*** Last Call for Papers ***
AIxIA 2021
The 20th International Conference of the Italian Association for Artificial Intelligence
December 1st-3rd, 2021, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy,
https://aixia2021.disco.unimib.it/


=== Topics of Interest ===
The AIxIA 2021 edition celebrates the 20th year of an event born inside the Italian AI association, but rapidly grown up to an international dimension, attracting scholars from all over the world. This edition of AIxIA will be held online, thus making it easier to attend and present papers from any part of the globe.
Based on a plural point of view, the main conference covers the wide spectrum of topics that characterize modern Artificial Intelligence, while a number of specific topics are also covered by dedicated thematic workshops. Workshops will be announced later on and we foresee a significant participation by the research communities, in the vein of the success of the AIxIA 2020 edition.
The main track of the AIxIA 2021 conference welcomes submissions covering all areas of AI, including (but not limited to)
• machine learning,
• search and planning,
• knowledge representation and reasoning,
• constraint satisfaction and optimization,
• natural language processing,
• argumentation,
• robotics and perception,
• autonomous agents and multiagent systems,
• ethical and cultural issues in AI.
We encourage all types of high-quality contributions including theoretical, engineering, and applied papers. We also encourage contributions to AI techniques in the context of established and novel application domains, such as (cyber)security, sustainability, ageing, health care, cultural heritage, manufacturing, transportation, and commerce.
Finally, papers describing AI approaches and applications targeting societal challenges, including, for example, solutions for the mitigation and management of public health crises, as well as hot topics within the community, such as the assessment and mitigation of different kinds of biases, and in general ethical issues in AI, are particularly welcome.
Besides regular papers presenting results not already published we also welcome short "discussion papers" (maximum eight pages) containing
• descriptions of results recently published or accepted for the presentation in première international conferences and journals related to AI field;
• position papers discussing potentially controversial topics in AI or personal points of views about specific topics in AI.
Discussion papers are introduced as an opportunity for the authors to present their recent results to the AI community and to stimulate debate among attendees of AIxIA 2021 and potential collaborations thereof.
At least one author of each accepted paper is required to register and attend the conference to present the work.


=== Proceedings of Regular Papers ===
Accepted regular papers will be included in the post-proceedings of the conference and will be published by Springer Verlag in the Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (LNAI) series. Authors will have the chance to revise the accepted papers according to interactions that will take place at the conference. The post-proceedings will also include selected and revised papers from thematic workshops.
Authors of selected regular papers accepted to the main track will be invited to submit an extended version for publication on "Intelligenza Artificiale", the International Journal of the Italian Association for Artificial Intelligence, edited by IOS Press and indexed by Thomson Reuters' "Emerging Sources Citation Index" and Scopus by Elsevier.


=== Proceedings of Discussion Papers ===
Discussion papers will not be included in the LNAI proceedings of the conference, and will be published on CEUR WS Proceedings upon request. Discussion papers will be presented and discussed at the conference together with regular submissions.


=== Best Papers Awards ===
The Program Committee will select the Best Student Paper and the Best Paper from the accepted regular papers. In order to be eligible for the Best Student Paper Award, at least one author must be a student.


=== Submission Instructions ===
Submitted papers should be written in English and formatted according to the Springer LNCS style. Regular papers must be original papers, which are not being submitted simultaneously for publication elsewhere. These papers should not exceed 12 pages, with any number of additional pages containing bibliographic references only.
Discussion papers report results already published or accepted for publication in international conferences, and should not exceed 8 pages with any number of additional pages containing bibliographic references only.


=== Important Dates ===
- Abstract Submission: August 30, 2021 (Deadline extended!)
- Paper submission: September 3, 2021 (Deadline extended!)
- Notification: September 29, 2021 (Deadline extended!)
- Camera ready version: October 22, 2021
- Conference: December 1-3, 2021



=== Organization ===

* General Chair *
- Stefania Bandini, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy

* Program Chairs *
- Viviana Mascardi, University of Genova, Italy
- Matteo Palmonari, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy
- Giuseppe Vizzari, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy

* Organizing Committee *
- Francesca Gasparini, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy (Chair)
- Daniela Briola, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy
- Stefano Ferilli, University of Bari, Italy

* Publicity and Communication Committee *
- Elisabetta Fersini, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy (Chair)
- Angelo Ferrando, University of Genova, Italy
- Francesca A. Lisi, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Italy
- Giovanni Stilo, University of L'Aquila, Italy
- Marco Viviani, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy

* Workshop Chairs *
- Gabriella Cortellessa, ISTC-CNR, Rome, Italy
- Silvia Rossi, University of Naples Federico II, Italy
- Fabio Stella, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy

AIxIA Awards Chairs
Stefania Costantini, University of L'Aquila, Italy
Viviana Mascardi, University of Genova, Italy