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ICSOB 2026

The 17th International Conference on Software Business (ICSOB 2026)

Workshop:
"Software Startups Research Agenda in the Era of AI"

Workshop Description

The emergence of Generative AI (GenAI) is rapidly transforming the software startup landscape, reshaping how ventures are created, developed, scaled, funded, and governed. AI-native startups are introducing new entrepreneurial logics, redefining software business models, and changing the dynamics of software startup ecosystems. At the same time, entrepreneurs increasingly rely on AI-assisted software engineering, AI-driven product experimentation, and human–AI collaboration practices that challenge existing assumptions in software startup research.

This workshop aims to bring together researchers and entrepreneurs to discuss how GenAI is impacting software startups and to collaboratively define a future research agenda for the next generation of software startup studies. The workshop will serve as a forward-looking community and agenda-building forum within the ICSOB community, focusing on emerging theories, conceptual frameworks, and empirical research opportunities related to AI-native ventures and software entrepreneurship in the age of GenAI.

Workshop Objectives

The objectives of the workshop are to:

Topics of Interest

The workshop welcomes contributions related to, but not limited to, the following topics:

Submission Format

The workshop invites short submissions in the form of extended abstracts of up to four pages. Authors are encouraged to discuss how AI and GenAI are impacting their research related to software startups, and to articulate promising research questions and future research directions for the next two to three years.

Workshop Format

The workshop will consist of short presentations of accepted extended abstracts followed by moderated discussions and collaborative agenda-building sessions. The emphasis of the workshop is on interaction, reflection, and synthesis rather than completed research results.

The workshop aims to facilitate constructive dialogue between researchers and entrepreneurs interested in the future of software startups in the era of AI.

Expected Outcomes

Accepted extended abstracts will be included in the Companion Proceedings of the conference published at CEUR Workshop Proceedings (CEUR-WS.org). In addition, the workshop organizers plan to synthesize the workshop discussions and contributions into a research agenda paper to be submitted to a journal.

The workshop also aims to strengthen and expand the software startup research community around emerging AI-related research challenges.

Important Dates

Note: all deadlines are AoE (Anywhere on Earth) — 12 hours behind UTC.

Submission Guidelines

Proposals are submitted as extended abstracts. The page limit is four (4) pages, including references. Submissions will be peer-reviewed by two members of the Program Committee through a single-blind review process.

Use the CEUR-ART one-column template for submissions. Templates are available in Latex (CEURART.zip or Overleaf) or ODT (CEUR-Template-1col.odt) format.

All submissions should be done through EasyChair at:
https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=icsob2026

Workshop Organizers