Introduction: Integrated Computer-Aided Engineering

This special issue is based on the 15th InternationalConference on Computer Supported Cooperative Workin Design (CSCWD 2011) held in Lausanne, Switzer-land, on June 8–11, 2011. CSCWD is a series of annualinternational conferences (http://www.cscwd.org/) or-ganized by the IEEE SMC Technical Committee onComputer Supported Cooperative Work in Design toprovide a forum for researchers and practitioners in-volved in different but related domains to confront re-search results and discuss key problems in the designof complex artifacts. The scope includes the researchand developmentfieldsof collaboration technologiesand their applications to the design of processes, prod-ucts, systems, and services in industries and societies. From about 130 papers presented in technical ses-sions at the conference, authors of the twenty six pa-pers considered to be the most innovative and originalin terms of collaboration technologies and engineeringapplications were invited to submit “substantiallyex-tended and updated manuscripts with additional origi-nal computational materials based on their most recentresearch”for possible publication in this issue. It wasalso noted “theoverlap between the new submissionand the paper published in the conference proceed-ings should not be more than 50%.”Each submittedextended manuscript was reviewed subsequently by 4to 7 reviewers using the journal review form. The sixmanuscripts included in this issue are those that passedthrough two rounds of the journal’s rigorous review process successfully.