This special issue of Neurocomputing presents 15 original articles that are extended versions of selected papers from the 18th European Symposium on Artificial Neural Networks (ESANN), a major event for researchers in the fields of artificial neural networks, machine learning, computational intelligence, and related topics. This single track conference is held annually in Bruges, Belgium, one of the most beautiful medieval towns in Europe, and is organized by Prof. Michel Verleysen from the Universite catholique de Louvain, Belgium. In addition to regular sessions, the conference welcomes special sessions organized by renowned scientists in their respective fields. These sessions focus on particular topics, such as semi-supervised learning, learning with preferences, neural maps, or generative and Bayesian models. The contributions in this special issue show that ESANN covers a broad range of topics in neural computing and neuroscience, from theoretical aspects to state-of-the-art applications.
More than 120 researchers from 19 countries participated in the 18th ESANN in April 2010. They presented 95 contributions, and enjoyed a stimulating atmosphere in Bruges. Based on the