Dynamics of Hybrid Collaborative Networks

Hybrid Collaborative Networks (HCNs), involving human-AI collaboration, are emerging as central to value creation in digitally enabled, globally distributed and socio-technically managed ecosystems. Based on the complex interplay between humans and artificial intelligence, these networks combine very heterogeneous actors—such as organizations, individuals, intelligent systems, embodied AI, and platforms—interacting across physical, digital, and organizational boundaries. Understanding the dynamics of such networks is critical to ensure their design, management, resilience, adaptability and sustained performance in rapidly changing environments. Analysing and managing the dynamic nature of HCNs includes examining how hybrid collaborative structures emerge, evolve, adapt, and dissolve over time. The dynamics of interactive performance and role distribution for such networks, but also the change of collaboration patterns over time, together with the managerial frameworks required to ensure adaptive governance of HCNs open strong scientific challenges, where technological added-value should be deeply associated with socio-human approaches.

The 26 years of scientific background developed by PRO-VE in designing and managing collaborative networks stands as the basis to design and manage the life cycle of hybrid human – AI collaborative networks. The very adaptative and changing nature of HCNs calls for a very open multidisciplinary science of collaborative networks, where engineering disciplines collaborate constantly with socio-human and managerial scientists. Beyond the complexity to ensure effective human-AI integration, scalability and evolution of AI systems or trust in hybrid collaboration, require defining innovative design methods and frameworks, adaptive governance and life-cycle management models.

PRO-VE 2026 is a forum for sharing and discussing current developments and experiences regarding the role of collaborative networks in the age of combined intelligence between humans and AI. Contributions are invited from multiple and diverse disciplines such as Engineering, Managerial and Socio-Human sciences: industrial and electrical engineering, computer science, manufacturing, organization science, logistics, management, and social sciences, among others.

Submission Guidelines

All papers must be original and not simultaneously submitted to another journal or conference. The following paper categories are welcome.

• Full papers describing foundations or applications of collaborative networks
• Posters describing projects
• Special session papers

List of Topics

• Digital platforms for HCNs
• Collaborative dynamics among human and AI teams
• Agile design and management of hybrid networks
• Design of AI teammates
• Knowledge life cycle in distributed cognitive systems
• Collaboration and coopetition in untrustworthy environments
• Life cycle of collaborative cognitive cyber-physical systems
• Combination of human expertise with AI systems
• Scalability and adaptability of HCNs
• Collective decision making, value creation and creativity
• Digital twins for HCNs
• Governance framework for HCNs
• Understanding and explainability of HCN decisions
• Advanced collaborative robotics
• Complex hybridization of collaboration – organizations, people, smart machines,
• intelligent systems
• Resilience & antifragility in HCNs
• Ethics, security, & trust in HCNs
• AI integration for logistics and transportation networks
• AI for collaborative risk and crisis management
• Society 5.0 and collaborative networks
• CN applications and case studies in multiple fields

Committees

Program Committee

• Luis M. Camarinha-Matos, Portugal
• Angel Ortiz, Spain
• Xavier Boucher, France

Organizing Committee

• Rosanna Fornasiero, Italy

Publication

PRO-VE 2026 proceedings will be published by Springer, IFIP AICT series (past volumes can be found here). Previous editions have been indexed in SCOPUS, Web of Science, and DBLP and we expect the same for this edition.

Venue

The conference will be held in Padova, Italy.

Contact

All questions about submissions should be emailed to pro-ve2026@cnr.it

Sponsors

SOCOLNET - Soceity of Collaborative Networks

IFIP WG5.5.