The 33rd International European – Japanese Conference on Information Modelling and Knowledge Bases - EJC 2023 was held in Maribor from Monday, 5 June, to Friday, 9 June 2023.

It was organised by the members of the Data Technologies Laboratory, Institute of Informatics from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. The event was attended by 23 experts from Japan, Lithuania, Finland, Germany and the Czech Republic.

The conference brought together experts from different areas of computer science and other disciplines who share a common understanding and problem-solving of information modelling and knowledge bases and the application of research results in practice. The conference programme was complemented by two invited speakers, József Györkös from the University of Maribor, who gave a lecture on Open Science – a reality check within ATHENA European University, and Bernhard Thalheim from the Christian-Albrechts University of Kiel, who gave a lecture on Modelology – A New Scientific and Engineering Discipline: The Science and Practice of Models and Modelling.

The conference started with the 4th Asian-European Summer School of AI-5D Consortium, which focused on covering Global & Environmental AI in Nature and Society. The speakers from Japan, Indonesia, Thailand and Slovenia presented topics such as “AI System for Ocean Nature”, “AI System for Earthquake Density Measurement”, “AI-based Plastic Garbage Collection project” and “Fairness of AI”. The summer school was held in a hybrid style.

Participants also enjoyed a varied social programme with a visit to the Old Vine Museum, wine tasting, folklore performance, the Rogatec Open Air Museum, Olimje Monastery and Deer Ridge, and a guided tour of Maribor.