A report on the proceedings of Springer 1st International Conference on Frontiers of Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, and Multidisciplinary Applications

Springer 1^st International Conference on Frontiers of Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, and Multidisciplinary Applications (FAIEMA 2023), co-organized by the Department of Digital Industry Technologies of the NKUA’s School of Science,concluded with great success. The conference was held in person on Monday, 25, and Tuesday, 26 September 2023, in Athens, at the ‘Ioannis Drakopoulos’ Amphitheatre and the ‘Kostis Palamas’ Hall of NKUA.

Professor Ioannis Emmanouil, Dean of the School of Science at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), opened the proceedings of the conference.

Also participating in the organization of the conference were the University of Stavanger (Norway), Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering (Norway), the Norwegian Artificial Intelligence Research Consortium (NORA.ai – Norway), the University of Klagenfurt (Austria), the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (India), Utrecht University (The Netherlands), Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (Norway), AI Catalyst (Greece), Hugging Face, and Simplifai AS (Norway).

Sponsoring the conference were the Norwegian Artificial Intelligence Research Consortium (NORA.ai), the AixTech Group of the University of Stavanger, and Simplifai AS.

The conference aimed to focus on:

1. The latest scientific developments in AI and machine learning methods,
2. All modern technologies that are closely linked to and interact with AI,
3. A wide range of AI applications (such as those in the field of technology, economic sciences, biomedical sciences, education, and digital humanities), and
4. Ethical dilemmas arising out of the influence of AI on society.

Researchers from 21 countries submitted original research papers. Every paper went through a full-text review process, with the number of accepted papers amounting to 35 (representing a 50% acceptance rate). The research papers presented at the conference—and that Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd will publish as an edited book volume—revolved around the thematic areas below:

1. AI and Machine Learning
2. Optimization and Forecasting
3. Automatic Control
4. Robotics
5. AI and Society
6. AI Applications

Additionally, as part of the conference, eminent scientists and representatives of major companies active in the scientific areas covered by it gave the following speeches:

1. Tomasz Wiktorski (Data Operations Manager, Aker BP ASA, Norway): ‘Leveraging DataOps to Enable Data-Driven Industry’,
2. Marianne Lie Howard (Director – Technology Law, Deloitte, Norway): ‘A Europe for the Digital Age: EU AI Act’,
3. Dimitrios Botsis (Innovation Manager, Member of iQnovus Τeam, Uni Systems): ‘AI-Driven Predictive Maintenance: Enhancing Reliability and Productivity in Industry 4.0’,
4. Ulysse Côté-Allard (Co-Founder and CEO at SiFi Labs, Associate Professor of Cybernetics and Autonomous Systems, University of Oslo, Norway): ‘AI Frontiers: Biosignals From Health to Industry’,
5. Nalinaksh Vyas (Chairman – Technology Mission for Indian Railways (TMIR), Ministry of Railways, India): ‘Deep and Shallow-Parallel Convolution Networks for Health Monitoring of Rotating Machinery’,
6. Georgios Karamanolis (Co-Founder & CTO/CIO, Crowdpolicy & FintelioX, Greece): ‘AI Journey in Greece, Ecosystem, Challenges, and Opportunities’,
7. Stefanos Kollias (Professor at the National Technical University of Athens, GRNET Chairman, Advisory Board Member AI Catalyst, Greece): ‘Artificial Intelligence and the Greek Innovation Ecosystem’, and
8. Fotis Koumboulis (Professor of Robotics and Industrial Automation, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece): ‘Industrial Control in the Step-Wise Safe Switching Framework’.