IWSiB 2026

The 9th International Workshop on Software-intensive Business (IWSiB 2026)

Software-producing organizations face constant pressure from changing customer demands, rapidly evolving technologies, and dynamic business environments. These challenges raise complex research questions that cannot be addressed by engineering or business disciplines alone.

The 9th International Workshop on Software-intensive Business (IWSiB 2026) brings together diverse research communities to explore topics that require cross-disciplinary collaboration. The workshop unites experts from software engineering, information systems, management, and entrepreneurship to examine how software creates, captures, and sustains value.

Designed as a highly interactive event, IWSiB 2026 will feature panels, short talks, and collaborative mapping activities. Together, participants will:

1. Identify pressing, evidence-based research questions.
2. Share industrial challenges and best practices.
3. Foster new collaborations across research and practice.

We invite researchers, practitioners, and policy shapers working on software-intensive business to contribute to a shared agenda for the field. The workshop will continue to grow the community by tracking emerging trends, mapping challenges and best practices in industry, and proposing new directions for research and application.

Call for Papers

Software-producing organizations operate in fast-moving markets shaped by AI, platform ecosystems, regulation, and sustainability demands. Addressing these challenges requires perspectives that neither engineering nor business alone can provide.

IWSiB 2026 brings together researchers and practitioners across software engineering, information systems, management, and entrepreneurship to explore how software creates, captures, and sustains value. The one-day workshop blends a keynote, themed paper sessions, and interactive group activities to surface real-world challenges and inspire cross-community collaborations.

Scope & Topics

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following areas related to software-intensive business:

• Software Product Management — strategy, roadmapping, pricing, product-market fit
• Software Platforms — orchestration, governance, architecture, evolution, lifecycle management
• Software Ecosystems — ecosystem engineering, ecosystem data analysis, modeling ecosystem structures and dynamics, platform and ecosystem management
• AI-enabled Software Business — human-AI collaboration, generative AI in products and operations, economics of AI features, responsible/ethical AI
• Continuous Practices — continuous experimentation, innovation, and improvement
• Agile and Lean Projects & Practices — methods and practices, management and organization, behavioral and cognitive factors
• Software Startups & Corporate Ventures — scaling strategies, pivots, business models, venture dynamics
• Open Source & Inner Source — strategy, governance, compliance, community health
• Emerging Trends and Research Areas — remote and hybrid work, data products and the data economy, sustainability in software business, socio-technical coordination, and other novel topics

Submission Guidelines

We invite original, unpublished work and encourage contributions at all stages of research, from early-stage ideas to full research papers:

• Full Papers — up to 8 pages (including references and appendices)
• Industry Experience & Position Papers — up to 4 pages
• Extended Abstracts — up to 4 pages (ideal for work-in-progress or early-stage concepts)

Open access: Extended Abstracts will be published open access without an APC.

Submission & Review Process

Submissions must follow the ACM Conference Proceedings format using the ACM Primary Article Template (double-column). Page limits include the abstract, figures, tables, and references.

The workshop uses single-blind review, so please include author names and affiliations in your submission. There is no limit on the number of submissions per author. All submissions must be in PDF format and uploaded via HotCRP system.

Evaluation criteria:

• Relevance and insight for software-intensive business
• Rigor and clarity of argument, method, and evidence
• Potential for discussion and cross-disciplinary impact at the workshop

Each paper will be reviewed by at least three members of the international program committee. Accepted papers will be presented and discussed at the workshop. At least one author of each accepted paper must register and present (in person or, where feasible, remotely).