The 32nd International Conference on Software, Telecommunications and Computer Networks — SoftCOM 2024 was held in Elaphusa Hotel, Bol (island of Brac), Croatia, September 26 to 28, 2024. The Conference has been technically co-sponsored by the IEEE Communications Society (ComSoc) with the support of the Technical Committee on Communications Software (CommSoft) and the IEEE Croatian Section. The Conference was organized by the University of Split, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture (FESB), and Croatian Communications and Information Society (CCIS) under the auspices of the Croatian Academy of Engineering. 32nd SoftCOM conference gathered researchers from academies and industries worldwide to join their efforts in advancing science, technology, and education in ICT. The attractive ambiance of the island of Brac and the Adriatic Sea coast has been a perfect location for such a meeting.
The technical program featured sixteen conference sessions, including six special sessions dedicated to Next Generation Wired and Wireless Networks, Ad Hoc&Sensor Networks and Internet of Things, Security and Digital Forensics, Green Networking and Computing, Robotics, and ICT-assisted Well-being and Advanced Educational Technologies. Besides that, a Symposium on Environmental Electromagnetic Compatibility and a dedicated half-day tutorial by professor Dragan Poljak, University of Split, have been held. The 15th Symposium on Green Networking and Computing (SGNC 2024) was organized by Josip Lorincz, Ph.D., FESB (UNIST, Croatia), with the support of the IEEE ComSoc TCGCC. As one of the oldest symposiums dedicated to the field of “green networking and computing,” the SGNC served as a platform for academia and industry researchers and visionaries from all over the world to share ideas, results, and experiences that are presented in the special session on green networking and computing organized in the frame of the symposium. The interdisciplinary Symposium on Information Security and Intellectual Property has been organized with the University of Split, the Faculty of Law, and the University of Zagreb Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing. The authors of selected papers have been invited to extend their papers and submit them for publication in the Journal of Communications Software and Systems (JCOMSS).
During the opening ceremony, Profs addressed the audience: Dinko Begusic, SoftCOM 2024 General Co-Chair; Prof. Silvestar Šesnić, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Naval Architecture (FESB); Prof. Zvonimir Sipus, Chair of IEEE Croatia section Chapter of Microwave Theory and Techniques; Dean Marusic, Split Site manager, Ericsson Nikola Tesla company, Split.
As a part of the plenary session, the keynote talk titled: “Sovereign Smartphone: Revisiting Smartphone Security Architecture” was given by Professor Srdjan Capkun, PhD, Department of Computer Science, ETH Zurich, Switzerland. The speaker shared his perspective on the privacy of modern smartphones. He presented his experiences developing an innovative smartphone architecture that enables the secure transfer of control back to users while maintaining compatibility with the existing smartphone ecosystems.
The accompanying SoftCOM 2024 Business Forum featured professional workshops, project presentations, and panel discussions with the participation of experts and institution representatives. 30th Workshop on ICT featured a set of presentations of professional papers and posters in ICT. Professor Sven Gotovac, FESB Split, organized the Workshop on Contemporary technologies for natural and man-made disaster management. The workshop included the presentation of the (Interreg VI-A) IPA CBC Croatia — Bosnia and Herzegovina — Montenegro HR-BA-ME00392 Project: Contemporary technologies for natural and manmade disaster management — SmartProtect.
Damir Brčić, Head of Digital Dalmatia, County of Splitsko and Dalmatia, moderated the panel discussion ”The Importance of Digital Skills in Developing the Local Tech Community.” The discussion focused on the collaboration between academic institutions and the local community in developing digital skills.
A special part of the program was aimed at master-level students. The Ericsson Nikola Tesla Summer Camp 2024 Workshop featured the presentation of six students’ projects completed during the summer camp. Denis Duka, Department manager in the Digital society domain, and Marta Balic, Ericsson Nikola Tesla, Croatia, moderated the workshop.
In conjunction with the SoftCOM 2024 conference, the final event of the EU Marie Skodowska Curie Innovative Training Network Greenedge project was organized by Michele Rossi, Ph.D., Andrea Zanella, Ph.D. (UNIPD, Italy) and Paolo Dini Ph.D., Marco Miozzo Ph.D. (CTTC, Spain). In the frame of the Greenedge project final event, a program containing different activities, such as the Greenedge project keynote speech, PhD student poster session, Ph.D. student challenge contest, and award ceremony, took place. The project keynote speech titled ”Towards Truly Sustainable Wireless Communication Systems” was given by Professor Marcos Katz, Ph.D., University of Oulu, Finland.
More information about the SoftCOM 2024 conference may be found at the address https://2024.softcom.fesb.unist.hr/