Collaborative Networks: Reference Modeling works to establish a theoretical foundation for Collaborative Networks. Particular emphasis is put on modeling multiple facets of collaborative networks and establishing a comprehensive modeling framework that captures and structures diverse perspectives of these complex entities. Further, this book introduces a contribution to the definition of reference models for Collaborative Networks. Collaborative Networks: Reference Modeling provides valuable elements for researchers, PhD students, engineers, managers, and leading practitioners interested in collaborative systems and networked society.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 16th IFIP WG 5.5 Working Conference on Virtual Enterprises, PRO-VE 2015, held in Albi, France, in October 2015. The 61 revised papers were carefully selected from 126 submissions. They provide a comprehensive overview of identified challenges and recent advances in various collaborative network (CN) domains and their applications, with a strong focus on the following areas: risks in collaborative networks; agility and resilience in collaborative networks; collaboration frameworks; logistics and transportation; innovation networks; governance in collaborative networks; collaborative communities; information and assets sharing; business processes; performance and optimization; and network formation.

COLLABORATIVE NETWORKS Becoming a pervasive paradigm In recent years the area of collaborative networks is being consolidated as a new discipline (Camarinha-Matos, Afsarmanesh, 2005) that encompasses and gives more structured support to a large diversity of collaboration forms. In terms of applications, besides the “traditional” sectors represented by the advanced supply chains, virtual enterprises, virtual organizations, virtual teams, and their breading environments, new forms of collaborative structures are emerging in all sectors of the society. Examples can be found in e-government, intelligent transportation systems, collaborative virtual laboratories, agribusiness, elderly care, silver economy, etc. In some cases those developments tend to adopt a terminology that is specific of that domain; often the involved actors in a given domain are not fully aware of the developments in the mainstream research on collaborative networks. For instance, the grid community adopted the term “virtual organization” but focused mainly on the resource sharing perspective, ignoring most of the other aspects involved in collaboration. The European enterprise interoperability community, which was initially focused on the intra-enterprise aspects, is moving towards inter-enterprise collaboration. Collaborative networks are thus becoming a pervasive paradigm giving basis to new socio-organizational structures.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 13th IFIP WG 5.5 Working Conference on Virtual Enterprises, PRO-VE 2012, held in Bournemouth, UK, in October 2012. The 61 revised papers presented were carefully selected from numerous submissions. They provide a comprehensive overview of identified challenges and recent advances in various collaborative network (CN) domains and their applications with a particular focus on the Internet of Services. The papers are organized in topical sections on service enhanced products; service composition; collaborative ecosystems; platform requirements; cloud-based support; colllaborative business frameworks; service design; e-governance; collaboration in traditional sectors; collaboration motivators; virtual organization breeding environments; collaboration spaces; designing collaborative networks; cost, benefits and performance; identification of patterns; co-innovation and competitiveness; collaborative behavior models; and risks, governance, trust.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 21st IFIP WG 5.5 Working Conference on Virtual Enterprises, PRO-VE 2020, held in Valencia, Spain, in November 2020. The conference was held virtually. The 53 full papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 135 submissions. They provide a comprehensive overview of major challenges and recent advances in various domains related to the digital transformation and collaborative networks and their applications with a strong focus on the following areas related to the main theme of the conference: collaborative business ecosystems; collaborative business models; collaboration platform; data and knowledge services; blockchain and knowledge graphs; maintenance, compliance and liability; digital transformation; skills for organizations of the future; collaboration in open innovation; collaboration in supply chain; simulation and analysis in collaborative systems; product and service systems; collaboration impacts; boosting sustainability through collaboration in Agri-food 4.0; digital innovation hubs for digitalizing European industry; and collaborative networks for health and wellness data management.

Collaborative Networks for a Sustainable World Aiming to reach a sustainable world calls for a wider collaboration among multiple stakeholders from different origins, as the changes needed for sustainability exceed the capacity and capability of any individual actor. In recent years there has been a growing awareness both in the political sphere and in civil society including the bu- ness sectors, on the importance of sustainability. Therefore, this is an important and timely research issue, not only in terms of systems design but also as an effort to b- row and integrate contributions from different disciplines when designing and/or g- erning those systems. The discipline of collaborative networks especially, which has already emerged in many application sectors, shall play a key role in the implemen- tion of effective sustainability strategies. PRO-VE 2010 focused on sharing knowledge and experiences as well as identi- ing directions for further research and development in this area. The conference - dressed models, infrastructures, support tools, and governance principles developed for collaborative networks, as important resources to support multi-stakeholder s- tainable developments. Furthermore, the challenges of this theme open new research directions for CNs. PRO-VE 2010 held in St.

Collaborative Networks A Tool for Promoting Co-creation and Innovation The collaborative networks paradigm offers powerful socio-organizational mec- nisms, supported by advanced information and communication technologies for p- moting innovation. This, in turn, leads to new products and services, growth of better customer relationships, establishing better project and process management, and building higher-performing consortia. By putting diverse entities that bring different perspectives, competencies, practices, and cultures, to work together, collaborative networks develop the right environment for the emergence of new ideas and more efficient, yet practical, solutions. This aspect is particularly important for small and medium enterprises which typically lack critical mass and can greatly benefit from participation in co-innovation networks. However, larger organizations also benefit from the challenges and the diversity found in collaborative ecosystems. In terms of research, in addition to the trend identified in previous years toward a sounder consolidation of the theoretical foundation in this discipline, there is now a direction of developments more focused on modeling and reasoning about new c- laboration patterns and their contribution to value creation. “Soft issues,” including social capital, cultural aspects, ethics and value systems, trust, emotions, behavior, etc. continue to deserve particular attention in terms of modeling and reasoning. Exploi- tion of new application domains such as health care, education, and active aging for retired professionals also help identify new research challenges, both in terms of m- eling and ICT support development.