The program was sponsored by the AICTE Training and Learning (ATAL) Academy, New Delhi, under the VAANI – Vibrant Advocacy for Advancement and Nurturing of Innovation Scheme , reflecting its strong commitment to promoting quality education, research excellence, and innovation. An amount of ₹2,00,000/- (Rupees Two Lakh Only) was sanctioned for the program vide Sanction Order F. No.: AICTE/VAANI/2.0/2025–26/179/2935459418, dated 20/06/2025, against Application No. 2935459418. The conference witnessed participation from faculty members representing a wide spectrum of technical institutions across India. Additionally, select faculty from autonomous colleges offering science and technology programs also enrolled in the event. Their participation was approved based on their clearly articulated objectives and strong motivation to actively engage in the deliberations, demonstrating their keen interest in advancing their knowledge in Artificial Intelligence and emerging technologies.
The program was sponsored by the AICTE Training and Learning (ATAL) Academy, New Delhi, under the VAANI – Vibrant Advocacy for Advancement and Nurturing of Innovation Scheme , reflecting its strong commitment to promoting quality education, research excellence, and innovation. An amount of ₹2,00,000/- (Rupees Two Lakh Only) was sanctioned for the program vide Sanction Order F. No.: AICTE/VAANI/2.0/2025–26/179/2935459418, dated 20/06/2025, against Application No. 2935459418. The conference witnessed participation from faculty members representing a wide spectrum of technical institutions across India. Additionally, select faculty from autonomous colleges offering science and technology programs also enrolled in the event. Their participation was approved based on their clearly articulated objectives and strong motivation to actively engage in the deliberations, demonstrating their keen interest in advancing their knowledge in Artificial Intelligence and emerging technologies.
The program was sponsored by the AICTE Training and Learning (ATAL) Academy, New Delhi, under the VAANI - Vibrant Advocacy for Advancement and Nurturing of Innovation Scheme , reflecting its strong commitment to promoting quality education, research excellence, and innovation. An amount of ₹2,00,000/- (Rupees Two Lakh Only) was sanctioned for the program vide Sanction Order F. No.: AICTE/VAANI/2.0/2025-26/179/2935459418, dated 20/06/2025, against Application No. 2935459418. The conference witnessed participation from faculty members representing a wide spectrum of technical institutions across India. Additionally, select faculty from autonomous colleges offering science and technology programs also enrolled in the event. Their participation was approved based on their clearly articulated objectives and strong motivation to actively engage in the deliberations, demonstrating their keen interest in advancing their knowledge in Artificial Intelligence and emerging technologies.
The International Conference on Quantum AI and Deep-Tech Innovations for Next-Gen Intelligence (QUADNEXT-2026), held on 06–07 February 2026 in Vijayawada, India, represents a significant step toward advancing interdisciplinary research at the intersection of quantum computing, artificial intelligence, and emerging deep technologies. This conference was organized with the objective of bringing together academicians, researchers, industry experts, and students to explore innovative ideas and recent advancements shaping the future of intelligent systems. The rapid evolution of Quantum AI and deep-tech domains has opened new frontiers in solving complex real-world problems across healthcare, cybersecurity, agriculture, climate science, and smart systems. The proceedings of QUADNEXT-2026 compile a diverse collection of peer-reviewed research papers, keynote insights, and scholarly contributions that reflect the current trends, challenges, and future directions in next-generation technologies. The selected papers demonstrate cutting-edge research in areas such as machine learning, blockchain integration, quantum-enhanced systems, intelligent prediction models, and secure digital infrastructures. This conference was made possible with the support of AICTE under the VAANI scheme, encouraging knowledge dissemination in regional and global contexts. The collaborative efforts of organizing institutions, reviewers, authors, and participants have contributed to the success of this event. We sincerely hope that these proceedings will serve as a valuable resource for researchers, practitioners, and students, fostering innovation and inspiring further exploration in the domain of Quantum AI and deep technologies.
This editorial introduces the International Conference on Quantum Innovations for Computing and Knowledge Systems (QUICK 2026). The conference provides an international forum for presenting advances in quantum computing, quantum algorithms, artificial intelligence, quantum materials, and secure communication technologies. QUICK 2026 emphasizes the convergence of quantum technologies with intelligent computing systems and realworld applications across scientific and industrial domains. All submissions were evaluated through a rigorous multi-stage review process, including desk screening and double-blind peer review, ensuring high scientific quality and research integrity. The proceedings highlight emerging breakthroughs and interdisciplinary innovations shaping the next generation of quantum-enabled computing and knowledge systems.
Quantum Artificial Intelligence (Quantum AI) embodies the integration of quantum computational paradigms with artificial intelligence frameworks to address the computational intractability and scalability constraints inherent in classical AI systems. By leveraging quantum mechanical properties such as superposition, entanglement, and quantum interference, Quantum AI enables enhanced representation learning, accelerated optimization, and improved probabilistic inference in high-dimensional problem spaces. In parallel, deep-tech innovations—including advanced deep learning architectures, neuromorphic computing, and edge-based intelligent processing—are redefining the architectural foundations of next- generation intelligent systems through energy-efficient, adaptive, and real-time computation. This paper presents a technically rigorous and comprehensive review of Quantum AI and deep-tech innovations, focusing on algorithmic formulations, architectural models, and system-level integration strategies. Core methodologies such as quantum machine learning algorithms, parameterized quantum circuits, variational quantum algorithms, and hybrid quantum–classical optimization frameworks are critically analysed with respect to computational complexity, repressibility, and feasibility on noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) hardware. Additionally, the role of neuromorphic computing in enabling spiking neural architectures and event-driven processing is examined as a complementary paradigm to quantum-enhanced learning models, particularly for low-power and latency-critical applications. The paper further investigates application- driven deployments of Quantum AI across domains including medical diagnostics, cryptographic security, autonomous decision-making, and smart cyber-physical systems, highlighting performance trade-offs and implementation constraints. Key challenges such as quantum noise, decoherence, data encoding bottlenecks, limited qubit connectivity, and ethical governance are systematically discussed. Finally, future research directions are identified, emphasizing fault-tolerant quantum learning architectures, scalable hybrid integration with deep-tech systems, and co-design methodologies for realizing practical next-generation intelligence platforms.
This book contains the proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Agents and Artificial Intelligence. This year, ICAART is held in Porto, Portugal, on February 23-25, 2025. As usual it is sponsored by the Institute for Systems and Technologies of Information, Control and Communication (INSTICC). ICAART 2025 was also organized in cooperation with other members of our AI family. We mention the ACM Special Interest Group on Artificial Intelligence, the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, the Associação Portuguesa de Reconhecimento de Padrões, the Portuguese Association for Artificial Intelligence, the IberoAmerican Society of Artificial Intelligence and the European Society for Fuzzy Logic and Technology. The purpose of the International Conference on Agents and Artificial Intelligence is to bring together researchers, engineers and practitioners interested in the theory and applications in the areas of Agents and Artificial Intelligence, covering both applications and current (advanced) research work. On one side it focuses on Agents, Multi-Agent Systems and Software Platforms, and also Distributed Problem Solving. On the other side it focuses on Artificial Intelligence, Knowledge Representation, Planning, Learning, Scheduling, Perception. Applications are in both areas. They are using Natural Language Processing (NLP), Large Language Models (LLMs), Legal Technologies and Quantum Computing. In the last four years the research emphasis has shifted towards Explainable AI and Interpretable AI with a focus on trustworthiness, fairness, privacy, safety, security and ethical issues. A substantial amount of research work is ongoing in these knowledge areas, in an attempt to discover appropriate theories and paradigms for use in real-world applications. ICAART 2025 received 472 paper submissions from 53 countries of which 23.09% were accepted and published as full papers. A double-blind paper review was performed for each submission by at least 2 but usually 3 or more members of the International Program Committee, which is composed of established researchers and domain experts. The high quality of the ICAART 2025 program is enhanced by the keynote lecture delivered by distinguished speakers who are renowned experts in their fields: Inge Bryan (Chair of the Dutch Institute for Vulnerability Disclosure, Netherlands), Pavan Duggal (Advocate, Supreme Court of India, Chairman, International Commission on Cyber Security Law India, and Chief Executive, Artificial Intelligence Law Hub, India) and Paul Nemitz (Principal Adviser European Commission, Belgium). The conference is complemented by one workshop, two special sessions and one tutorial. They are: a Workshop on Quantum Artificial Intelligence and Optimization, chaired by Michael Kölle, a Special Session on Interpretable Artificial Intelligence Through Glass-Box Models, chaired by Mattias Wahde and a Special Session on Emotions and Affective Agents, chaired by Joaquin Taverner and Emilio Vivancos. Furthermore, a Tutorial on Self-Governing Systems will be given by Jeremy Pitt and Asimina Mertzani. All presented papers will be available at the SCITEPRESS Digital Library and will be submitted for evaluation for indexing by SCOPUS, Google Scholar, The DBLP Computer Science Bibliography, Semantic Scholar, Engineering Index and Web of Science / Conference Proceedings Citation Index. As recognition for the best contributions, several awards based on the combined marks of paper reviewing, as assessed by the Program Committee, and the quality of the presentation, as assessed by session chairs at the conference venue, are conferred at the closing session of the conference. Authors of selected papers will be invited to submit extended versions for inclusion in a forthcoming book of ICAART Selected Papers to be published by Springer, as part of the LNAI Series. Some papers will also be selected for publication of extended and revised versions in the special issue of the Springer Nature Computer Science Journal. The program for this conference required the dedicated effort of many people. Firstly, we must thank the authors, whose research efforts are herewith recorded. Next, we thank the members of the Program Committee and the auxiliary reviewers for their diligent and professional reviewing. We would also like to deeply thank the invited speakers for their invaluable contribution and for taking the time to prepare their talks. Finally, a word of appreciation for the hard work of the INSTICC team; organizing a conference of this level is a task that can only be achieved by the collaborative effort of a dedicated and highly competent team. We wish you all an exciting and inspiring conference. We hope to have contributed to the development of our research community, and we look forward to having additional research results presented at the next edition of ICAART, details of which are available at https://icaart.scitevents.org.