The IFAC World Congress 2026 is widely open for invited sessions and open invited track sessions. In either case, the topics might be within the scope of the congress and should be sufficiently specific (not too broad). The invited sessions and open invited track sessions could include any type of four paper formats: regular papers, survey papers, discussion papers, and dissemination papers.

Invited sessions must be formed with five (including one survey paper) or six papers based on personal invitation by the organizers. Open invited track sessions have no limit on the number of papers, and the organizers are responsible for attracting contributors. The proposals of open invited track sessions will be advertised on the IFAC World Congress 2026 website. Anyone can submit their papers to open invited track sessions.

An invited session proposal consists of five to six papers on a specific subject. The proposals should be concise with the limit of 6 pages in PDF format. There is no specific template but the proposal is expected to include the following items:

• Title of the invited session
• Abstract
• Choice of an IFAC technical committee for review (via choice of the first keyword )
• Detailed description of the topic
• Titles, authors, and abstracts of all six papers

Up on submission of the proposal, the organizers will receive a code for the session. The code should be distributed to the contributors, which will be needed at the time of submission of their papers.

An open invited track session has no limitation on the number of papers. The proposals should be concise with the limit of 6 pages in PDF format. There is no specific template but the proposal is expected to include the following items:

• Title of the open invited track session
• Abstract
• Choice of an IFAC technical committee for review (via choice of the first keyword )
• Detailed description of the topic
• Information of the organizers
• Link to a web page to further describe the track (optional but recommended)

The IFAC World Congress 2026 will advertise the approved open invited tracks. Organizers are encouraged to submit proposals as early as possible before the deadline. As soon as an open invited track proposal is submitted, the IPC chairs will assess its relevance to the scope of the IFAC World Congress 2026 and verify whether the topics covered are not too broad or already included in previously submitted tracks. Once a track is approved, the organizers will receive a unique code, which will also be displayed on the congress website. Contributors must enter this code when submitting their papers to the corresponding track.

The list of proposed open invited track sessions will be available at the List of Open Invited Track Sessions page after the review of open invited session proposals, around early October 2025.

Each paper submitted to invited sessions and open invited track sessions will be individually reviewed. Invited session or track proposals will also be rated as a whole. At the discretion of the program committee, individual papers may be removed from the proposed session or track and be placed in the regular program, and appropriate contributed papers may be moved to the sessions or tracks. Likewise, selected papers from rejected invited sessions and tracks may be placed in the regular program.

For further information, please IPC Co-Chairs, Hyo-Sung Ahn & Hyoun Jin Kim ipc@ifac2026.org.