The DEBEST International Conference on Digital Ecosystems, Blockchain Evolution, and Sustainable Transformation (DEBEST2023) is being held Lago Di Como from 18-23 Oct 2023. It draws on the tradition of the IEEE DEST (Digital Ecosystems, Science and Technology) conference which was established in 2007, and sponsored by the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society (IES) which emerged at the same time as the European Union 6th Framework Initiative in 2006 on Digital Business Ecosystems. In the last 15 years, this conference series has extended the concepts and expanded the studies across Europe, Asia Pacific and North America. It was the first technical conference on Digital Ecosystems in the world and was one of the highest-cited conferences in IEEE IES society publications. The new DEBEST conference, like its predecessor, will embracing a wide range of participants, including ICT leaders, network and protocol engineers, domain experts, gig workers, knowledge consultants and educatorsfrom across the world.

In 2023, in considering the plethora of issues and challenges facing humanity and society, such as the pandemic, geo-political tensions, energy shortages, inflection, poverty, food security, etc., we moved from DEST to DEBEST, that is from digital science technology development to digital democracy evolution to sustainable transformation, a new paradigm of collective governance for the advancement of people, planet, peace and prosperity. This initiative has been supported by the world’s leading exponents from eminent Professors to renowned industry leaders in the US, Europe, and Asia Pacific to give keynote and plenary speeches.

The DEBEST 2023 conference in Lago di Como is a think-tank conference, we are extremely grateful for the very kind support from Professor Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker, who is one of the 100 most influential thinkers in the world, who will lead the discussion – the Cadenabbia Agenda, and to help position our future research, development, and conferences by addressing social, economical, and environmental challenges and pathways for science and technology to meet people, planet, peace and prosperity as well as politics, and philosophies This will provide a quantum transformation of future DEBEST conference series. We would like to express our deepest appreciation to our eminent keynote speakers Professor Ernesto Damiani from the University of Milano and Khalifa University, Prof Martin Anda, Murdoch University, Australia, Sinan Tumer of COO Naqi Logix Inc. USA and plenary presenters Professor Christian Wagner, City University of Hong Kong, Professor Katarina Stanoevska-Slabeva, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, Professor Aladdin Ayesh, University of Aberdeen, UK, Professor Marc-Olover Pahl, IMT Atlantique and TU Munich, France, and Germany, Professor Gregor C. Falk, University of Education Freiburg, Germany, Professor Lutz Bauer, Professor Edy Porman, University of Fribourg, Switzerland, Dr. Christian Hubner, KAS, Germany, Dr. Tong Lenko From Edvance Education Int. Australia, as well as authors who submitted their research papers, and industry reports. We are grateful to the Program Committee members for ensuring the quality of the papers and the conference. We would also like to thank all the reviewers for their joint effort to make the DEBEST2023 an outstanding Think-tank conference. Special thanks to conference secretary support Ms. Sonya Rosbotham, Mr. Michael Zipperle, Mr. Marius Becherer, and Mr. Pengdi Zhao, for their effort to create the high-quality event that will turn the DEBEST2023 Cadenabbia Agenda into a success. The conference proceedings will consist of the peer-reviewed papers from the DEBEST2023 and there will be 3 high impact publication invitations from all speakers, which will be announced during the conference dinner: (1) Special issue of the International Journal of Engineering Intelligent Systems (EIS), in Engineering Index and ACM Digital Library, Jan 2024, ISSN 1472 8915, Vol 32, #1. (2) Special issue in IEEE Transaction on Industrial Cyber-Physical-Systems, in IEEE Xplore, ORCID registered authors, 2024 Vol 2.0 (3) Book Chapter in Springer Book Publication on Digital Ecosystems and Fu.Jan 2024

The overall program is designed to inspire new ideas, fire new imaginations, and create new opportunities for the Cadenabbia Agenda and future academic and industry participation. We therefore invite you to join us to exchange views and enjoy a spirit of exploration at DEBEST2023 in Italy. Thank you all.