management are accepted.

Conference chair: Andreja Pucihar, University of Maribor, Slovenia

Conference co-chair: Mirjana Kljajić Borštnar, University of Maribor, Slovenia

37th bled eConference Research track chair: Marikka Heikkilä, University of Turku, Finland

36th Bled eConference Research track chair: Guido Ongena, HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, Netherlands

35th bled eConference Research track co-chair: Anand Sheombar, HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, Netherlands

34th bled eConference Research track co-chair: Helen Cripps, Edith Cowan University, Australia

We encourage authors to submit papers related to the conference theme or the parts that build the Digital Economy and Society, including:  Digital Transformation I eInnnovations I Security & Privacy I Future of Work I Internet of Things I IoT I Big Data I Business Analytics I Business Intelligence I eAnalytics I Open data I Digital Services I Blockchain I Business and Organizational Models I Digital Business Models I AI I BI I Data Science I eCollaboration I Social Media I eCommerce I eBusiness I Interorganizational Systems I eMarketplaces & Communities I Mobile Value Services I Cloud Computing I eHealth & mHealth I Digital Wellness & Wellbeing I Sustainability I Sustainable Development I Smart Cities I Smart Regions I Sustainable Digitial Economy and Society I Smart Communities I eSociety I eParticipation I eLearning 2.0 & eEducation I eSMEs I Industry 4.0 I eLiving Labs I eCollaboration I eRegions I eTourism I eDependency I eTrust I ePrivacy I any other aspect of “e” under the General track.

In addition to that we offer Special interest tracks, that include:

• Digital Health
• Digital Ethics
• Twin transition / Digital for Sustainability
• AI & Data Science
• Digital Education
• Smart Sustainable Cities
• Business Models, Digital Consumer
• Digital Transformation of the Public Sector
• Decision Analytics for Business and Societal Challenges
• Restructured Work and Future Work via Digital Transformation
• Research in Progress.

Digital Health (Track Co-Chairs: Nilmini Wickramasinghe, Swinburne University of Technology and Epworth HealthCare, Australia and Juergen Seitz, Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University, Germany):

In 2020 the world was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.  During this pandemic the role of digital health, its benefits, potentials and opportunities to extend and support any time, anywhere care delivery became apparent like never before. Now as we return to a new normal, patients and clinicians alike have new expectations and opinions about digital health. We want to unpack the impacts, implications and lessons learned about these digital transformations around healthcare delivery. In particular, we focus on the role that e- and m- technologies can play in finding the balance between societal costs on the one hand and the empowerment and well-being of citizens/patients on the other. Moreover, we look at all healthcare stakeholders and how technology changes their role. Key questions to explore include: Can we find ways to organize healthcare closer to patients’ needs, which are also of high quality, less intrusive, and at lower costs? How is digitization changing healthcare processes? Can data analytics, the Internet of Things, and quantified self-help in this effort? Does digitization of healthcare mean loss of personalisation and the human touch? And how do we safeguard that the data are not abused?

Digital Ethics (Track Co-Chair:  Roger Bons, Open University, the Netherlands, Johan Versendaal, HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht and Open University of the Netherlands, Netherlands and Koen Smit, HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, The Netherlands)

Technology is not neutral. Human and public values are, in many ways, embedded in digital product and service design. The design of digital technologies and its implementation have implicit and explicit effects on its users, developers, and all its stakeholders. Apps may nudge you in a certain direction, default options may show provider preferred choices, and large text files can obscure what is really the message when, e.g. accepting cookies and approving forward license agreements. Applications of Artificial Intelligence may easily violate stakeholder values, such as the usage of privacy-sensitive data, usage of incomplete and biased training sets resulting in unexpected decisions, a tendency of ossification, and more. In addition, (post-)pandemic times may easily propagate a ‘more pragmatic approach’ to being ethical. At the same time GDPR, the AI act and other legislation increasingly protect organizations consumers and citizens; also the field of Digital Ethics shows that carefully taking an ethical perspective can increase citizen inclusion, democracy, autonomy, and other values. Value-sensitive design and implication analysis of technology increasingly receive attention. However, many questions on how to optimize the ethical perspective in digital technology design and implementation remain to be investigated and researched. This track invites submissions of research papers on matters like (yet not limited to):

• Exploratory research on the ethical perspective of digital technology implementation and digital transformation
• Methods, tooling, and techniques (such as Value Sensitive Design) taking the ethical perspective into account
• Explanatory factors for ethically successful digital technology design and implementation
• A co-perspective on IS/IT scientific theory and the body of knowledge on ethics.

Twin Transition / Digital for Sustainability Track  (Track Co-Chairs: Anand Sheombar, HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, Netherlands & Tara Vester, HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, Netherlands

We invite submissions for the track on Twin Transformation, the synergetic integration of sustainability and digital transformation, also known as Twin Transition. This emerging field explores how digital technologies can drive sustainable practices and how sustainability goals can shape digital innovation and strategies. We seek original research, case studies, and theoretical papers that address the dynamic interplay between these two transformative forces. Topics of interest include but are not limited to organizational capabilities and/or skills for such transitions, the development of digital tools for sustainability (Green IT/IS), the impact of digital transformation on environmental, social, and economic sustainability, and the strategic management of twin transformation initiatives.

This track aims to advance our understanding of how organizations can leverage (sustainable) digital or Green IT/IS capabilities to achieve sustainable development goals and enhance their Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance.

Topics of interest in this track include, but are not limited to:

• How can digital technologies be leveraged to enhance the sustainability of the supply chains of organizations?
• What are the key challenges and opportunities in aligning digital transformation strategies with sustainability goals?
• How do digital innovations impact the environmental performance of organizations across different industries?
• What role do dynamic capabilities play in successfully implementing twin transformation initiatives?
• How can organizations measure and manage the impact of twin transformation on their ESG performance?

AI & Data Science (Track Co-Chair: Uroš Rajkovič, University of Maribor, Slovenia, Domen Mongus, University of Maribor, Slovenia)

Propelled by computational power, the availability of (big and unstructured) data, major advancements in machine intelligence, and unprecedented speeds at which analytics need to be generated and delivered, a wealth of new questions and opportunities arise in creating value for governmental bodies and businesses. As organizations transform into data and analytics-centric enterprises, more research is needed not only on the technical aspects of analytics such as data science algorithms, computing infrastructure but also on various other organizational issues in the business analytics context (e.g. managerial, strategic, leadership, data governance, and inter-organizational issues). For this track, we invite technical, theoretical, design science, pedagogical and behavioral research as well as novel implementations of data analytics & visualization for varied data (or sources) such as sensors or Internet of Things (IoT) data, text, multimedia, business operations, clickstreams, and user-generated content. We welcome papers examining a wide range of contexts including healthcare, security, energy, marketing, supply chain, technology, service, hospitality, education, transportation, fraud prevention, and the environment.

Possible business-oriented topics of submissions include, but are not limited to:

• Big Data and Business Transformation
• Innovative Artifacts for Business Analytics
• Data-Driven Business Modelling
• Data-Driven Process Mining and Innovation
• Data Strategy and Data Privacy
• Social and Ethical Issues in Big Data
• Social Impact of Data Science
• Competences in the Era of Big Data
• Data Science and Industry 4.0
• Big Data Applications / Innovations

Possible technical-oriented topics of submissions include, but are not limited to instantiations of:

• Data mining / Machine Learning / Deep Learning
• Process mining
• Data science
• Text & Multimedia analytics
• Social Network (Media) Analytics
• Real-time data analysis / Stream processing
• Internet of Things (IoT), Sensor data analytics
• Spatial data analysis / Visualization
• Open Data / Data Sets

Digital Education (Track Co-Chair: Matt Glowatz, University College Dublin, Ireland, and Esther van der Stappen, Avans University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands, Stan van Ginkel, HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, Netherlands):

Education has been changing as technology allows for many new possibilities. This change has been accelerated by both the Covid-19 pandemic – when a considerable share of education moved online – and the launch of openly accessible Large Language Models such as ChatGPT. New modes of learning and instruction emerged, such as the hybrid virtual classroom and personalised intelligent tutors allowing for learning independent of place and time. Meanwhile, education has been facing societal challenges related to motivation, accessibility, and wellbeing.

Many new students – though not all of them – enter educational institutions with highly developed digital skills. Part-time learning, continuous learning, and immediate-on-the-spot knowledge acquisition change the educational playground. Electronic learning platforms bring together practice, teachers, scholars, and students in one environment. On top of new approaches to learning and teaching, the digital society requires new knowledge, new technical and soft skills.

How does this change education, what are good practices, how can research and education come together in leveraging new models of learning and teaching? How can we adapt curricula of the old disciplines to the new reality and how do we create curricula for emerging disciplines? How do we create education in which technology effectively enhances and enriches human interaction?

We encourage research contributions on either or both the opportunities / challenges in digital, blended, and hybrid education.

Smart Sustainable Cities (Track Co-chair: Hans-Dieter Zimmermann, Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences, Campus St. Gallen, Switzerland, Pascal Ravesteijn, University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, Netherlands, and Matthias Baldauf, Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences, Campus St. Gallen, Switzerland )

The Smart City idea offers concepts and solutions for cities, communities, as well as regions to cope with current challenges occurring in the form of demographics, urbanization, climate change, resource crises, mobility challenges, global competition as well as open and participatory societies. While the early smart city concepts focused on technology first and foremost nowadays the citizens and their quality of life are the starting point for many activities. The track will focus on the utilization of any technology to contribute to the quality of life of citizens. Especially in European cities a rather small on average and often linked to further communities in a region, the track will focus on smart cities, communities as well as regions. Therefore, the track continues the eRegion tradition of the Bled eConference. We look forward to receiving papers addressing various issues of a smart city, such as strategies and frameworks, concrete solutions and cases, service and business models, benefits and challenges, as well as ethical challenges, covering all the various smart city dimensions from smart energy over smart mobility and sharing economy to smart governments and smart citizens, utilizing different methodological approaches.

Business Models (Track Co-Chair: Mirjana Kljajić Borštnar, University of Maribor, Slovenia,  Andreja Pucihar, University of Maribor, Slovenia and Doroteja Vidmar, University of Maribor, Slovenia)

Digital transformation and implementation of digital technologies affect current business models (BM) of enterprises and societies as well as enable the development of new disruptive business models. We invite qualitative and quantitative research papers addressing different fields of BM for example digital technologies affecting value creation, new product and service development and/or delivery, new ways of CRM, new types of networked business models, etc. We are also interested in BM innovation approaches, practices and tools used for BM innovation e.g. user involvement, open innovation, customer centered design.

Digital Consumer (Track Co-Chair: Marjeta Marolt, University of Maribor, Slovenia, and  Hans-Dieter Zimmermann, Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences, Campus St. Gallen, Switzerland, Helen Cripps, School of Business and Law, Edith Cowan University, Australia)

The advancements of digital technology enable consumers to gain the necessary information to weigh their options before making a purchase decision. Through their smartphones and other devices, consumers can find the best brands, customer reviews, and pricing among others. The active consumers also voluntarily share and co-create experiences collectively with other actors with shared interests. This means that firms need to keep up with the best techniques if they want to acquire new and retain existing consumers. More specifically, the firms need to follow the consumer decision-making process, provide greater service customisation and personalisation and engage consumers in value co-production and co-creation processes. Thus, this research track aims to explore the role of smart consumers in digital strategies and digital transformation processes. We welcome different methodological approaches and look forward to receiving papers addressing various issues related, but not limited to:

• Consumer purchase decision-making process identification and tracking challenges
• Firm-initiated engagement activities that foster consumer co-production
• Dynamic roles played by consumers in the value co-creation process
• New models for smart service automation, combining data, analytical components, and physical infrastructure in unique customer offerings
• Application of conversational interfaces in the purchase process

Digital Transformation of the Public Sector (Track co-chairs: Guido Ongena, HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, Netherlands Tina Jukić, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Public Administration, Art Alishani, Tartu University, Estonia)

The continuous digitization of the public sector plays a vital role in societal transformation. As an evolving and emerging trend, it’s crucial to highlight the integration of intelligent ICT and AI solutions within the public sector to improve both internal performance (e.g., more efficient processes) as well as external performance (e.g., better public services). This means that on the one hand, governmental bodies on different levels explore novel technologies. On the other hand, public values should be maintained while this transforming government continues. ICT can and does have positive and negative transformational impacts on public values (Bannister & Connolly, 2014). Considering the latter, among other features, there is a fundamental difference in the nature of the public and private sectors. In the information systems discipline, e-government occupies a distinct niche encompassing both practical and theoretical significance.

Topics of interest in this track include, but are not limited to:

• Information and Data Governance in the Digital Public Sector: strategies and frameworks for effectively managing, protecting, and sharing information and data within government entities to ensure accuracy, security, and compliance with regulations.
• Digital Twins for Urban Planning and Infrastructure Management: application of digital twin technology in urban planning and managing public infrastructure, exploring how digital replicas of physical assets can enhance decision-making, maintenance, and sustainability efforts.
• Impact of Digital Transformation on Public Values and Trust: how the digital transformation of public services influences and shapes public values such as trust, transparency, accountability, and fairness, and analyze the factors that contribute to the success or failure of aligning digital initiatives with these values.
• Impact of Digital Governance on Citizen Engagement: how digital tools and platforms influence citizen participation in government processes and decision-making, and assess the effectiveness of these technologies in enhancing transparency and accountability.
• Digital Inclusion and Accessibility in Public Services: how digital transformation efforts can inadvertently lead to the exclusion of marginalized populations due to limited access to technology, and devise strategies to ensure that digital public services are accessible to all citizens.
• Artificial Intelligence and Automation in Public Administration: how AI and automation can optimize administrative processes, enhance decision-making, and streamline public service delivery while considering the ethical implications and potential job displacement.
• Digital Transformation and Organizational Change: challenges and opportunities associated with managing organizational change during the process of digital transformation in government agencies, including resistance to change and strategies for fostering a digital culture.
• Open Data Initiatives and Civic Innovation: the impact of open data policies on fostering innovation in the public sector and empowering citizens, businesses, and researchers to develop new solutions and services using government-provided data.
• E-Government Interoperability and Integration: technical and policy challenges involved in integrating various e-government systems and services across different government departments, levels, and jurisdictions to provide seamless and coherent digital experiences for citizens.

Decision Analytics for Business and Societal Challenges (Track Co-Chairs: Christer Carlsson, Professor, Institute for Advanced Management Systems Research and Åbo Akademi University, Finland,  Mikael Collan, Professor, LUT School of Business and Management, Finland and Doug Vogel Professor, Harbin Institute of Technology, China):

The Decision Analytics (DA) Track welcomes papers that work out emerging managerial and organizational decision-making strategies, processes, tools, technologies, services and solutions in the Digital Age. For the Bled 2025 conference we want to address an emerging phenomenon in digital support of business processes – fast decision-making where timely decisions are claimed to be superior to optimal or best possible decisions. This is counter to research results in analytics from decision analysis over decision support systems to decision analytics. Papers are sought that address this anomaly and either support the notion that timely decisions are more important (“the fast eat the slow”) than optimal decisions or support the time-honoured position that best possible decisions are preferable (“if you have time to make bad decisions, you can use a bit more time to find an optimal decision”).

Possible areas where the anomaly can be found:

• Analytics and decision support – new mobile, digital technology for fast decision-making
• Big data and analytics – sense-making of large masses of data
• Analytics and heuristics for timely decisions as part of industry and business platforms
• Data-driven services in logistics – analytics in decisions “on-the-go”
• Digital mobile services for everyday life – finding the best possible service
• Digital services and service digitalization – optimal service choices vs. influencer advice
• Visual analytics for decision support – interpretation for fast managerial decisions
• Machine learning and predictive analytics – explainable problem-solving processes
• Soft computing problem-solving benefits – gaining timely relevance and fast decisions

Restructured Work and Future Work via Digital Transformation (Track Co-Chair: Axel Minten, German Coworking Association and FOM University of Applied Sciences, Germany, and Xander Lub, Hogeschool Utrecht, Netherlands)

The digital transformation is profoundly affecting the ways in which people contribute to societies, how they live and work, and the number and types of jobs available. While worries of widespread technological unemployment may be overstated, the impact of digital transformation on the nature of work and the skills required is very real and already upon us. Many new, productive, and rewarding forms of work and jobs are being created as part of the digital transformation, but at the same time, many jobs have disappeared, and more are likely to go in the future (Frey & Osborne, 2017). Also, the organization of work, workspace and leadership is changing in a significant way. Work constellations like coworking, remote work, home office and hybrid-mixtures between those become reality in many businesses and fields of work. But not all employees benefit from those changes. The often called New Work should be for everybody to support the human health at work. The impact of digitalization on the workforce depends on technological innovations and uptake of these new technologies but OECD estimates suggest that some 14% of workers face a high risk that their tasks will be automated. Another 32% face major changes in the tasks required in their job and, consequently, the skills they would need to do their job (Nedelkoska and Quintini, 2018). These workers will need to significantly adapt to succeed in the new digitally enabled work environment. In this track we invite contributions related to this re- and upskilling challenge. Possible topics include:

• What are new skills in this era of digital transformation?
• Who will benefit from new forms of work which became possible via digital transformation?
• How can we prepare employees for new jobs or changes to existing jobs?
• How can we engage employees to participate in understanding in what way their organization will change and how they can reconfigure their jobs?
• How do we navigate and manage the change process in the complexity of digital transformation?
• How do we need to rethink leadership, management and Organization?
• How can all parts of the workforce – also production, service and care-workers – participate in the transformation

Research in Progress (Track Chair: Anand Sheombar, HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, Netherlands, Venkata Marella, Open University, the Netherlands)

A part of the conference program will be dedicated to interactive presentations on visionary ideas, showcases and research-in-progress. Through short presentations (possibly enhanced with posters) delegates will be able to show their (preliminary) research and receive feedback in an interactive way. Authors will present their contributions as a part of the conference program. We invite submissions as short papers with possibly associated posters on topics related to the conference’s main theme and special interest themes. Accepted submissions will be enclosed in the proceedings as short papers.

Please see also other options for participation at the conference:

• Professor Rene W. Wagenaar ePrototype Bazaar
• Doctoral Consortium
• Business Panels Workshops and Meetings

Publications

All accepted papers will be published in the Conference Proceedings (CD with ISBN and CIP number and online).

We have secured partnership of the following journals:

• Electronic Markets – The International Journal on Networked Business,
• Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research
• International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology
• International Journal of Networking and Virtual Organisations
• International Journal of Organisation Design and Engineering
• Organizacija – Journal of Management, Informatics and Human Resources
• Journal of International Technology and Information Management

that may facilitate the publication of enhanced versions of further selected papers. Several “Special Issues” have resulted from Bled eConferences, giving the authors of selected papers ample opportunity to get rated publications as a direct and immediate result from being at Bled.

Author Guidelines for submission of Full Research Papers and Research-in-Progress Papers are available here.

More information: bledconference@um.si

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THE BLED eCONFERENCE: A LONG TRADITION

Since its very beginning, it has been a conference that focuses on relevance with rigour as the underpinning foundation for contributions. This has always made the conference an excellent podium for testing out new ideas and research in progress, for senior and junior researchers alike. Not mentioning the number of partnerships between researchers that have originated at Bled and led to fruitful cooperation.

Bled also has a long tradition of coaching young researchers and students. Doctoral Consortium has been on the program since the early 1990s with the ambition to help young PhD candidates to sharpen their research proposals and to help them find international colleagues working on similar themes.

Finally, another important reason for coming to Bled is its excellent location and facilities at and near the venue. Many professional and personal friendships originate from Bled, during one of the many social events or the morning run around the lake. We are eager to meet you in 2024 to participate in the truly unique experience that makes the Bled eConference.