MAAMAW'01

 MAAMAW'01

               10th European Workshop on Multi-Agent Systems

                    "Multi-Agent Systems Organisations"

                        2-4 May 2001, Annecy, France

           Under the auspices of AFIA, the French AI association
      With support of AgentLink II, European Network of Excellence for
                           agent-based computing
     With support of MAS WG 7.3 GdR-PRC I3, Information - Interaction -
                               Intelligence
    Sanctioned by IFMAS, International Foundation on Multi-Agent Systems

GENERAL DESIGN

MAAMAW'01 will be the 10th issue of the MAAMAW series of workshops, the
major event about Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) research regularly held in
Western Europe since 1989. As the ICMAS series are becoming yearly, the
MAAMAW workshops will move back to their original spirit. The MAAMAW
workshop promotes interdisciplinary grounding, innovative work, recent
results, large place for discussion, for a limited audience (100) in a
convivial site.

The special topic of the 10th European Workshop on Multi-Agent Systems will
be devoted to "Multi-Agent System Organisations". Submission of papers is
encouraged to feed the discussion. Pre-proceedings will be distributed at
the workshop as well as a voucher for the final volume to be published as
part of the Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence color cover subline
published by Springer Verlag.

Thanks to the support of our sponsors, and in particular from the AgentLink
Network of Excellence and from the MAS Chapter of the French AI Association
(AFIA), we expect the estimated registration price (workshop pack including
proceedings as well as full lodging and boarding for three days in a 3*
hotel from Tuesday May 1 evening to Friday May 4 afternoon) to be around
470 EURO (double) or 550 EURO (single).

WORKSHOP TOPICS

MAS theoretical models are often borrowed from Human and Social Sciences as
well as from Life Sciences. MAS computational models are not only supported
by Mathematics but also by Physics. The choice of Multi-Agent Organisations
as the central theme of MAAMAW'01 underlines the interdisciplinary
grounding of Multi-Agent systems. It also promotes organisations as a key
component of Multi-Agent systems.

We will investigate the scientific foundations of organisations from
different cross-disciplinary perspectives. We will work on how
organisations can be represented and processed, from static to dynamic
ones, from programmed to emergent ones. We will evaluate the impact of
organisations in the analysis and design processes, and we will study how
organisations can be developed and deployed in real applications.

Keeping in mind the MAS organisations perspective, the topics of the
workshop include but are not limited to :

   * Scientific foundations
   * Theoretical and computational models
   * Heterogeneous and open multi-agent systems
   * Environmental aspects of multi-agent systems
   * Social aspects of multi-agent systems
   * Interaction mechanisms and protocols
   * Cooperation and conflict resolution
   * Coordination and multi-agent planning
   * Multi-agent systems learning
   * Multi-agent systems methodology
   * Testbeds and benchmarks
   * Innovative applications

As the aim of the workshop is discussion, original papers describing
innovative approaches, original applications, and evaluations illustrating
the progress of ideas and techniques, as well as visionary papers are
particularly welcome.

INVITED SPEAKERS

Paolo Ciancarini, Jacques Ferber, and Les Gasser have accepted to act as
invited speakers at MAAMAW'01. Each of them will address Organisation
respectively from Computer Science, Natural and Life Sciences, and Human
and Social Sciences point of views.

Paolo Ciancarini CS Department, University of Bologna, Italy
Jacques Ferber LIRMM, Université de Montpellier, France
Les Gasser GSLIS, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA-IL

PROGRAMME COMMITTEE

Olivier Boissier, SIMADE, ENS Mines de Saint-Etienne, France
Magnus Boman, Swedish Institute of Computer Science, Kista, Sweden
Cristiano Castelfranchi, Cognitive Science Department, University of Siena,
Italy
Krzysztof Cetnarowicz, Institute of Informatics, AGH, Krakow, Poland
Helder Coelho, Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon, Portugal
Yves Demazeau, LEIBNIZ-IMAG, CNRS, Grenoble, France (cochair)
Aldo Dragoni, Institute of Computer Science, University of Ancona, Italy
Alexis Drogoul, LIP6, University of Paris 6, France
Barbara Dunin-Keplicz, Institute of Informatics, Warsaw University, Poland
Amal El Fallah-Seghrouchni, LIPN, University Paris 13, France
Ana Garcia, AI Department, Polytechnic University of Madrid, Spain
Francisco J. Garijo, Telefónica I+D, Madrid, Spain (cochair)
Marie-Pierre Gleizes, IRIT, University of Toulouse, France
Vladimir Gorodetski, St. Petersburg Institute for Informatics and
Automation, Russia
Nick Jennings, ECS Department, University of Southampton, UK
Matthias Klusch, DFKI, Saarbrücken, Germany
Scott Moss, CPM, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
Jean-Pierre Müller, CS Department, University of Neuchatel, Switzerland
Eugenio Oliveira, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Portugal
Andrea Omicini, DEIS, University of Bologna, Italy
John Perram, MIP, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
Jeffrey Rosenschein, CS Department, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
Michael Schroeder, CS Department, City University London, UK
Carles Sierra, AI Research Institute, CSIC Barcelona, Spain
Jan Treur, Faculty of Sciences, Free University, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Gerhard Weiss, CS Institute, Technical University Munich, Germany
Mike Wooldridge, CS Department, University of Liverpool, UK

SUBMISSION PROCESS

MAAMAW'01 being mainly a workshop, innovative and recent papers written in
English, even if already submitted to regular conferences, are welcomed for
submission. The length of the papers should be between 10 and 15 pages
(assuming Times 12 as font and A4 page format). The style for submission is
free. The submissions, in PDF or Postscript format only, will have to be
sent, electronically only, to maamaw01-pc@imag.fr before 23 March 2001.

The papers will be reviewed by at least two programme committee members.
Selection criteria will focus on relevance to the special topic,
originality with respect to the state of the art, and potential for
discussion. Papers may be accepted for regular or poster presentation.
Notification to authors will be sent by 9 April 2001. Revised papers for
inclusion in the workshop pre-proceedings, and authors registrations will
be due by 23 April 2001.

Final proceedings will be published as part of the Lecture Notes in
Artificial Intelligence color cover subline published by Springer Verlag.
The edited volume will include the revision of regular papers, second
revision of several poster papers as well as contributions of the invited
speakers. Final releases of the papers will have to follow Springer Verlag
LNAI style ( see http://www.springer.de/comp/lncs/authors.html ).

IMPORTANT DATES

   * 23 March 2001: Deadline for submission.
   * 09 April 2001: Notification to authors of acceptance / rejection.
   * 23 April 2001: Deadline for reception of papers for pre-proceedings
   * 02-04 May 2001: Presentation at the MAAMAW'01 workshop
   * 23 May 2001: Deadline for reception of papers for final proceedings
   * End July 2001: Publication of final proceedings

ORGANISING COMMITTEE

The workshop is organised by the MAGMA Research Group of the LEIBNIZ-IMAG
laboratory in collaboration with the IAD-SMA Working Group of the AFIA
Association.

Christof Baeijs, LEIBNIZ-IMAG (cochair)
Josiane Carry, LEIBNIZ-IMAG, Grenoble, France
Humbert Fiorino, LEIBNIZ-IMAG, Grenoble, France
Rejane Frozza, LEIBNIZ-IMAG, Grenoble, France
Marc-Philippe Huget, LEIBNIZ-IMAG (cochair)
Sylvie Pesty, LEIBNIZ-IMAG, Grenoble, France
Pierre-Michel Ricordel, LEIBNIZ-IMAG, Grenoble, France
Jean-Claude Rigoureau, Annecy, France
João-Luis Tavares, LEIBNIZ-IMAG, Grenoble, France

The organising committee can be reached at night and day by email at
maamaw01-oc@imag.fr or by fax at +33 4 76 57 50 81, or during working hours
by phone at +33 4 76 57 47 76 (Christof Baeijs), +33 4 76 57 49 04
(Marc-Philippe Huget)

FURTHER INFORMATION

VENUE

The MAAMAW'01 workshop will be held in Annecy, France. Annecy is a charming
town on the shores of one of the cleanest lakes in Europe. Its castle, old
town and narrow streets are interwoven with canals. It contains a large
number of original historic monuments which have been carefully preserved
and restored. Annecy is also a modern, dynamic, sporting city with leading
industries such as Salomon ski manufacturer, and Dassault aeronautics.

Annecy is easy to reach by air (with direct flights from all major cities
in Europe to Lyon Saint-Exupéry or Geneva, where a bus connection to Annecy
is available several times a day), by train (via direct TGV from Paris,
Geneva, or Lyon), and by car (by highway from Grenoble, Lyon, and Geneva).

The workshop will take place in the ATRIA congress centre, in the centre of
the town.

REGISTRATION

Local organisation is handled by Wagonlit Evénement. The indicative
registration fee will range between approximately 470 EURO (double room)
and 550 EUROS (single room). This fee includes a copy of the
pre-proceedings available at the conference, as well as the final edited
proceedings (available after the workshop). It also includes the tea/coffee
breaks during the workshop, 3 nights accommodation including breakfast (so
arrival on Tuesday evening and departure on Friday afternoon), dinners and
lunches. Participants will stay at the Novotel hotel located next to the
congress location, or in nearby hotels of the same 3* category at a walking
distance from the Congress Centre. A conference dinner coupled to a social
event and the traditional MAAMAW gift, are also included in this
registration fee.

Further touristic arrangements (hotels, circuits) can be organised for
participants willing to stay longer before or after the event. They will be
processed by the staff of Wagonlit Evénement.

GRANT PROGRAMME

AgentLink II, the IAD-SMA Chapter of the AFIA, and other sponsors are
supporting the MAAMAW'01 workshop through the provision of grants for
student authors of regular accepted papers. This support aims in general to
partially cover travel and/or registration fees for the workshop. In order
to apply for this student support, please send detailed affiliation, a
short curriculum vitae, and request for travel and stay support to
maamaw01-oc@imag.fr by 30 March 2001 at the latest. Notification of
acceptance of applications will be given by April 13, 2001.

MAAMAW'01 WEB SITE

Detailed and up-to-date travel information, including registration, is
maintained at the workshop's website ( see
http://www-leibniz.imag.fr/MAAMAW2001/ ).