Marco Montali - AI for object-centric and relational processes

Conventional process modelling, analysis, and mining techniques rely on the strong assumption of case-centricity. Case-centricity states that every execution of a work process revolves around a main, single object, called case, evolved in isolation from other cases. This assumption falls short in a wide range of situations, where it is essential to track how one or more processes co-evolve, at once, multiple objects connected via one-to-many and many-to-many relationships. A new wave of so-called object-centric process science is consequently emerging, posing distinctive novel challenges that cannot be directly tackled using conventional techniques. In this seminar, I will provide a bird-eye-view of this nascent field, considering  event data and their representation, models and their necessary features, and the current state of research on analysis and mining tasks. Particular attention will be given to (often implicit) simplifying assumptions regarding relations and how they can change over time, advocating the need of lifting such assumptions towards general “relational processes”. I will then present how we are attacking the many open challenges in this area through a combination of techniques from artificial intelligence, formal methods, and data management, with the ultimate goal of providing solid foundations for relational process science. 

Marco Montali is full professor in Computer Engineering, with a focus on artificial intelligence and process science. He is a highly-awarded researcher and a keynote speaker at large international conferences. Prof. Montali is known for bringing clear messages to audiences, even when it concerns more technical topics. Since 2025, he also became a EarAi fellow, an honor that is only granted to a small percentage of the total membership of all member societies of the European Association for Artificial Intelligence.