Yesterday we concluded the 39th Bled eConference. Over 4 days, we listened to 82 research presentations in 16 Research, 2 Doctoral Consortium and 3 Research in Progress sessions. We attended a workshop on Research for Impact in Digital Innovation and listened to leading experts from Europe and beyond at 5 different panels; »Towards a Trusted European Data Economy: Regulation, Governance and Stakeholder Engagement«, »From AR to AI: Designing Innovative Next-Generation Learning Experiences«, »How AI, Analytics and Digital is Transforming Healthcare Delivery«, »Research for Impact in Digital Innovation«, »Why Should We Care About Virtual Worlds and Web 4.0?«, and attended a project dissemination meeting for AI2SEP project.
On Monday, conference participants were welcomed and addressed by our conference chairs, Prof. Dr. Andreja Pucihar and Prof. Dr. Mirjana Kljajić Borštnar from University of Maribor, Faculty of Organizational Sciences in Slovenia, Newly Elected Rector of University of Maribor in Slovenia, Prof. Dr. Dean Korošak, and Prof. Dr. Polona Šprajc, the Dean of University of Maribor’s Faculty of Organizational Sciences in Slovenia.
Prof. Dr. Roger W. H. Bons from the Open Universiteit in the Netherlands set the tone for this year’s discussions with his keynote address »Data*Grow: From data to data-driven impact in high-tech horticulture«, presenting a case in which data sharing and data- and AI-driven vegetable production lead to more sustainable, efficient, and resilient production with reduced consumption of energy, water, pesticides, and labour.
This year we awarded 2 outstanding research papers and 3 outstanding reviewers. Awarded papers in 2026 are »Strategic Embedding of Responsible AI: Governance Architecture and Hybrid Human–AI Value Creation«, authored by Valtteri Tomminen, Matti Leppäniemi, Tiina Kemppainen & Lauri Frank from University of Jyväskylä in Finland, and »Towards Agentic Personal Health and Organizational Domain Coordination in Occupational Nutrition«, authored by Kevin Nils Röhl, Rainer Alt & Jan Wirsam from HTW Berlin, University of Applied Science & Leipzig University in Germany.
Our outstanding reviewers for 2026 are Alinda Kokkinou from Breda University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands; Ina Jäger from Technical University of Munich in Germany, and Valmir Bekiri from Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland.
Overall, the 39th Bled eConference was a fast-paced event. Along with the reunion with our long-standing members, we welcomed many new participants to the eBled family, had plenty of engaging discussions, and a lot of fun along the way. For us from the organising team, it felt like it was over in a blink of an eye.
A great thank you – to all our authors, reviewers, program committee members and guest speakers for all your help in creating a great conference.
We hope that you will join us again in 2027, for the special 40th edition of the Bled eConference.
Andreja, Mirjana and Doroteja
P.S. In the spirit of co-creating, please fill out this survey about 39th Bled eConference.
