Increasingly complex and interdependent systems require careful design to ensure continued operation in the presence of component failures, natural disasters, software/hardware vulnerabilities, and latent software errors. Such systems span broad range of applicability. Devices such as pacemakers and insulin pumps, aim at better life for individuals, while large public infrastructure such a smart power grid, rapid public transport, and water treatment and distribution, impact the daily lives of a mass of people. Often such systems are interdependent in complex ways implying that flaws in the design of one may affect the behaviour of a system-of-systems.

A key question then becomes “What design innovation is needed to bring about systems whose operation in accordance with functional and non-functional requirements is assured with a very high probability?” HASE 2017 will focus on this and related questions answers to which are of paramount importance to engineers who design and build interdependent complex systems that impact individuals, entire cities and even nations.