39th Bled eConference
CO-CREATING HUMAN-CENTRED AND
RESPONSIBLE DIGITAL FUTURES
June 7 – June 10, 2026 | Bled, Slovenia
Latest News
Happy holidays
From the Bled eConference team, we wish you all a very happy and healthy holiday season.
We hope you have plenty of time to rest, recharge and spend with your family and friends.
Our team will be taking some time off work. We’ll be back fresh after the new year to open the paper submission.
Until then, maybe peek at our call for papers. 😉
Research for Impact proceedings
RIDI workshop proceedings are published!
The Research for Impact in Digital Innovation proceedings with the abstracts are published.
The proceedings are available at: RIDI proceedings
Concluding remarks on the 38th Bled eConference
Concluding remarks on the 38th Bled eConference
Dear Friends,
We are pleased to announce the successful conclusion of the 38th Bled eConference.
Since Sunday, we have had the privilege of engaging with a wealth of inspiring presentations and thought-provoking discussions under this year’s theme: “Empowering Transformation: Shaping Digital Futures for All.”
The conference commenced with the Doctoral Consortium, where six PhD candidates presented their research projects and received valuable feedback from an international panel of experts.
The official opening session on Monday featured two outstanding keynote addresses.
Simon Delakorda emphasized the importance of democratic participation, human rights, and inclusive public policy in ensuring that digital transformation serves societal well-being—not just economic growth.
Henderik A. Proper explored the role of architectural coordination in the development of digital twins, addressing the socio-economic sustainability of digital innovation within broader information system ecosystems.
The opening continued with a compelling panel discussion on the evolving paradigm of data spaces—examining them from technological, sustainability, and humanistic viewpoints.
Over the course of three days, the conference hosted presentations of 44 full research papers and 6 research-in-progress papers, spanning a wide range of contemporary topics: Digital Health, Digital Education, Digital Consumer, AI & Data Science, Decision Analytics, Business Models, Digital Transformation of Public Services, Smart Sustainable Cities, Restructured Work, Digital Ethics and others.
We are proud to announce this year’s Outstanding Paper Awards:
“Towards a Unified Taxonomy for Digital Assistant Technologies: Addressing the Jingle-Jangle Fallacies” – Authors: Niklas Preiß (Sheffield Hallam University / Munich Business School) and Markus Westner (OTH Regensburg, Germany)
“AI-based Business Model Innovation: A ChatGPT Integration Approach” – Authors: Florian Bongard and Jürgen Moormann (Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, Germany)
The Outstanding Reviewer Award was presented to John van Meerten from HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, The Netherlands.
This year’s Student Bazaar featured three international student teams from Slovenia and the Netherlands, who presented innovative ideas and prototypes. The jury and public vote unanimously selected this year’s winner of the René W. Wagenaar Student Bazaar: Jumiclusion – An Application to Improve Employment Opportunities for Persons with Special Needs in Slovenia, developed by Tamara Belec from the University of Maribor, Faculty of Organizational Sciences.”
Congratulations to all award recipients!
The conference also featured several high-impact workshops and events that enriched the program and fostered meaningful dialogue: Research for Impact in Digital Innovation, Strengthening the Ecosystem for Sustainable Student Mobility, and ForeDanube: Foresight for the Danube Region’s Future.
We extend our heartfelt thanks to all keynote speakers, authors, reviewers, track chairs, panelists, discussants, and participants for their valuable contributions and engagement. Your dedication and feedback continue to strengthen the Bled eConference community.
In the coming days, we will be sharing photos and highlights from the event on our website and social media channels.
We wish everyone a safe journey home and look forward to welcoming you again from 7 to 10 June 2026, here in beautiful Bled.
With sincere appreciation,
The Bled eConference Team
Conference proceedings are published!
As of today, the conference proceedings from the 38th Bled eConference are published and available through open access.
You can find the proceedings here: 38th Bled eConference: Empowering Transformation: Shaping Digital Futures for All: Conference Proceedings
Plenary Panel: European Data Spaces – Building a Fair and Inclusive Data-Driven Society and Economy
Plenary panel:
European Data Spaces – Building a Fair and Inclusive Data-Driven Society and Economy
European Data Spaces – Building a Fair and Inclusive Data-Driven Society and Economy
The European Data Strategy and the recently adopted Data Act, as part of the broader regulatory framework including the GDPR and the Data Governance Act, are transforming the way data is shared, governed, and used across sectors in the EU. Together, these regulations aim to establish a single European data market and promote the development of common European data spaces that ensure accessibility, interoperability, and data sovereignty.
Over the past two decades, the re-use of data—including open, proprietary, and IoT-generated data—has become a foundational pillar of the digital economy. However, practical challenges remain businesses and public institutions still struggle with the implementation of data-sharing obligations, participation in data ecosystems, and the development of sustainable, trusted, and fair business models.
This panel will explore how European data spaces can serve as enablers of a more just, inclusive, and trustworthy data society and economy.
For more information, please see the following link: Plenary Panel
Join us at the Bled eConference on Monday, June 9th, at 11:00 AM.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Strenghtening the Ecosystem for Sustainable Student Mobility Workshop
SuMoS – Strengthening the Ecosystem for Sustainable Student Mobility
Strengthening the Ecosystem for Sustainable Student Mobility
 |
|
The SuMoS Project – Strengthening the Ecosystem for Sustainable Student Mobility, co-funded by the Erasmus+ program (KA220-HED – Partnerships for Cooperation in Higher Education), aims to enhance the institutional framework for strategic, structured, and sustainable collaboration between higher education institutions in the field of student mobility. This will be achieved through the development and purposeful use of green practices, digital tools, and curriculum comparison approaches.
Partners from five European countries have laid the foundations for the Institutional Student Mobility Ecosystem (ISME). To further develop and expand this ecosystem, workshops will be organized in each partner country, bringing together key stakeholders, including Vice-deans for International Cooperation, International Relations Officers and practitioners, Erasmus Coordinators, and academic advisors. The goal of these workshops is to exchange experiences, discuss challenges in student mobility, and foster collaboration and innovative solutions.
Join us at the Bled eConference on Tueseday, June 10th, at 10:30 AM.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Important
About conference
Bled eConference has been shaping electronic interactions since 1988. Small supportive community offers the opportunity to benefit from expertise of esteemed researchers. It attracts speakers and delegates from business, government, information technology providers and universities and is the major venue for researchers working in all aspects of digital transformation.
The conference venue is the Alpine village of Bled, 30 km south of the Austrian border – one of the most beautiful spots imaginable. Expect to learn and play and come away feeling that you have achieved more than you normally would at any conference.
With fresh ideas and complementary themes we would like to establish a creative environment for researchers, government, industry/business representatives and technology providers and an attractive meeting point for discussing new R&D and project ideas, also in the spirit of Horizon 2020.
- a fully-refereed Research Track, devoted to researchers in all aspects of digital transformation;
- Doctoral Consortium, offering students to present their ongoing master’s and PhD study results;
- ePrototype Students Bazaar, offering students opportunities to present innovative e- or m-Business or IoT 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.