This year we are organizing the 18th ICOST conference which succeeded in bringing together a community from different continents over more than a decade and half and raised the awareness of frail and dependant people's quality of life in our societies.

After seventeen successful conferences held in France (2003), Singapore (2004), Canada(2005), Northern Ireland (2006), Japan (2007), Singapore (2008), France (2009), Korea (2010), Canada (2011), Italy (2012), Singapore (2013), USA (2014), Switzerland (2015), China (2016), France (2017), Singapore (2018) and USA (2019), ICOST 2020 edition will be for the first time hosted in the African continent ), in Hammamet, Tunisia, from 24th to 26th June 2020. The conference will be organized by the Digital Research Center of Sfax, Tunisia (CRNS), Institut Mines-Telecom, Paris, France, and the Laboratory on Development and Control of Distributed Applications of Sfax, Tunisia (REDCAD. Our theme for this year will be "The Digital Technologies Impact on Public Health in Developed and Developing Countries"

ICOST provides a premier venue for the presentation and discussion of research in the design, development, deployment and evaluation of Artificial intelligence for health, Smart Urban Environments, Assistive Technologies, Chronic Disease Management, Coaching and Health Telematics systems. Submitted papers will be blind reviewed by an international committee bringing together a multidisciplinary experts’ renown worldwide in different field of research (Engineering, clinical, public health, humanities and social sciences, etc.). Accepted papers will be published by Springer as Open Access. Selected papers will be invited to submit extended version to be published in a Special Issue of Sensors-MDPI Open-Access Journal (Impact Factor 3.031). The conference features a dynamic program incorporating a range of technical, clinical, and industrial related keynote speakers, plenary oral sessions, and poster presentations along with prototypes demonstrations and technical exhibits. ICOST brings together stakeholders from clinical, PHOs (Public Health Organizations), academics, NGOs, policy makers, and industrial perspectives to explore how to utilize technologies to foster future health management and prevention, independent living, offering an enhanced quality of life. ICOST 2020 invites all participants to share and discuss their experiences and lessons learned.

We look forward to welcoming you to ICOST2020 in Hammamet!

SCOPE AND AIMS

Leveraging on the results of European R&D Framework HORIZON 2020 and in line with future HORIZON EUROPE framework programs priorities, ICOST provides a multidisciplinary venue focusing on analyzing impact of ICTs in public health and wellbeing of citizens all over the world. ICOST’2020 aims at bridging the gap between developed and developing countries facing health and wellbeing challenges with this edition theme "The Digital Technologies Impact on Public Health in Developed and Developing Countries". ICOST 2020 is especially interested in receiving submissions focused on technologies, humanities and social sciences, clinical, and public health for an Enhanced Wellbeing and Health for all nations.

ICOST 2020 topics include, but are not limited to:

    AI for participatory and personalized health
    Deep learning for health and wellbeing
    Big Data analytics in e-health
    AI and Ethics
    Artificial Intelligent for Participatory and Personalized Health
    Internet of Things (IoT) for smart living and e-Health
    Wearable Sensors / Integrated Micro/Nano Systems for wellbeing and e-Health
    Smart Urban Spaces and new Assistive Living Space Concepts in the Smart City
    Policy and Guidelines for Public Health 2.0 and Quality of Life in Smart City
    Urban Cities design for wellbeing and e-health
    E-Health and Chronic Diseases Management
    Assistive Technology for ageing and frail people
    Persuasive and Supportive Mobile e-Health
    Coaching and Urban Gaming for e-Health
    Innovative Therapeutic approaches and systems
    Personal Robotics and smart Wheelchairs for e-health
    Collaborative robotics (Cobots)
    Virtual personal assistant for e-Health
    Tele-Assistance and Tele-Rehabilitation
    Smart Homes / Home Networks / Residential Gateways
    Context Awareness / Autonomous Computing
    Modeling of Physical and Conceptual Information in Smart Environments
    Human-Machine Interfaces
    Health in All Policies (HiAP)
    Public health and urban Data Collection and Processing
    Preventive and predictive medicine
    Participatory Telehealth systems
    Translational medicine for Health and Wellbeing
    Protective systems/devices against common and emerging infectious diseases
    Social acceptance / Privacy / Data protection / Security Issues
    Health Technology Assessment and Impact Analysis
    Human Factors, Ethics and Usability of e-health solutions
    Trusted systems and verification for health and wellness

ICOST 2020 invites participants to present and discuss their experiences in the understanding, design, development, test-beds deployment, and evaluation of technologies that demonstrate significant contributions in the areas of smart environments, public health policies, chronic disease management, and assistive technologies focused on indoor living spaces (e.g., homes, nursing homes and assistive living facilities) as well as the outdoors (e.g., urban smart spaces or the entire smart city).

Proposals for special sessions or plenary panels addressing any of the following specific topics are especially welcome:

    Studies detailing with large-scale service deployment and impact evaluation
    The application of cost-effective and readily available ‘everyday’ technologies to support people with chronic conditions and others with cognitive disabilities at home, school, work or play
    Health economic evaluation of technology based solutions
    Challenges for smart living environments and inclusive communities
    Societal impact and policy formulation
    Technology solutions to inspire policy makers