**Preface to "Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Computing: Methods, Technologies, Systems, Applications and Policy Making"**

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a subject garnering increasing attention in both academia and the industry today. The understanding is that AI-enhanced methods and techniques create a variety of opportunities related to improving basic and advanced business functions, including production processes, logistics, financial management and others. As this collection demonstrates, AI-enhanced tools and methods tend to offer more precise results in the fields of engineering, financial accounting, tourism, air-pollution management and many more. The objective of this collection is to bring these topics together to offer the reader a useful primer on how AI-enhanced tools and applications can be of use in today's world. In the context of the frequently fearful, skeptical and emotion-laden debates on AI and its value added, this volume highlights AI's positive applications. Certainly, as AI is a part of a broader ecosystem of sophisticated tools, techniques and technologies, it is not immune to developments in that ecosystem. It is thus imperative that inter- and multidisciplinary research on AI and its ecosystem is encouraged. This collection contributes to that. We thank all contributing authors as well as the MDPI team for their professionalism.

> **Miltiadis D. Lytras, Anna Visvizi** *Editors*
