Another successful International MIPRO Convention has come to a close. At this year's 49th edition, more than 60% of the paper authors attended in person, while a large number of participants followed the remaining programme online. Overall, the convention brought together more than 1,500 participants.
 

A total of 408 papers were accepted for MIPRO 2026, authored by 1,096 researchers from 53 countries across six continents. This represents the second-highest number of accepted papers in MIPRO's history, despite the implementation of even more rigorous peer-review criteria. Papers presented in English have been published in IEEE Xplore, the world's leading digital library for scientific publications in electrical engineering, computer science, and related technical fields, which today contains more than three million publications.

The central event of the convention was the Opening Ceremony, held on Wednesday in the Congress Hall of the Grand Hotel Adriatic. As in the previous year, artificial intelligence was successfully used to provide simultaneous translation of the programme into all official languages of the European Union. The ceremony opened with two humanoid robots, Tonka and Jože, greeting the audience and performing a short dance routine.


 

For the fourth consecutive year, the MIPRO ICT Award "Tesla's Beacon of Knowledge" was presented in recognition of outstanding contributions to the development of information and communication technologies in science, technology, and industry. This year's recipients were:

•    John M. Martinis, Nobel Prize laureate (Academia category), for his pioneering approach and outstanding contributions to quantum computing.

•    Infobip (Industry category), for innovations in communication technologies and the digital transformation of business across various industries.

In addition to the annual ICT Award, the Best Paper Award was presented to "From Games to Robotics: Unifying Human-Centered LLM Integration" by Nikolina Roso, Mirko Sužnjević, and Nenad Markuš (SSE).

For significant contributions to MIPRO's mission was awarded to Željko Zekić for his many years of dedicated, systematic work and contribution to the development of MIPRO, and to Lena Raucher for her exceptional contribution to the organisation and advancement of MIPRO in recent years.
 

The Friend of MIPRO recognition was presented to Morris Riedel, a distinguished expert in high-performance computing and artificial intelligence, in appreciation of his long-standing support and valuable contribution to MIPRO conventions.
 

Within the framework of the EU and ESF+ MULTI-STEM project, coordinated by the MIPRO, the STEM Talent Quiz was launched during the year with the aim of identifying, encouraging, and promoting young talents in technology, science, and innovation. The winner of this year's competition was Karlo Košak, a first-year student at the Technical School Čakovec, who received the award during the Opening Ceremony.

 

The first part of the Opening Ceremony concluded with an online plenary lecture by Nobel Prize laureate John M. Martinis, entitled "From Prehistoric Qubits to Quantum Computers." The second part featured a panel discussion titled "Autonomous Vehicles in the EU: The Technology Is Ready – Are the Legal and Safety Frameworks?", focusing on regulatory challenges and Croatia's position in this field. The discussion was moderated by Melita Milenković (Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences, University of Zagreb), with panelists Vjekoslav Majetić (DOK-ING), Lovro Nobilo (Verne), Ivan Petrović (Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing – FER), and Damir Kljajić (Ericsson Nikola Tesla).
 

The rich five-day programme included 17 conference tracks, one keynote lecture, two forums, presentations of three projects, two seminars, five technical presentations and one company presentation, two panel discussions, two workshops, 11 invited lectures, and an exhibition of information and communication technologies, equipment, and services.
Most programme activities were organised in a hybrid format and streamed through nine Zoom channels, ensuring broad accessibility. More than 1,500 participants attended the convention, once again confirming MIPRO's strong international reputation and significance.

 
We would like to thank all authors, speakers, participants, partners, patrons, exhibitors, and organisers whose commitment and support made the successful organisation of MIPRO 2026 possible.

The 50th Jubilee International MIPRO Convention will take place from 31 May to 4 June 2027. We look forward to welcoming participants once again and continuing our shared commitment to creating new knowledge, strengthening collaboration, and fostering innovation.