BICA 2026 is the 17th Annual International Conference on Biologically Inspired Cognitive Architectures, which is also the 17th Annual Meeting of the BICA Society. Started as a continuation of AAAI Fall Symposia on BICA (2008, 2009), the BICA conference demonstrated a steady growth in popularity over years, with remarkable success in many parts of the world (2010, 2011: Washington, D.C.; 2012: Palermo, Italy; 2013: Kiev, Ukraine; 2014: MIT, Boston, MA; 2015: Lyon, France; 2016: New York, USA; 2017: Moscow, Russia; 2018: Prague, Czech Republic; 2019, 2024: Seattle, WA, USA; 2020: Natal, Brazil; 2021: Kyoto, Japan and Vienna, Austria; 2022: Guadalajara, Mexico; 2023: Ningbo, China; 2024: Puerto Vallarta, Mexico). This year's BICA conference will be held in Marist University of Merida, Yukatan, Mexico, in a hybrid format (online and face-to-face).

Brain-Inspired Cognitive Architectures (BICA) are computational frameworks for building intelligent agents that are inspired by natural intelligence.  Biological intelligent systems, notably the human brain, have many qualities that are often lacking in artificially designed systems including robustness, flexibility and adaptability to environments.  At a point in time where visibility into naturally intelligent systems is exploding, thanks to modern brain imaging and recording techniques allowing us to map brain structures and functions, our ability to learn lessons from nature and to build brain-inspired intelligent systems has never been greater.  At the same time, the growth in computer science and technology has unleashed enough computational power at sufficiently low prices, that an explosion of intelligent applications from driverless vehicles, to augmented reality, to ubiquitous robots, is now almost certain.  The growth in these fields challenges the computational replication of all essential aspects of the human mind (the BICA Challenge), an endeavor which is interdisciplinary in nature and promises to yield bi-directional flow of understanding between all involved disciplines.

Submission Guidelines

All papers must be original and not simultaneously submitted to another journal or conference. The following paper categories are welcome:

• Full papers describing new exciting advances or preliminary results in experiment, theory, modeling, or technology;
• Position papers describing original visions of an area, a problem, or a challenge, supported by a minireview;
• Abstracts for online posting only (without publication), describing a talk, a demo, a discussion panel, or a poster.

Publication options are: 

1. Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering (a Scopus/EI Q4 Springer book)
2. Cognitive Systems Research (a WoS/Scopus Q2 Elsevier journal)
3. None

Acceptance options are (decided by PC):

1. CSR or Springer, with a presentation
2. Springer only, with a presentation
3. Presentation only

Expected publication date for the Springer book is in November 2026. Papers recommended for Cognitive Systems Research can be published within a month following their submission to the journal, before or after the conference.

Presentation options are: an offline talk in Merida, a virtual talk (live), or an e-poster. Pre-recorded talks can only be accepted as e-posters. Unless the only acceptable for you publication option is Cognitive Systems Research, you must prepare your submission based on the Springer template and instructions found at

https://conference.bicaai2023.org/BICA_2026_templates+instructions.zip

Springer papers can be from 5 to 25 pages long, with any number of co-authors. There are no templates and no page limit for CSR-intended papers: use the simplest one-column layout.

Each author can submit any number of papers; however, each paper must be covered by a separate registration. Contributions must be original and scientifically sound. Position papers can be accepted for Springer. Any topic in AI, Cognitive Modeling, Brain Sciences, and related areas is acceptable (see the CFP tab). The focus of the conference is on the BICA Challenge

All contributions will be peer-reviewed. Papers can be either published in Springer's Studies in Computational Intelligence (SCI) or recommended for publication in Elsevier's Cognitive Systems Research (CSR). The choice of the publication venue is made by decision of the Program Committee; however, authors should indicate acceptable publication options (when prompted during the submission process).

List of Topics

• Artificial Intelligence: Creativity, goal reasoning and autonomy in artifacts. Embodied vs. ambient intelligence. Language capabilities and social competenceLearning by reading, by observation, by reasoning and analogy. Robust and scalable machine learning mechanisms. Self-regulated learning, bootstrapped and meta-learning. The role of emotions in artificial intelligence and their BICA models. Tests and metrics for BICA in the context of the BICA Challenge. Ethical, trustworthy, explainable AI. Cybersecurity and BICA.
• Cognitive Science: Perception, reasoning, decision making and action in BICA. Combining natural and artificial approaches to cognition. Comparison of different forms of learning and memory. Theory-of-Mind, episodic and autobiographical memory in cognitive systemsIntrospection, metacognitive reasoning and self-awareness in BICA. Models of learning and memory: robustness, flexibility, transferability. Natural language and its role in intelligence, cognition and interactionUnifying frameworks and constraints for cognitive architectures.
• Neuroscience: Bridging the gap between artificial and natural information processing. Cognitive and learning mechanisms informed by neuroscience. Neural correlates of cognitive and meta-cognitive processes. Robustness, scalability and adaptability in neuromorphic systems. Neurophysiological underpinnings and implications of deep learning models. Physiological mechanisms of memory formation and (re)consolidation. Representation of contextual and conceptual knowledge in neural systems.
• Social, economic, and educational sciences: Mixed-initiative systems based on inspirations from studies on brain and mind. Agents possessing human-level social and emotional intelligence. BICA in learning and tutoring technologies and education. BICA models of self and their application to perception and action. Representation, perception, understanding and expression of emotions. Virtual characters, artificial personalities and human-compatibility. Agent-based modeling of intelligent social phenomena.
• AGI and more: Mathematical basis for BICA and fundamental theoretical questions in BICA research. Alternative substrates for implementation of BICA: smart materials, neuromorphic, quantum and biocomputing. Alternative approaches to the development of BICA such as: evolutionary, system-theoretic, educational. Fundamental practical and theoretical questions in BICA research and technology. Cognitive Decathlon and Grand Challenges for BICA as components of the BICA Challenge. Critical mass for a universal human-level learner and a roadmap to the BICA Challenge. Metrics, tests, proximity measures and the roadmap to human-level / human-compatible AI. Leveraging the cloud, world-wide-web, and social-media: possible role for BICA in big data, Interdisciplinary research opportunities and ideas for new initiatives. International trends in funding of BICA research. Design of neuromorphic circuits. AI systems for assistance to the elderly or people with disabilities. Articles on AI and mental processes with a focus on cognitive sciences: psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, philosophy. Human analogous learning. Artificial creativity

Venue

The conference will be held at at Universidad Marista de Mérida in Merida, Yukatan, Mexico, on September 9-12. Please find more details at the conference website:  https://www.bicaai.org

Contact

All questions about submissions should be emailed to Félix Ramos (felix.ramos@cinvestav.mx), J. Antonio Cervantes (antonio.alvarez@academicos.udg.mx), Tingting Liu (liutingting@nbu.edu.cn), or Alexei Samsonovich (Alexei.Samsonovich@gmail.com, asamsono@gmu.edu).