MARCAS2026(Multi-)Agentic AI in Action

Special Session at IEEE CAI 2026 ​

May 8-10, 2026, Granada Conference Centre, Granada, Spain

Important dates: https://www.ieeesmc.org/cai-2026/important-dates/

Call for Papers: https://www.ieeesmc.org/cai-2026/special-sessions/

Submission Guidelines: https://www.ieeesmc.org/cai-2026/author-instructions-and-templates-for-conference-proceedings/

Submission: https://conf.papercept.net/

Rationale and Vision ​

As highlighted in recent works ([1], [2]), the field of intelligent agents and multi-agent systems is at a fascinating inflection point. Here, two powerful paradigms can be distinguished: the structured, verifiable world of classic Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) and the fluid, semantically rich world of LLM-driven generative agents (Agentic Systems). The most exciting breakthroughs are now happening at their intersection, where these paradigms are not just compared, but actively combined to solve real-world problems.

This special session moves beyond theoretical debates to showcase concrete, impactful use cases and applications. We aim to gather researchers and practitioners who are deploying the next generation of multi-agent systems to tackle complex challenges. The focus is on empirical results, novel use-cases, and the practical lessons learned from building and deploying agentic AI "in the wild." We are particularly interested in systems that strategically blend the strengths of classic MAS (e.g., explicit coordination, formal negotiation) with the advanced reasoning and communication capabilities of foundation models.

List of Topics ​

• Hybrid Agent Systems in Practice: Case studies of systems successfully integrating classic agent architectures (e.g., BDI, auctions, argumentation) with LLM-based components for enhanced performance.
• Agents for Science and Engineering: Applications in automated scientific discovery, lab automation, complex system design, healthcare & life sciences, and AI-assisted software development.
• Autonomous Business and Economic Systems: Agent-based models for supply chain optimization, automated trading, and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs).
• Human-Agent Collectives: Systems and interfaces for effective human-AI teaming in areas like creative design, strategic planning, software engineering, and complex data analysis.
• Generative Agents for Social Simulation: Using LLM-powered agents to create high-fidelity simulations of social, cultural, and economic dynamics for research and policy-making.
• Agents in Interactive Entertainment: Applications in gaming, interactive narratives, education, and the creation of dynamic, believable non-player characters (NPCs).
• Evaluation of Deployed Agent Systems: Methodologies and metrics for evaluating agent performance, robustness, and safety in real-world, uncontrolled environments.

Organizers ​

Supported By ​

• IEEE SMC Technical Committee on Computational Collective Intelligence
• Romanian Academy of Technical Sciences, Section "Information and Communication Technology – Computers and Telecommunications"
• Department of Computers and Information Technology, Faculty of Automation, Computers and Electronics, University of Craiova, Romania
• Intelligent Distributed Systems Research Group

References ​

[1] Costin Bădică, Amelia Bădică, Maria Ganzha, Mirjana Ivanović, Marcin Paprzycki, Dan Selişteanu and Zofia Wrona, Contemporary Agent Technology: LLM-Driven Advancements vs Classic Multi-Agent Systems, arXiv, 2509.02515 [cs.MA], 2025. https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.02515

[2] Zofia Wrona, Maria Ganzha, Marcin Paprzycki, Wiesław Pawłowski, Angelo Ferrando, Giacomo Cabri, and Costin Bădică. Comparison of Multi-Agent Platform Usability for Industrial-Grade Applications. Applied Sciences 14 (22): 10124, 2024. https://doi.org/10.3390/app142210124

Contact ​

For inquiries, please contact Costin Bădică at costin.badica@edu.ucv.ro

Web Master: Ionuț Murarețu ionut.muraretu@edu.ucv.ro, University of Craiova, Romania