this volume of advances in intelligent and soft computing contains accepted papers presented at soco 2010 held in the beautiful and historic city of guimarães, portugal, june 2010. this volume presents the papers accepted for the 2010 edition, both for the main event and the special sessions. soco 2010 special sessions are a very useful tool in order to complement the regular program with new or emerging topics of particular interest to the participating community. special sessions that emphasize on multi-disciplinary and transversal aspects, as well as cutting-edge topics were especially encouraged and welcome.