Agent Technologies and Business Models for Electronic Commerce

Abstract

Agent technologies have proved to provide adequate solutions to some of the challenges posed by the new business models that are arising in the field of electronic commerce. In this chapter, we present some of the key challenges in turning agents’ research into commercial applications, provide an overview of the electronic commerce business models, and discuss how they can benefit from the new developments in agent technologies. We illustrate the discussion with examples of the work that is being developed by projects from the IST research program of the European Union.