| The German conference on Multi-Agent System Technologies (MATES) provides an interdisciplinary forum for researchers, users, and developers to present and discuss the latest advances in research work as well as prototyped or fielded systems of intelligent agents and multi-agent systems. The conference aims to promote theory and applications and covers the whole range of agent- and multiagent technologies.
For the fifth time, the German special interest group on Distributed Artificial Intelligence in cooperation with the Steering Committee of MATES organized this international conference. Building on the four successful predecessors in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006, MATES 2007 took place September 24–26, 2007 under the umbrella of the SABRE (Software, Agents, and Services for Business, Research, and E-Sciences) event organized by the University of Leipzig.
Situated in the lively scene of agent-based computing in Europe that is exemplified by federated events such as Durham Agents’007; SABRE itself —that also included the Central and Eastern European Conference on Multi-Agent Systems (CEEMAS); and the subsequent European Conference on Complex Systems (ECCS 2007) in Dresden, MATES 2007 not only succeeded in attracting 27 submissions,out of which 17 could be accepted for presentation and discussion, but also in holding an edition of the doctoral mentoring programme, an important occasion for both students and established researchers to interact and discuss scientific and managerial aspects of activities. The programme of MATES 2007 was rounded off with invited presentations by the distinguished speakers Michael Georgeff and Rafael Bordini.
Our thanks go to the Programme Committee for their diligent, careful, and constructive work; the local organizers of SABRE for their constant support; and foremost to all authors of submitted papers: the present selection stands to testify the important contribution of the MATES conference series to the rich international agent-oriented systems research landscape. |