Citation
Rudall, B.H. (2006), "Preface", Kybernetes, Vol. 35 No. 7/8. https://doi.org/10.1108/k.2006.06735gaa.001
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2006, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Preface
The 13th International Congress of the World Organisation of Systems and Cybernetics (WOSC) held at Maribor's, Slovenia in July 2005 proved to be one of the most inspirational and successful of the triennial conferences which date from the 1960s. It was also a memorable occasion because, once again, it was organised as a “double conference” with the sociocyberneticians of the International Sociological Association (ISA) Research Committee (RC51) also holding their 6th International Conference of Sociocybernetics. Both conferences had related themes which were concerned with innovation and their respective areas of interest. Full details of the events were published in Kybernetes Vol. 35 Nos. 1/2, 2006, pp. 228-38.
We are, therefore, very grateful to Professor Matjaz Mulej of the University of Maribor's, Faculty of Economics and Business, Institute for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management, together with his colleagues and cooperating institutions for organising the events. As a result of the success of these conferences Emerald Publishing and the editorial team of this journal invited Professor Mulej to be the Guest Editor of this double issue devoted to the theme “Systems, cybernetics and innovation”. From more than 200 authors who contributed to the conferences he and his colleagues have selected and peer-reviewed the papers published in this compilation. Each paper has been reviewed and revised and we believe now offer both an original and worthwhile contribution to the literature that is concerned with research and development in what has become one of the more promising areas of endeavour. We are also pleased to be able to include contributions made at the Maribor conferences which were recognised by the judges of the Kybernetes Research Awards to have been of outstanding merit. The awards were sponsored by the publishers of this journal and administered by the WOSC Norbert Wiener Institute of Systems and Cybernetics.
Brian H. RudallEditor-in-Chief