Keynote Speakers

Francesco Flammini

IDSIA, Switzerland

Prof. Francesco Flammini received the Laurea (cum laude) in Computer Engineering (2003) and the Ph.D. in Computer Engineering (2006) from the University of Naples Federico II, Italy. He brings a rare combination of long-term industrial leadership and academic research in intelligent transportation systems, cyber-physical systems, and cybersecurity for safety-critical infrastructures. After completing his doctorate, he spent 15 years in public and private organizations— including Ansaldo STS (now Hitachi Rail) and IPZS (Italian State Mint and Polygraphic Institute)—leading large international programs in intelligent transportation, critical infrastructure protection, and cybersecurity, serving as technical leader and unit head. Since 2020, Prof. Flammini has been Full Professor of Computer Science (Cyber-Physical Systems) at Mälardalen University, Sweden, and Technical Manager of the EU-funded RAILS project on Artificial Intelligence for smart railways. He has also held academic leadership roles at multiple institutions, including as Professor of Trustworthy Autonomous Systems at SUPSI (Switzerland) with affiliation to IDSIA, where he led the Trustworthy Autonomous Systems research group and served as Program Director of the B.Sc. in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. He previously served as Senior Lecturer and Chair of the Cyber-Physical Systems environment at Linnaeus University (Sweden), and as Adjunct Professor at several universities, including the University of Maryland Global Campus Europe. He is also Full Professor at the University of Florence, contributing to the Resilient Computing Lab and the Computer Science Ph.D. steering board. Prof. Flammini is an IEEE Senior Member and an active volunteer leader across IEEE societies, including the Intelligent Transportation Systems Society. He serves on the IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society Board of Governors as Associate Vice President for Members and Student Activities and chairs the IEEE SMC Technical Committee on Homeland Security. He has also served as Vice-Chair of the IEEE Computer Society Italy Chapter. He is an IEEE Computer Society Distinguished Visitor and an ACM Distinguished Lecturer. He has (co)authored 200+ publications and has served in leadership roles (chair, invited speaker, steering/program committee member, editor) for 50+ international conferences, books, and journals. He has been PI/technical manager and WP/task leader in 15+ research projects (largely EU-funded) and also serves as an expert evaluator for research agencies. He has supervised 10+ Ph.D. students as primary advisor and co-supervised 20+.

Keynote Title: Towards Trustworthy Autonomous Systems: The Role of Modeling and Digital Twins for Safe Perception

Abstract: Trustworthy autonomy ultimately hinges on safe perception: autonomous decisions are only as reliable as the sensing and inference pipelines that support them, especially under disturbances, faults, and attacks, while meeting quantitative risk constraints typical of safety-critical domains. In this talk, trustworthy autonomy is framed as justifiable autonomy, i.e., the ability to sustain dependable service delivery as operating conditions change. The increasing adoption of AI/ML in perception brings domain-specific vulnerabilities (e.g., adversarial attacks and the accuracy–robustness trade-off) and makes Trustworthy and Explainable AI key design principles. The core message is that Model-Based Engineering and Digital Twins can provide a rigorous foundation to engineer and assure safe perception: Digital Twins are presented as predictive run-time models enabling continuous monitoring, planning, and safe reconfiguration, integrated into an autonomic MAPE-K loop and organized hierarchically across multiple system levels. A multi-sensor event-detection case study is discussed, combining redundant/heterogeneous sensor fusion with reputation mechanisms, supported by explainable probabilistic models such as Dynamic Bayesian Networks within the MAPE-K feedback loop. In the REXASI-PRO project, these concepts are applied to an assistive “wheelchair-drone” system for critical scenarios such as road crossing, highlighting how sensor fusion and autonomic adaptation improve robustness and safety of perception.

Gyu Myoung Lee

Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), UK

Gyu Myoung Lee is a professor at the Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), UK. He was affiliated with KAIST, Daejeon, Rep. of Korea, as an Adjunct Professor from 2012 to 2024. Before joining the LJMU in 2014, he worked at the Institut Mines-Telecom from 2008. Until 2012, he was invited to work at ETRI, Rep. of Korea. He worked as a research professor at KAIST, Rep. of Korea and as a guest researcher at NIST, USA, in 2007. His research interests include Internet of Things, digital twin, computational trust, blockchain with privacy preservation, data and AI governance, knowledge centric networking and services considering all vertical services, Smart Grid, energy saving networks, cloud-based big data analytics platform and multimedia networking and services. Prof. Lee has been actively participating in standardization meetings including ITU-T SG 13 and SG20, IETF and oneM2M, etc., and currently serves as a Working Party chair and the Rapporteur of Q16/13 on trustworthy networking and services and Q4/20 on data analytics, sharing, processing and management in ITU-T. He is the Vice-Chair of ITU-T FG-AINN as well as the Convenor of Web3-adhoc. He was also the chair of ITU-T Focus Group on Data Processing and Management (FG-DPM). He has contributed more than 500 proposals for standards and published more than 200 papers in academic journals and conferences.

Keynote Title: Agentic AI powered Decentralized Internet

Abstract: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) have long been recognised as foundational technologies shaping future digital society. Their convergence, often referred to as Artificial Intelligence powered Internet of Things (AIoT), has accelerated the deployment of intelligent, data-driven services across cyber–physical environments. At the same time, data has emerged as a strategic asset, underpinning not only AI-driven automation but also human-centric digital interactions and value creation. In parallel, blockchain technologies have introduced decentralised mechanisms for trust, transparency, and value exchange, challenging traditional, platform-centric Internet models. Against this backdrop, this talk examines the structural evolution of the Internet toward an Agentic AI powered Decentralized Internet, moving beyond technology-centric integration toward a paradigm-level transformation of digital ecosystems. Building on the concept of the Decentralized Internet, often associated with Web 3.0 or the Internet of Value, the talk explores how emerging ICTs such as AIoT and blockchain can be reinterpreted within a broader architectural shift, where autonomous AI agents become first-class entities that perceive, reason, coordinate, and act across distributed environments. Relevant initiatives, including EU-led efforts such as GAIA-X, are discussed as early steps toward data sovereignty and decentralised digital infrastructures. While decentralisation promises greater user-centric control over data, services, and value flows, recent research has highlighted significant challenges related to security, privacy, trust, and governance, particularly in highly distributed and heterogeneous systems. This talk argues that these challenges cannot be adequately addressed through conventional security or compliance mechanisms alone. To this end, the talk emphasises the necessity of establishing a trustworthy, Agentic AI-powered infrastructure for the Decentralized Internet. Starting from a new economic paradigm for cyberspace and data ecosystems, it explores how AI-based trust technologies, including intelligent trust management, decentralised and adaptive governance, autonomous policy enforcement, and automated assurance mechanisms, can structurally mitigate the risks and negative externalities introduced by decentralisation. Finally, the talk outlines future research directions toward realising a trustworthy, human-centric, and value-oriented Agentic AI powered Decentralized Internet, highlighting the need for architectural rethinking, interdisciplinary collaboration, and long-term vision to support the sustainable growth of the digital economy.

Bedir Tekinerdogan

Wageningen University

Professor Bedir Tekinerdogan is a computer scientist with over 30 years of experience in software engineering, systems engineering, and information technology. He earned his MSc and PhD degrees in Computer Science from the University of Twente, the Netherlands. He is currently a full professor and chair of the Information Technology Group at Wageningen University and Research. Professor Tekinerdogan is recognized among Stanford University’s World’s Top 2% Scientists, appearing in both the career-long and annual rankings, and placing in the top 0.2 percent globally in 2025. He has authored over 500 scientific publications and edited 15 academic books. As a principal researcher and lead architect, he has contributed to numerous large-scale industrial and research projects in domains including consumer electronics, automotive systems, critical infrastructures, cyber-physical and defense systems, precision agriculture, and energy systems. His work bridges theory and practice, with a strong focus on software and systems architecture, product line engineering, model-based systems engineering, data science, and AI-enabled systems. In addition to his research, he is a committed educator and mentor. He has designed and delivered more than 30 academic courses, provided professional training to over 50 companies worldwide, supervised more than 40 PhD students, and graduated over 100 MSc students. His work consistently emphasizes the development of engineers who can think beyond components and code, and who are equipped to design, integrate, and govern complex software-intensive systems.

Keynote Title: From Intelligent Components to Intelligent Systems: A Systems Thinking Approach

Abstract: The growing presence of intelligent systems in domains such as healthcare, mobility, agriculture, energy, and public infrastructure has changed the nature of engineering. The challenge is no longer to build isolated functionalities, but to shape complex socio-technical ecosystems. Although advances in artificial intelligence have greatly improved perception, prediction, and optimization, many deployed “smart” solutions still behave unintelligently at the system level. The problem is often not a lack of intelligence in individual components, but a lack of systems thinking in their engineering. This keynote examines current systems engineering challenges from a systems thinking perspective and discusses the integration of AI with classical systems engineering principles. Rather than treating AI as a module added to an existing structure, intelligence is viewed as a property that emerges from the coordinated behavior of the whole. Through illustrative cases, the talk highlights recurring failure patterns rooted in reductionistic development and shows how systemic design patterns can address them. The keynote concludes with implications for research and education: progress in intelligent systems depends less on training better models and more on designing better systems. A systems thinking perspective enables a shift from AI-enabled artifacts toward resilient, responsible, and truly intelligent ecosystems.

Fabio Paternò

Italian National Research Council (CNR-ISTI)

Fabio Paternò is Research Director at the Italian National Research Council (CNR-ISTI) in Pisa, where he leads the Laboratory on Human Interfaces in Information Systems (HIIS). He also teaches Interface Design and Usability Evaluation at the University of Pisa. A pioneer of Human-Computer Interaction in Italy, his research focuses on making intelligent systems understandable, controllable, and beneficial for people. His work spans human-centered artificial intelligence, smart environments, end-user development, accessibility, and human-robot interaction. He has contributed methods and tools for designing and evaluating interactive systems, including explainable automations, cross-device interfaces, and user-tailorable smart environments. He has coordinated numerous European and national interdisciplinary projects and promotes research that integrates AI innovation with human values, transparency, and societal impact. He has authored over 300 publications and has held leadership roles in major international HCI and intelligent interfaces conferences. Fabio is an ACM Distinguished Scientist, an IFIP Fellow, and a member of the SIGCHI Academy.

Keynote Title: From Smart Environments to Humanations: Designing Intelligent Digital Ecosystems People Can Understand and Shape

Abstract: Artificial intelligence is increasingly embedded in everyday environments populated by sensors, connected objects, and services. Applications range from smart homes and assistive technologies to industrial systems and social robots. While these intelligent ecosystems promise efficiency and personalisation, they often remain opaque, difficult to control, and poorly aligned with human values and everyday practices. This talk introduces the concept of humanations: human-understandable, controllable automations that enable people to shape intelligent behaviour rather than merely adapt to it. Building on research in human-computer interaction, end-user development, explainable AI, and intelligent environments, the talk presents design concepts and prototypes that foster transparency, intelligibility, and meaningful user control in real-world settings. Drawing on multiple research projects, also considering trigger-action automations in smart environments, explainable recommendations, and humanoid robots, the talk discusses how AI can become more accessible, trustworthy, and socially sustainable. It highlights participatory design approaches, mechanisms for detecting and resolving automation conflicts, activation chains, and related security and privacy issues, showing how multimodal interfaces and generative artificial intelligence can support human understanding and oversight. The talk concludes by outlining research challenges and opportunities for the next generation of intelligent systems, which should not simply act intelligently but empower people to understand, adapt, and co-create their behaviour. This human-centered vision aims to ensure that AI innovation translates into real societal benefits.