NARRATIVE REPORT 9TH EDITION TABLE OF CONTENT What is KosICT? 1 Agenda / Program 2-5 ProCredit Bank MAIN STAGE 6-8 Kutia DEVELOPERS STAGE 9 ICK Innovation Fair 10-13 Brokerage Event - B2B Meetings 14 KosICT CS:GO Masters - eSports Tournament 15 Statistics 16-18 Sponsors & Partners 19 WHAT IS KOSICT? KosICT is a tech festival which held its first edition in 2011 with the aim of bridging the gap between the local and international ICT markets by highlighting and bringing the latest technological trends and developments This year, for its latest 9th edition, KosICT was a to the Balkans, through local, regional and hybrid of physical and virtual speeches and international experts who would share their discussion panel by expert local and international experiences and knowledge with the audience speakers. The 9th edition of KosICT tech festival comprised out of software developers, ICT was organized by Kosovo ICT Association - STIKK enthusiasts and experts, C-level Executives, and was held on December 11th - 13th, 2020. The Academia Representatives and Students. tech festival was attended by over 2500 participants in three various platforms where the Another very important goal of the KosICT tech speeches were streamed those being: KosICT Web festival is to promote the local ICT sector on an Platform, Facebook and YouTube. international scale through visitors from international companies attending KosICT, our Two conference stages were built at Innovation partner associations and renowned speakers Centre Kosovo (ICK) where 18 local and 20 international speakers explored topics like: that grace the stages of KosICT and act as eCommerce, CyberSecurity, Game Development, ambassadors for Kosovo and the local ICT Artificial Intelligence, Big Data Analysis, Internet of sector by promoting their experience here to Things, Industry 4.0, Digitalization, Branding for the their colleagues, business partners, etc. Digital Era, and many more. The speakers that graced the stages of KosICT during its 9th edition As a technology festival, KosICT, in enriched represented world renowned companies like IBM, by a few different elements including two Microsoft, Siemens AI, Capgemini, Publicis, Berlin conference format stages highlighting some of Games Week, Cloudical, Josephs Open Innovation the latest topics and trends in the ICT industry, Lab, and many more. an innovation fair focusing on some of the most prominent start-ups, a brokerage event Continuing the tradition of supporting and promoting bringing together local & international promising Start-Up's, KosICT once again welcomed businesses, and last but certainly not least, an the Innovation Fair, this time virtually, where 15 eSports tournament highlight the talents and Start-Up's highlighted their work. promoting the gaming community in Kosovo. Finally, the Brokerage Event organized under the umbrella of Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) brought together 90 local and international businesses for two days of private meetings and potential partnership explorations. KosICT was concluded with the grand finals of the KosICT CS:GO Masters tournament, where 8 of the best teams in the region competed for a prize pool of 4000 Euros. 1 PROCREDIT BANK MAIN STAGE PROGRAM: DECEMBER 10TH, 2020 10:00 OPENING REMARKS 10:30 - Çelik Nimani - STIKK Board Vice President, Frakton Jenny Sørvold- Embassy of Norway in Kosovo, Deputy Ambassador 10:35 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE & THE FUTURE OF WORK [KEYNOTE] 11:10 - Bernd "Benno" Blumoser - Siemens AI Lab, Head of Innovation 11:15 THE PATH TO DIGITALIZATION: DO'S & DON'TS 12:05 - MODERATOR: Donjeta Sahatçiu - Rrota, CEO DISCUSSION Mërgim Cahani - Gjirafa, CEO PANEL Valon Canhasi - Hallakate, CEO Enur Pakashtica - MikMik, Founder 12:35 CYBERSECURITY : WHERE WE ARE & WHERE WE SHOULD BE? 13:15 - MODERATOR: Bashkim Islami - Prishtina REA, Manager/Business Developer DISCUSSION Dr. Blerton Abazi - UBT, Cyber Security Professor PANEL Predrag Pale - University of Zagreb, Computer Forensics Professor Dr. George Sharkov - Ministry of Defense (Bulgaria), Adviser SPONSORED TOPIC Prof. Dr. Mitko Bogdanoski - Military Academy General Mihailo Apostoski, Vice Dean 13:20 THE ROLE OF DATA & TECHNOLOGY 13:55 - Dr. Andi Bejleri - IBM, Lead Architect 14:00 SMART CITIES: DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF CITIES 14:40 - Matthias Weiss- Urban Lighting Innovation, CEO 14:45 TELEHEALTH: REMOTE MONITORING & TELECONSULTATION 15:25 - Dr. Pantelis Angelidis - University of West Macedonia, Prof. Digital Health SPONSORED TOPIC Dr. Nikolaos Gkouvas - Hellenic Psychiatric Association, Pres. of Informatics & Innov. Vivi Katsouli - Vidavo, Project Manager. 16:00 - DIGITAL HEALTH: HOW TECHNOLOGY IS BRINGING DOCTORS 16:45 CLOSER TO US [CLOSING KEYNOTE] Christian Schulz - Health Hackers e.V., Board Member 2 PROCREDIT BANK MAIN STAGE PROGRAM: DECEMBER 11TH, 2020 10:00 - DIGITAL TRUST IN THE ERA OF COVID-19: 10:40 REACHING TRUSTWORTHY INFORMATION Brian Kissman - ASK, Head of School 10:45 INNOVATION AS A MEAN OF SURVIVAL 11:25 - Dr.Benedikt Hockmayr - JOSEPHS Open Innovation Lab, CEO 11:35 eCOMMERCE & ePAYMENT - THE HEROES WE ALL NEEDED 12:15 - MODERATOR: Zana Tabaku - AppDec, Founder & CEO DISCUSSION PANEL Argjira Kadrijaj - ProCredit Bank, Head of Business Dev. SPONSORED TOPIC Ermira Kadriu - GNTC Group Sh.A., Brand Manager Donjeta Sahatçiu - Rrota, Partner & CEO 13:00 LEARNING 2.0: CHANGING THE EDUCATION SYSTEM 13:45 - MODERATOR: Ermal Sadiku - LinkPlus IT, CEO DISCUSSION Darsej Rizaj - Shkolla Digjitale, Co-Founder PANEL Arta Shehu - Labbox, CEO Xhavit Rexhaj - Ministry of Education, Deputy Minister 13:50 eID - AS AN ENABLER FOR CITIZENS & BUSINESSES - 14:20 - INFRASTRUCTURE, OPPORTUNITIES & CHALLENGES Dr. Fatbardh Veseli - Capgemini, Cyber Security Officer 14:30 DIGITAL TRAVEL: WHEN TECHNOLOGY 15:10 - AND TOURISM COLLIDE MODERATOR: Njomza Hasani-Emini - My Travel, Partner DISCUSSION Flamur Bahtijari - Chamber of Hospitality & Tourism, Vice President PANEL Virtyt Gacaferi - Balkan Natural Adventure, Founder Alan Huet - Breathe in Travel, Co-Founder Quentin Billon - Breathe in Travel, Co-Founder 15:15 CYBER RESILIENCE & ECONOMY 16:00 - Dr. Blerton Abazi - UBT, Cyber Security Professor DISCUSSION Predrag Pale - University of Zagreb, Computer Forensics Professor SPONSORED TOPIC PANEL Dr. George Sharkov - Ministry of Defense (Bulgaria), Adviser Prof. Dr. Mitko Bogdanoski - Military Academy General Mihailo Apostoski, Vide Dean 16:15 eSPORTS: THE RISE OF A JUGGERNAUT [KEYNOTE] 17:00 - Michael Liebe - Games Week Berlin, Head 17:00 CLOSING REMARKS 17:15 - 3 Vjollca Çavolli - STIKK Executive Director KUTIA DEVELOPERS STAGE PROGRAM: DECEMBER 10TH, 2020 10:00 OPENING REMARKS [PCB MAIN STAGE] 10:30 - Çelik Nimani - STIKK Board Vice President, Frakton Jenny Sørvold - Embassy of Norway in Kosovo, Deputy Ambassador 11:25 THE NEW STANDARD FOR 2D & 3D GRAPHICS ON THE WEB 12:00 - Gentrit Duraku - Frakton, Web Development Lead 13:00 - AI FOR ALL: AI APPLICATION IN DIFFERENT BUSINESS 13:40 SECTORS & AI TRENDS Dr. Harry Tsavdaris - Microsoft, National Technology Officer SPONSORED TOPIC 14:00 SOCIAL MEDIA AS A TOOL FOR eCOMMERCE 14:40 - Benjamin Kolenovic - Growzillas, CEO 15:00 BUILDING BRAND LOYALTY IN THE DIGITAL ERA 15:45 - MODERATOR: Shpat Dushi - Burger King Kosovo, Marketing Manager DISCUSSION Alban Kastrati - Republika, Managing Partner PANEL SPONSORED TOPIC Genc Meraku - Zero Medan, CEO Norik Rizaj - Hallakate, Creative Director 15:50 PROJECT MANAGEMENT IN GAME DEVELOPMENT 16:30 - Lorenzo Pilia - Berlin Games Scene, Founder 4 KUTIA DEVELOPERS STAGE PROGRAM: DECEMBER 11TH, 2020 10:00 INTELLIGENT CONTROL SYSTEMS - AI & ROBOTICS 10:40 - Ronnie Vuine - Micropsi, CEO 11:00 THE IMPORTANCE OF CYBER SECURITY - CASE STUDY 11:45 - Dr. Jurlind Budurushi - Cloudical, Chief Cyber Security Officer DISCUSSION PANEL Robert Shala - Sentry, Founder 12:30 SPOTIFY IN KOSOVO: IMPACTS & THE FUTURE 13:10 - Capital T - Artist 13:30 CREATING DYNAMIC WEB PAGES WITH PHP 14:10 - Uran Hajzeraj - Frakton, Backend Developer 14:30 QUALITY OF EDUCATION AND THE EFFECT OF TRAININGS 15:10 - DISCUSSION Veton Xhelili - Cacttus Education, Trainer PANEL Visar Jasiqi - RIT Kosovo, Chef Development Officer Arianit Fazliu - Beetroot Academy, Co-founder 15:30 THE CHALLENGES OF DIGITAL BANKING 16:10 - Goran Bosankic - ABC Tech Group, CEO 5 MAIN STAGE The COVID-19 pandemic has effected and altered every aspect of our daily lives, including the organization of the 9th edition of KosICT tech festival. In order to keep the feel and authenticity of the previous editions of KosICT, the ProCredit Bank MAIN STAGE was contrucred at Innovation Center Kosovo where local speakers participated physically, while the international speakers joined the conversation virtually. The 9th edition of KosICT was officially opened by the Vice President of the Board of Directors of Kosovo ICT Association (STIKK), Mr. Çelik Nimani who welcomed the virtual audience and highlighted some of the main topics to be discussed over the two days on both stages. The floor was then passed on to the Deputy Ambassador of Norway to the Republic of Kosovo, Ms. Jenny Sørvold who spoke about the continuous support the Norwegian Embassy has extended to the ICT community in Kosovo, as well as, some of the future plans of the embassy related to the growth of the local ICT industry. The first KEYNOTE of the 9th edition of KosICT was delivered by Mr. Bernd Blumoser, the Head of Innovation at Siemens AI Lab who spoke about Aritificial Intelligence and the Future of Work, a topic he's an expert in as one of the founders