Hello,

This is a quick reminder that the deadline for the very first International Conference on Innovation in Rural Regions is coming up on April 30, 2026.

The conference will take place in Siegen, Germany 13-15 September 2026. The Call for Papers is below. All accepted submissions will be published in the EUSSET (European Society for Socially Embedded Technologies) Digital Library. The most up to date information about the conference can be found on the conference website: https://icirr.wineme.wiwi.uni-siegen.de/

I'm one of the Program Committee Co-Chairs and am happy to answer any questions.

Best,

Max Krüger

Postdoc at University of Siegen, Germany

International Conference on Innovation in Rural Regions (ICIRR)

Conference date: 13-15 September 2026

Location: Siegen, North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany

Conference website: https://icirr.wineme.wiwi.uni-siegen.de/

Abstract deadline for full papers: 23 April 2026

Submission deadline for full papers: 30 April 2026

Submission deadline for workshops: 7 May 2026

Submission deadline for posters and demos: 14 May 2026

About the Conference

Across many parts of the world, rural regions are undergoing profound structural transformations; driven by the erosion of industrial economies, demographic change, infrastructural fragility and ecological crises. At the same time, these regions are increasingly targeted by digitalisation agendas, innovation funding and technological imaginaries. But what does innovation and design mean in these contexts? And what kinds of futures do such interventions make possible?

This conference examines the diversity of social and technical practices in rural regions and how innovations are imagined, facilitated, contested and materially shaped. Rather than treating rural areas as peripheral or deficient spaces, we approach them as complex socio-technical ecosystems. Rural places face global challenges such as aging populations, resource depletion and institutional retreat. But they are also at the forefront of creative solutions to sustainability and climate challenges, migration and economic development. These seeming contradictions manifest in concentrated and often under-examined ways that are central to the motivation for this conference. We seek to provide a space to reframe what counts as innovation in rural regions, and how design science, human-computer interaction (HCI), Computer Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW), information and communication technology for development (ICTD), science and technology studies (STS) and regional research interleave and potentially can collaborate to analyze and shape these dynamics.

The most up to date information about the conference can be found on the conference website: https://icirr.wineme.wiwi.uni-siegen.de/

Key Questions

We are especially interested in work that challenges dominant narratives of innovation and contributes alternative imaginaries, methods or interventions. We therefore invite submissions that engage with, but are not limited to, the following questions:

How can participatory, inclusive or decolonial design practices facilitate innovation in peripheral contexts?
How can applications and interventions be designed to meet the particularities of rural regions?
How do geography, industry and infrastructure intersect to shape innovation trajectories in rural regions?
How far can existing definitions of innovation account for rural contexts and where might they fall short?
What are the political, institutional and historical conditions that enable or hinder rural innovation?
How can rurality be conceptualized as an epistemic object in its own right, rather than as a derivative of urban development trajectories? Further, how do different conceptions of rurality globally offer different epistemic paths to a vision for rural innovation?

⠀Topics of Interest

Rural computing and place-based design
Local infrastructures, maintenance and repair, Circular Economies
Innovation beyond entrepreneurship and startup logics
Agricultural, forestal and environmental innovation systems
Community-led, indigenous or feminist approaches to innovation
Health ecologies in rural contexts
Cultural opening, tradition and the rural public sphere
Policies and governance models that enable or constrain rural innovation
Methodologies for studying and designing in rural settings

⠀Submission Types

We welcome a variety of contributions, including:

Full papers (6.000–12.000 words, excluding references and appendices)
Posters and demos (1.000-2.000 words, excluding references)
Workshops (1.000-2.000 words, excluding references). Workshop proposals should include an outline of the envisioned program, including the motivation for the workshop and proposed activities.

⠀All full paper submissions will undergo a double-blind peer review process. Submissions for posters and demos are also double-blind, but are refereed by a member of the program committee. Workshops are not anonymized and will be refereed by the Workshops Co-Chairs.

All accepted submissions will be published in the EUSSET Digital Library.

We are open to creative formatting, paper structures and approaches, including speculative work, case studies, critiques, and other creative modes of presentation. Submissions should be written in English and use the new EUSSET Conference template, provided on the ECSCW website. All submissions will be handled on the EasyChair platform.

Submissions will be accepted on the EasyChair platform. The submission portal will open up on March 1, 2026 and the link will be posted on the conference website.

If a submission is accepted, it is expected that at least one author will be present in person to present the paper.

Target Audience and Disciplines

This conference seeks to bring together researchers and practitioners from a range of fields, including but not limited to:

Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)
Computer Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW)
Science and Technology Studies (STS)
Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICTD)
Rural and Regional Studies
Design Research and Interaction Design
Geography and Infrastructure Studies
Innovation and Policy Studies

We aim to foster interdisciplinary alliances that explore rural regions not only as sites of technological intervention, but as domains of situated knowledge, socio-ecological practice, and theoretical innovation. Because of this, we explicitly encourage interdisciplinary, critical and practice-based submissions. We also are supportive of work from disciplines that typically don’t publish in conference proceedings (e.g., sociology, anthropology). If you have questions about the process or expectations, please contact the Program Committee Chairs at icirr@socio-informatics.de

Chairs of Program Committee

Jean Hardy, Michigan State University

Max Krüger, University of Siegen

Organizing Committee

Yannick Bollmann, Claudia Müller, Isara Rommel, Philipp Rutz, and Volker Wulf, University of Siegen