Thursday, 9 October 2025 MATCOS-25 – The Middle-European Conference on Applied Theoretical Computer Science

The MATCOS-25 conference – The Middle-European Conference on Applied Theoretical Computer Science – was successfully held on October 9 and 10, 2025, at the Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies (UP FAMNIT). The two-day event was organized by the Andrej Marušič Institute of the University of Primorska (UP IAM) and UP FAMNIT, in collaboration with the research institute InnoRenew CoE.

The conference united practical application and theory within applied theoretical computer science. Topics included algorithms, data structures, optimization, artificial intelligence, machine learning, graph theory, and computational geometry.

"As in previous editions, this year’s program also included short presentations in addition to regular papers – a well-established practice that promotes broader participation and greater exchange of ideas. The program featured 20 regular and 14 short contributions. The conference welcomed more than 50 researchers from Slovenia and abroad – including **Hungary, Austria, Sweden, Poland, France, and Canada,” said Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rok Požar, Chair of the MATCOS-25 Organizing Committee.

This year’s keynote speaker was Prof. Dr. Michel Bierlaire from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, where he also serves as the Director of the Transport and Mobility Laboratory. Prof. Bierlaire delivered a lecture titled Predicting Human Behaviour with Optimization.

In his talk, he emphasized that choice behaviour is central to many real-world applications, especially in areas such as transportation planning and marketing. Classical choice models, based on random utility theory, assume that individuals choose the alternative that provides the highest utility. However, these models require the explicit enumeration of all possible alternatives, which becomes impractical when the choice set is large or complex.

For more information about the conference, please visit the official website: matcos.iam.upr.si/en/