Invitation

 University of Skopje has the honor to invite you to the 10^th International Scientific Congress for Business, Education, Sport and Tourism – ICON BEST 2026

16^th October 2026
In-Person at the University of Skopje
"Virtual" on Google Meet Platform
Time: 10 am Central European Standard Time (GMT + 02:00)

International Congress for Business, Economy, Sport and Tourism - ICON BEST 2026 is an International congress regarding research in business, sport, economy and tourism organized by the University of Skopje.  The ICON BEST is traditionally organized since 2008. It first started as a Scientific Conference and from 2009 was organized as a Scientific Congress and as a biennial event.  This year we celebrate Anniversary of 20 years of University of Skopje and its 10^th Scientific Congress.

The main aim of the congress is to put emphasis on the importance of business, economy, sport and tourism as important factors for improvement of national economic development. This year the working title of the congress is “Digital Horizons: Smart Economy & Tourism Intelligence”.

During the Congress we want to open discussions with academicians how to use AI to foster economic development offering innovative approaches in the field of tourism, economy, entrepreneurship, human resources management, marketing management and information technologies. With working title of this Congress we want to encourage scientists to provide solutions based on a strong academic foundation and highly specialized business knowledge bases in order to reach high productivity of emerging economies in dynamic global arena.

This international congress aims to support the academics, researchers and PhD students by offering them an opportunity to present their latest research results in the fields of education, social sciences, sports, tourism, business & economics, finance and management through which they can contribute to the social development, building a higher level of awareness, and an appropriate approach to domestic and global problems.

The knowledge and the professional skills are a vibrant and dynamic process that is always changing and improving, so the ability to keep up to date with it and enrich the professional competencies is inevitable in the academic and scientific world.

This year ICON BEST 2026 will be organized both: Live Event as well as a Virtual Congress, covering different topics in:

AI as a Driver of Global Transformation: Opportunities and Challenges in Tourism (Socio Cultural Effects of Tourism, Cultural and Economic Effects of Events on Destination, Environmental Impacts of Tourism, Food Culture and Tourism, Tourism in Multimedia, Gastronomy as a tourism resource: profile of the culinary tourist, Safety and security in global tourism, Entrepreneurship in Tourism, Sustainable tourism and well-being),

• Artificial Intelligence in an Era of Global Transformation of Marketing & Integrated Marketing Communications (Integrated Marketing Instruments, Marketing (Product & Service, International Marketing, Marketing Logistics, Strategic marketing, Advertising, Integrated Marketing Communications, Strategies of Marketing Communication, Pricing Strategy, International Marketing Strategy and Sustainability, E-Business and Competitive Strategy, Branding, Marketing planning, Public relations, Strategic Marketing Management for Nonprofit Organizations),
• The Role of information technologies in new AI Global transformation (New Technologies, emerging industries, sustainable energy and climate changes, Software Engineering, Software Systems, Software Verification, Databases, Natural Language Processing, Applied Mathematics, Computer Networks, Cloud Computing, Distributed Systems,  Management of Information Systems, Information Management, E-Business, E-Governance,  ICT in Education, Digital Society), 
• Navigating Global Transformation through AI: Innovation, Ethics, Sustainability of HR Management & Leadership Skills and Competences (Human and Social Capital), Recruiting and Hiring Trends, Aligning Corporate Culture with Business Strategy, Effective HR Business Strategies, Talent Management Strategies, Performance Management Innovation, HR Technology, HR Innovation, Employee Engagement, Aligning Corporate Culture with Business Strategy, Engagement & Culture),
• The Challenges for Management & Entrepreneurship in AI: Strategic management, Innovation management, Gender and copreneurship, Minority entrepreneurship, Family Business, successions and business transfers, Green and sustainable entrepreneurship, Opportunity generation and early business development, Innovative Business Models, Investment management, Information management systems, Total quality management, Entrepreneurial management, Social entrepreneurship, Technological entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurial business, Business ethics, Globalization and business, Sustainable development, Competitive advantage, Information and communication technologies),
• AI, Global Transformation, and the New Digital Economy & Finance (Sharing Economy, Entrepreneurial finance for new and growing businesses, Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Finance and Banking, Labor Economics, International Economics, International Finance, Public Economics, Public Administration and Management , E-Business and Competitive Strategy),
• Business education and Quality Assurance with AI (Methodological challenges and research methods, Teaching practices, Student performance, Learning environments, Accounting education, Finance education, Management education, Marketing education, Organizational behavior, Business curriculum development),
• Politics and Legal aspects of AI Global transformation (How Should Politics Influence Education Policy, Reflections on the Future of Global Higher Education, New Century Education System: Cultural, Political & Social Influences, Contemporary Issues in Law and Politics of Education, Managing the law in education: Strategies for education leaders and the organizations that support them, The changing political terrain: Trends affecting higher education, Conflict Resolution and World Education ),
• Open Topics Related to AI and Business Education (Bridging the gap between education and business on global and local level, Digital media and business education, Innovation, entrepreneurship and education, Social responsibility and business strategy alignment, Learning by doing - reshaping the classroom).
• The Challenges of future.

The language of the conference is English. The presentation of the papers will be accordingly to the conference program, which you will receive it electronically, three days before the conference date. The time for presentation of the papers will be limited to 8 minutes.

Deadline for submission of abstracts: September 15^th, 2026

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Abstracts should be between 300 & 400 words (including references) and should be written in English. No abstracts will be accepted beyond the world limit and the deadline. Abstracts must address original research. Writings must be of reasonable quality in terms of English grammar and should clearly state the purpose and the methodology of research. Submissions will be blind-refereed by two anonymous reviewers who will decide if a paper will be requested based on an abstract. However, acceptance of an abstract does not guarantee acceptance of a final paper. Once the abstract is accepted, the author(s) will be provided with specific guidelines for submission of a full paper. All full papers submitted will be subject to review by at least two anonymous referees, with expertise in the content area, who will decide if the final paper will be accepted.

Information for authors are available on the ICON BEST 2026 web site - https://iconbest.utms.edu.mk/information-for-autors-and-article-formatting-requirements-2024

The best ranked papers from the Congress should be published in the December 2026 issue of the International *UTMS Journal of economics*, indexed and abstracted in following databases: ABI/INFORM (ProQuest); ABI/INFORM Global (ProQuest), AP PLATFORMS; C.I.R.E.T.; DOAJ; EBSCO; EconBiz; Econis; EconPapers; EconStor; EDRIC; EZB; GOOGLE SCHOLAR; IDEAS; Open J-Gate; RePEc; Socionet; ZBW, Business Collection (ProQuest), Business Premium Collection (ProQuest).

Who Should Attend?

• Academics and educators
• Government/ directors and/or administrators
• Representatives of multi-national organizations
• Marketers in tourism, hospitality and leisure sectors
• Researchers and industry consultants

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

For more information about ICON BEST 2026 visit our web site:

Website: https://iconbest.utms.edu.mk

With respect,
Organizational Committee
ICON BEST 2026
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.