Daily Recap der IJCAI-ECAI 2026 und des Summer of AI in Bremen
Tuesday, 18 August, marked the official opening of the IJCAI-ECAI 2026 main conference.
After three days of workshops, tutorials and outreach events on the University of Bremen campus, the community moved into the Congress Centrum Bremen (CCB) for the start of the four-day technical programme, running through 21 August with 858 accepted papers out of 6342 full submission across the main track, special tracks, journal track, survey track and demonstrations track.The programme also features early career spotlight talks, demos, and competitions.
The mood shifted from the intimacy of the workshop rooms to the scale of a global gathering, as delegates from around the world filled the CCB for the Opening Ceremony.
The Opening Ceremony formally welcomed the IJCAI-ECAI 2026 community to Bremen, setting an inspiring tone for the week ahead.
Led by Conference Chair Francesca Toni, the event officially kicked off with a moment of solemn reflection. She led an in memoriam segment and a one-minute moment of silence to honor the great minds of AI who passed away in the past year: Joe Halpern, Tony Hunter, and Lin Padgham.
Following this tribute, the ceremony transitioned to welcoming remarks from key representatives of the local and regional support infrastructure. Dr. Alexandra-Gwyn Paetz delivered a brief welcome address on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space, emphasizing the impact of AI research and Germany's place in the AI universe.
On behalf of the third LAC Co-Chair, Frank Kirchner, Local Organizing Committee Chairs Tanja Schultz and Monika Michaelisconveyed a remote welcome message to the attendees of IJCAI-ECAI 2026, in which he expressed his sincere regret for being unable to attend in person.
Highlighting the host city's unique identity, both LAC co-chairs emphasized Bremen's transdisciplinary approach—combining scientific excellence with societal accountability—before introducing the conference program.
They made special mention of the upcoming Conference Banquet at the Weserstadion. Far from a typical conference banquet, the event features interactive live cooking stations and an exciting robot soccer match demo by B-Human, a 13-time world champion and 16-time regional titleholder in the RoboCup Humanoid Soccer League.
Adding to the civic pride, Dr. Andreas Bovenschulte, Prime Minister of the Free and Hanseatic City of Bremen, captured the significance of the moment:
“The IJCAI-ECAI is bringing one of the most distinguished international conferences on Artificial Intelligence to Bremen. The choice for Bremen as the location of this important event is an outstanding acknowledgement for our city as a centre of science and technology. It shows the impact of AI in research, economics and society, and is, furthermore, clear evidence of the excellent conditions Bremen offers to researchers and businesses today.”
With the city officially extending its welcome, attention turned to celebrating academic excellence.
President of the IJCAI Board of Trustees Kate Larson (University of Waterloo, Google DeepMind) took the stage to announce the major IJCAI Awards alongside their presentation slots.
Nicholas R. Jennings, Vice-Chancellor and President of Loughborough University, received the IJCAI 2026 Award for Research Excellence for “seminal contributions to the field of multi-agent systems, including algorithms for multi-agent coordination and the principles of human-agent teamwork, and for his pioneering applications of autonomous agents and multi-agent systems.”
Jiajun Wu of Stanford University was honoured with the IJCAI 2026 Computers and Thought Award for “foundational contributions across computer vision, generative AI, and robotics, uniting neural and symbolic representations to build machines that understand and interact with the physical world.”
David C. Parkes of Harvard University received the 2026 John McCarthy Award for “foundational contributions to the interface of AI and economics, specifically for pioneering algorithmic mechanisms that ensure efficiency, fairness, and incentive alignment in high-stakes multi-agent environments.”
And Christian Bessiere of the University of Montpellier was presented with the 2026 Donald E. Walker Distinguished Service Award, recognising his extensive service and contributions to the field throughout his career. In his welcome speech Christian Bessiere (CNRS, University of Montpellier), he describes his love story with IJCAI, which was not a love at first sight.
The celebration of excellence continued across partner organizations.
The president of the European Association for Artificial Intelligence EurAI, Holger Hoos (RWTH Aachen University) announced the winners of the EurAI Distinguished Service Award, awarded annually to two individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the European AI community.
The 2026 recipients are Jérôme Lang (CNRS) and Luc De Raedt (KU Leuven).
Sylvie Thiébaux (Australian National University & LAAS-CNRS, University of Toulouse), Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Artificial Intelligence Journal, then presented the coveted AIJ Awards.
The Prominent Paper Award recognizes outstanding papers published not more than 7 years ago in the AI Journal that are exceptional in their significance and impact. The Classic Paper Award recognizes outstanding papers published at least 15 calendar years ago in the AI Journal that are exceptional in their significance and impact.
The winners of the AIJ 2026 Classic Paper Award are: Sarit Kraus, Daniel Lehmann, Menachem Magidor for their paper:
Nonmonotonic reasoning, preferential models and cumulative logics.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0004370290901015
The winners of the AIJ 2026 Prominent Paper Award are: Samy Badreddine,Artur d'Avila Garcez,Luciano Serafini,Michael Spranger for their paper:
"Logic Tensor Networks":
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0004370221002009
On behalf of the Editors-in-Chief of JAIR, Holger Hoosreturned to announce the IJCAI-JAIR Award winners, and their presentation slots.
The 2026 IJCAI-JAIR Best Paper Prize goes to the paper
"The Computational Complexity of Understanding Binary Classifier Decisions" by Stephan Wäldchen, Jan Macdonald, Sascha Hauch, and Gitta Kutyniok.
The2026 IJCAI-JAIR Test of Time Award goes to the paper "SMOTE: Synthetic Minority Over-sampling Technique" byNitesh Chawla,Kevin Bowyer, Lawrence Hall, and Philip Kegelmeyer.
https://www.jair.org/index.php/jair/article/view/10302/24590
Bringing the opening proceedings to a close, IJCAI-ECAI 2026 Program Chair Diego Calvanese (University of Bozen-Bolzano) provided an overview of the IJCAI-2026 program, announcing the Distinguished Paper Prizes as well as the presentation slots for distinguished papers, invited speakers, and panels.
He emphasized:
“A quality-driven review process was maintained because we limited the number of submissions, also on behalf of PPI policy, and fantastic reviewers.”
— Diego Calvanese, IJCAI-ECAI 2026 Program Chair.
With the awards conferred and the roadmap for the week set, Francesca Toni returned to the podium to deliver the final closing words, officially declaring IJCAI-ECAI 2026 open.
Looking back on Monday’s fully booked public AI Lecture in the Bremen Parliament, Senator Henrike Müller, the Senator for Environment, Climate, and Science, reflected on why public engagement remains central to the conference:
“Artificial intelligence is already changing our everyday lives, which is why the discussion about it should not be limited to specialists and researchers. Through IJCAI-ECAI 2026’s public outreach programs, such as the AI Lecture, we are bringing international AI research directly into the urban community. Science thrives on open exchange: on clearly communicating the opportunities, being transparent about the limitations, and discussing how we can shape artificial intelligence responsibly.”
Agentic AI is one of the highly discussed topics of this year’s IJCAI-ECAI.
In his invited talk, “The Past, Present and Future of Agentic AI,” Professor Nicholas R. Jennings offered a clear and timely perspective on a field marked by both rapid progress and high expectations.
Jennings, Vice-Chancellor and President of Loughborough University, received the IJCAI-26 Award for Research Excellence for his seminal contributions to multi-agent systems, including coordination, human-agent teamwork and pioneering real-world applications of autonomous agents.
His lecture began with the present moment. Agentic AI, he noted, is seeing one of the most aggressive adoption curves among emerging technologies. At the same time, the field is at a “peak of inflated expectations.”
As he put it, only half in jest:
“The IT department of every company in the future will be the HR department of agentic AI.”
Jennings reminded the audience, is not new. It builds on decades of work on autonomous agents and multi-agent systems.
Jennings closed with a message to the research community: strong science depends on the interaction between theory and practice, is done in teams and requires persistence.
His final conclusion was clear: agentic AI is here to stay.
Luciano Serafini’s invited talk on Neuro-Symbolic AI and Logic Tensor Networks at IJCAI2026 ECAI2026 sparked so many great questions that attendees kept the conversation going long after he left the stage.
Celebrate Luciano Serafini and his co-authors— Samy Badreddine, Artur d'Avila Garcez, and Michael Spranger—as winners of the AIJ 2026 Prominent Paper Award for their groundbreaking work: "Logic Tensor Networks."
Read the award-winning paper: lnkd.in/d_7rRyym
IJCAI-ECAI 2026 keynotes are recorded, and the recording will be made available after tvhe conference on the conference website.
The traditional Diversity and Inclusion Lunch was held under the patronage of Bremen’s Prime Minister Andreas Bovenschulte at the historic Bremen Town Hall, providing a unique setting for the artificial intelligence responsibly and in a way that is firmly grounded in society. The D&I lunch was supported by the Alumni Association of the University of Bremen.
The networking reception of the Bremen senate in the exhibition at the Bremen booth offered entrepreneurs and company representatives from Bremen a focused opportunity to experience IJCAI-ECAI 2026 up close.
In exchanges with partners from academia, business, and politics, participants discussed current developments in artificial intelligence and explored possible connections for future cooperation.
The poster sessions gave companies direct insights into emerging AI applications and models, while the relaxed atmosphere created space for concrete conversations and new contacts.
Hans Georg Tschupke, Head of Department Industry, Innovation, Digital Transformation, the Senator for Economic Affairs, Ports and Transformation, welcomed guests:
“IJCAI-ECAI 2026 highlights what sets Bremen apart as an AI hub: strong research, innovative companies, and direct exchange between research and industry. This is where collaboration with real-world impact takes shape - creating real benefits for business and society.”
Björn Portillo, Chairperson of Bremen digitalmedia, co-organizer of the reception:
“As Bremen’s business association for the digital economy, Bremen digitalmedia, we are delighted to welcome IJCAI-ECAI to Bremen. The networking reception is a great opportunity for companies in Bremen to connect with academia and the research community. This exchange is especially valuable in times of rapid change and given the growing impact of artificial intelligence.”
For companies, the event also opened up new perspectives on how AI can be translated into practical applications.
Dr.-Ing. Hubertus Lohner, Lead Techno Centre ECOMAT, AIRBUS Operations said:
“Great to join the world-leading AI conference IJCAI in Bremen. It was a great opportunity for my colleagues and me to widen our AI network in Bremen and to learn more about the really impressive progress in AI research and development. We are looking forward to implementing some AI ideas in the aerospace projects supported by partners from the #ECOMAT network”
The reception made clear that the use of AI in business depends not only on technological progress, but also on concrete use cases and strong digital foundations.
Dr. Annegret Koehler-Werzner, Group Team Lead GBS Customer Journey and Digitalization resumed:
“The conversations reinforced my belief that sustainable digital transformation requires both standardized processes and a clear focus on developing meaningful use cases. This creates the right foundation for using AI where it can truly add value. At DMK/Arla Group, this is the approach we are taking to build a strong, digitally capable and self-reliant business function”
AI x Media: Reporting in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
Tuesday evening, the AI Lounge series kicked off at the Open Space am Domshof with AI x Media, the first of four public panel discussions running through the conference week, followed by AI x Administration, AI x Education and AI x Workplace.
From 17:30 to 18:30, media researcher Wiebke Loosen (Leibniz Institute for Media Research, Hans-Bredow-Institut), Frank Schulte (Radio Bremen), and Gabriela Molina León (Aarhus University) discussed how artificial intelligence is changing journalism – from authorship and editorial processes to the way audiences assess information.
They explored questions such as: Who is the author when texts, images or reports are generated with AI? And how can journalism maintain credibility in an age of increasingly sophisticated disinformation?
A key point from the discussion: Transparency builds trust.
When AI is used in journalism, it should be clear where, how, and for what purpose it is being used.
At the same time, AI remains a tool, not the newsroom – journalistic judgment, on-the-ground reporting, and responsibility for content remain firmly in human hands.
Another important aspect was the question of access to journalistic content. AI can only work with the information it has access to.
When media organizations such as Radio Bremen exclude their journalistic content from AI systems, these models lack important sources for research, context, and summarization. This can lead to AI-generated answers reflecting only a limited range of available sources.
At the same time, publishers are taking different approaches: while some deliberately withhold their content, others enter into licensing agreements with major AI and tech companies.
This makes the question of which journalistic content is represented in AI systems increasingly important for the quality, diversity, and balance of automated information services.
The panel, organised by Laura Spillner and Johanna Rockstroh (University of Bremen), drew conference delegates and Bremen residents alike into the conversation.
We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Senator for Environment, Climate and Science, the Senator for Economic Affairs, Ports and Transformation, the Schütting Foundation, and the Unternehmensverbände im Lande Bremen e.V.
Hall 4 of the Congress Centrum Bremen opened its doors on Tuesday and is quickly becoming the vibrant heart of the exhibition, running alongside the technical programme through 21 August.
Between sessions, attendees wander the floor to meet this year's sponsors and exhibiting partners over coffee and poster sessions, discovering the wide range of research and industry work behind IJCAI-ECAI 2026 — the full list of this year's generous sponsors and partners is available on the conference sponsors page.
Contact
IJCAI-ECAI 2026 Local Press Office
The Local Press Office of IJCAI-ECAI 2026 coordinates press relations for the conference in Bremen. It is supported by the U Bremen Research Alliance, the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), and the German Informatics Society (GI), as well as the Publicity Chairs Prof. Dr. Ralf Möller (University of Hamburg, German Informatics Society) and Prof. Dr. Rolf Drechsler (University of Bremen, German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence).
As the central point of contact for the media, the Press Office provides communications support for IJCAI-ECAI 2026 and is available to media representatives from Bremen and throughout Germany for inquiries both now and during the conference.
Media inquiries: press@2026.ijcai.org
About the U Bremen Research Alliance
The U Bremen Research Alliance brings together the University of Bremen and thirteen non-university research institutions from all four major German science organizations—Fraunhofer Society, Helmholtz Association, Leibniz Association, and Max Planck Society—as well as the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI). Together, these partner institutions shape a coordinated space for research, infrastructure, and innovation—“from the deep sea to outer space.”
Cooperating in U Bremen Research Alliance:
