Modelling collaborative and interoperable enterprise processes

Interoperability, understood in a broad sense as the ability of heterogeneous systems and organisations to coordinate their activities efficiently, is one of the pillars of enterprise collaboration. This special Issue, managed by the guest editors Prof. Xavier Boucher (France) and Prof. Hamideh Afsarmanesh (Netherlands), has been published as a result of the IFIP/ SOCOLNET International Working Conference PROVE. For more than 10 years, PRO-VE has been building the basis of a science and research community on ‘Collaborative Enterprise Networks’, at the crossroad of several complementary research disciplines. This special issue intends to propose an international state of the art review of the latest developments on the modelling and management of collaborative and interoperable manufacturing processes. From a research point of view, enterprise collaboration in the manufacturing industry encompasses differentiated conceptual issues and applicative areas. This variety of problems is reflected in the distinct points of view on collaboration developed in the papers: