Dear Colleagues,

EANN a Quarter of a Century Event!

The 25^th EANN 2024 (Engineering Applications of Neural Networks) is gradually changing in order to adjust to the 21^st century demands. It has been renamed as the 25^th EAAAI 2024 (Engineering Applications and Advances of Artificial Intelligence) in order to cover a wider spectrum of AI research areas and domains. On behalf of the EAAAI organizing and Scientific Committee, it is a real honor and pleasure to welcome all Artificial Intelligence scholars who are looking for a well-established and prestigious forum to communicate and disseminate the innovative advances of their research. It is a fact that AI is continuously digging its way in a vast number of diverse scientific domains. EAAAI (ex EANN) aims to provide a forum for all scientists from both academia and industry who wish to share pioneer ideas, to get to know each other better and to present their research. Moreover, it aims to offer a deep glimpse into the future and to examine important AI ethical aspects.

The conference accepts papers from the whole AI spectrum and from every application scientific domain.

The EAAAI ex EANN conference has been held continuously since 1995, under the auspices of the INNS EANN Special Interest Group. Through the years, it has evolved to a well-respected and mature event, under the technical and scientific co-sponsorship of the INNS community. This community comprises of an extended Group of leading scientists, not only from Europe but from all over the globe. 

The h-index of the EANN event is as high as 28. This proves the novelty and quality of the presented-published research and its important contribution to the promotion of scientific ideas, algorithms, and methods, globally. The fact that the Springer Proceedings of the conference, have been downloaded more than 894,000 times so far, supports the robust impact of the event among the scholars of AI internationally. This proves the novelty and quality of the presented-published research and its important contribution to the promotion of scientific ideas, algorithms, and methods, globally. 

During the last years we have been witnessing the developments in the Covid-19 virus in a global scale. The vaccination in EU and globally, has proceeded rapidly. As a matter of fact, so far there are no Covid-19 traveling restrictions both in Europe and in a global scale. This fact calls for the organization of a successful hybrid event. This will enable colleagues to attend the 25^th EAAAI (ex EANN) 2024 on site, and the ones who cannot travel to attend and present remotely.

The venue of the 25^th EAAAI will be the premises of the Ionian University, in the beautiful, amazing and breath-taking island of Corfu Greece. However, the ones that will not able to travel, or for any reason they wish to present from home, will be given the opportunity to present remotely. Most of all, we wish to give the chance to all colleagues to disseminate their achievements in the AI domain to the EAAAI (ex EANN) community.

Nevertheless, the EAAAI team has extended experience in the long-distance conference organizations. We should mention that the 2020 and 2021 EAAAI (ex EANN) conferences were broadcasted remotely, whereas the 2022 and 2023 events were organized in a hybrid mode, all of them with great success. 

After 24 years, strong links have been developed between the members of our scientific community. Regarding the 25^th EAAAI (ex EANN) 2024 conference, it is going to be held in Corfu, one of the most iconic and gorgeous Greek islands with direct airplane connections to all over Europe. Moreover, the amazing atmosphere and the excellent academic environment of the Ionian University Greece, guarantees a perfect venue for all AI scientists.

The historical center of Corfu has a unique architecture, and it boasts several iconic museums (e.g., the Corfu Museum of Asian Art founded in 1928 in the palace of St. Michael and George, as the Museum of Chinese and Japanese Art). The island is famous for the Achillion Palace built in 1890 for the former Empress of Austria, Elizabeth (Sissy), it has several castles, archaeological sites, and more than 120 beaches.

We are certain that once more, we will be able to exchange ideas, to get to know each other better, and to interact by presenting our research achievements, under a unique environment. 

Cordially,

The 25^th EAAAI (ex EANN) 2024 Chairs