BLOCKCHAIN 2024 : 6th International Congress on Blockchain and Applications

SCOPE
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The International Congress on Blockchain and Applications (BLOCKCHAIN'24) will be held in University of Salamanca (Spain) from 26th-28th June, 2024. This annual congress will bring together researchers and practitioners of blockchain and other distributed ledger technologies (DLT), who will share ideas, projects, lectures, and advances associated with those technologies and their application domains. This meeting will be co-located with the PAAMS'24 conference.


Among the scientific community, the advance in next-generation blockchain and distributed ledger technologies is seen as a promising combination that will transform the production and manufacturing industry, media, finance, insurance, e-government, agriculture, energy, or even medicine. Besides, the combination of DLT with other cutting-edge disruptive technologies (AI, metaverse, quantum computing...) will will open up a multitude of amazing opportunities that entail an interesting challenge of research at the same time.


The BLOCKCHAIN'24 congress is devoted to: promoting the investigation of next-generation blockchain and DLT technologies; exploring the latest ideas, innovations, guidelines, theories, models, technologies, applications and tools of blockchain/DLT combined with other cutting-edge technologies; and identifying critical issues and challenges that researchers and practitioners must deal with in future research. We want to offer researchers and practitioners the opportunity to work on promising lines of research and to publish their developments in this area.


As in previous editions, the best speaker and best student speaker will receive an award sponsored by the MDPI Smart Cities journal (500 CHF and 300 CHF respectively).


[email protected]




TOPICS
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Technologies and techniques

- Key and innovative theories, methodologies, schemes and technologies of blockchain and AI
- Architectures and platforms for blockchain and AI
- Blockchain and AI for Big Data
- Blockchain and AI for Multi-Agent systems
- Blockchain and AI for the Internet of Things
- Blockchain and AI in 5G
- Sensors and devices for blockchain
- Distributed consensus mechanisms (PoW, PoS, PoE…)
- Encryption algorithms
- Fault tolerance mechanisms
- Other distributed ledger technologies
- Cloud, fog, and edge computing approaches for blockchain
- Blockchain standardization issues
- Platforms for smart contracts
- Side-chain and cross-chain systems
- Anonymity and privacy in blockchain
- Malicious transactions detection
- 4th and 5th generation blockchain


Applications

- Blockchain and AI enabled new business models and applications
- Blockchain and AI for e-commerce
- Blockchain and AI for logistics and transportation
- Blockchain and AI for supply chain management
- Blockchain and AI for product life cycle
- Blockchain and AI for knowledge and innovation management
- Blockchain and AI for agriculture
- Blockchain and AI in eHealth
- Applications of cryptocurrencies
- Blockchain as a Tamper-Proof Technology
- Application of smart contracts
- Blockchain Governance and Human Rights
- Applications of blockchain and AI in other domains.
- Use-cases of blockchain and AI in Industry 4.0, banking, etc.
- Blockchain and AI for fintech
- Blockchain and AI for insurtech





PLENARY SPEAKERS
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Mikel Diez Parra, Quantum Global Enablement Lead - IBM Research (Spain) 

Chee Kit LOOI, The Education University of Hong Kong (China)

Martin Saska, Multi-robot Systems Group (Czech Republic)

Jeffrey Alan Tomalka, Emory University (USA)

Adriana Tomic, Boston University (USA)

Nidal Nasser, Alfaisal University(Saudi Arabia)





SPECIAL ISSUES
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∎ Special issue IJIMAI - International Journal of Interactive Multimedia and Artificial Intelligence JCR (2022): 3.6 (Q3)

∎ Special issue "Internet of Things (IoT) and Cloud Computing Technologies for Smart Cities and Rural Areas: Sensing and Information Management Technologies" MDPI Sensors Journal JCR (2022): 3.9 (Q1)

∎ Special issue "Blockchain Applications in the Metaverse for Smart Cities" MDPI Smart Cities Journal, JCR (2022): 6.4 (Q1)

∎ Special issue "Advanced Architectures for Hybrid Edge Analytics Models on Adaptive Smart Areas" MDPI Electronics Journal JCR (2022): 2.9 (Q2)

∎ Special Issue on the Journal Future Internet: “Deep Learning in Recommender Systems” published in MDPI Future Internet Journal JCR (2022): 3.4

∎ Special Issue on the Journal Future Internet: “Security in the Internet of Things (IoT)”” published in MDPI Future Internet Journal, JCR (2022): 3.4

∎ Special issue "Advancements in Practical Applications of Agents, Multi-Agent Systems and Digital Twins" MDPI Systems Journal, JCR (2022): 1.9 (Q2)

∎ Special issue ADCAIJ - Advances in Distributed Computing and Artificial Intelligence Journal JCR (2022): 1.4, JCI (2022): 0.09 (Q4)





LIST OF WORKSHOPS IN BLOCKCHAIN 2024
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∘ BL-ID: Workshop on Blockchain Integration in Dataspaces

∘ BL-LEGAL: Workshop on Interleaving Legal and Technology Aspects – Regulation Blocks

∘ BL-Meta: Workshop on Blockchain and Metaverse: challenges and barriers for the Blockchain technology in the Metaverse

∘ BL-QUANTUM: Workshop on Quantum Blockchain: challenges and opportunities for a disruptive approach on distributed ledger technologies

∘ BL-SDG: Workshop on Blockchain for Sustainability and Industrial Resilience

∘ DLTSec: Enhancing Cybersecurity with Distributed Ledger Technology

∘ Farms4Climate: Workshop on Blockchain for Climate Action

∘ WEB3-TRUST: Workshop on Beyond the promises of web3.0: foundations and challenges of trust decentralization





COMMITTEES
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GENERAL CHAIRS

Javier Prieto, Chair of the IEEE Blockchain Spain Initiative, University of Salamanca (Spain)
Óscar Lage, Tecnalia (Spain)


TPC CHAIR

Rafael Pastor Vargas, UNED (Spain)


ADVISORY BOARD

Abdelhakim Hafid, Université de Montréal (Canada)
Paulo Vieira, Guarda Polytechnic Institute (Portugal)
Ashok Kumar Das, IIIT Hyderabad (India)
António Pinto, Instituto Politécnico do Porto (Portugal)
Paulo Leitao, Technical Institute of Bragança (Portugal)
Francisco Luis Benitez Martínez, Fidesol (Spain)
Pedro Nevado, University of Salamanca (Spain)





DOCTORAL CONSORTIUM
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The aim of the Doctoral Consortium is to provide a framework as part of which students can present their ongoing research work and meet other students and researchers and obtain feedback on lines of research for the future.


The Doctoral Consortium is intended for students who have a specific research proposal and some preliminary results, but who are still far from completing their dissertation.


All proposals submitted to the Doctoral Consortium will undergo a thorough reviewing process with the aim of providing detailed and constructive feedback. The accepted submissions will be presented at the Doctoral Consortium and published in the conference proceedings.




PUBLICATION
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Accepted papers will be included in Blockchain Proceedings, published by Springer. At least one of the authors will be required to register and attend the symposium to present the paper in order to include the paper in the congress proceedings. All accepted papers will be published by Springer Verlag.


** Indexing: The books of this series are submitted to DBLP, INSPEC, Norwegian Register for Scientific Journals and Series, SCImago, SCOPUS, WTI Frankfurt eG, zbMATH, Google Scholar, Springerlink. **



MDPI Smart Cities Best Speaker Award (500CHF)

MDPI Smart Cities Best Student Speaker Award (300CHF)

MDPI Electronics Best Paper Awards

MDPI Systems Best Paper Awards






IMPORTANT DATES
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Deadline: --15th March, 2024-- 5th April, 2024
Deadline Doctoral Consortium: --22nd March, 2024-- 12th April, 2024
Notification of acceptance: --26th April, 2024-- 3rd May, 2024
Camera-Ready papers: 17th May, 2024
Conference Celebration: 26th-28th June, 2024




ORGANIZERS
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University of Salamanca (Spain)

Tecnalia (Spain)

UNED (Spain)

University of Minho (Portugal)

Université de Montréal (Canada)

Guarda Polytechnic Institute (Portugal)

IIIT Hyderabad (India)

Instituto Politécnico do Porto (Portugal)

Technical Institute of Bragança (Portugal)

Fidesol (Spain)





SPONSORS
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AIR INSTITUTE




SUPPORT FROM RESEARCH ASSOCIATIONS, INSTITUTIONS & LABS
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AEPIA
APPIA
LASI