Kiel,  September 28 & 29, 2026

Call for Papers

The fifth conference on the economic impact of robots and automation (CORA) will take place on September 28th and 29th 2026 at ZBW Leibniz Information Centre for Economics in cooperation with University Hamburg.

By now, CORA has been established as a widely recognized platform for all economists working in the rapidly growing fields of robots, automation, and artificial intelligence (AI). In particular, the conference provides a forum for discussion between data users and the main data provider in this field, the International Federation of Robotics (IFR).

Keynote speakers will be

• Alessandra Bonfigioli, University of Bergamo, Italy
• Florian Butollo, Goethe University, Germany

Researchers from all fields of economics are invited to present new research results and discuss possible directions for future research activities. We welcome the submission of papers with an empirical, theoretical, and/or policy orientation focusing on micro- or macroeconomic aspects of robots, automation, and artificial intelligence.

Topics presented could include but are not limited to

• the effects of automation on economic growth, productivity, and welfare
• the effects of automation on inflation and interest rates
• the environmental effects of automation and AI
• the causes of automation such as technological change, labor market shortages, population aging, low interest rates and investment incentives, etc.
• economic policy implications of automation and AI

Please submit an extended abstract of your paper or the complete paper via conftool: https://www.conftool.net/cora2026/

IFR Best Paper Award:

The International Federation of Robotics will sponsor a prize (free access to the World Robotics 2026 Premium Edition) for the best paper presented at the conference. All papers submitted to CORA 2026 are eligible. If you do not wish to enter the competition, please state so upon submission of your paper.

Submission deadline: Monday, June 15, 2026
Notification: Friday, July 10, 2026

The participation fee is € 200 and includes workshop materials, coffee breaks, refreshments during the workshop, and a conference dinner. Non-presenting attendees are subject to the same participation fee as presenting authors. Registration will be possible until late August. Details will be announced on the conference website in July.

Members of the Selection Committee are Ana Abeliansky (WU and OeNB, Vienna), Anne Jurkat (IFR), Katja Mann (Copenhagen Business School), Christopher Müller (IFR, Frankfurt), Klaus Prettner (WU Vienna), Anna Salomons (Tilburg University and Utrecht University School of Economics), Simone Vannuccini (University Côte d'Azur), and Konstantin Wacker (University of Groningen and Webster Vienna Private University).

An invited session on CES production functions will be organized by Konstantin Wacker (University of Groningen, Webster Vienna Private University) and Marianne Saam (ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics and University of Hamburg).

Conference organization

Marianne Saam, ZBW Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (pb-c@zbw-online.eu)