ICT Cluster became partner of the 6th International Telecommunications Conference and Exhibition TELCO TRENDS 2016 will be held from August 17 to August 19 in a resort city of Jurmala (Latvia).

Leading experts of the sector of electronic communications in the EU and CIS countries will meet in the beautiful hotel Baltic Beach Hotel & SPA, located in a picturesque location directly on the shore of the Baltic Sea to discuss topical issues and communicate with colleagues accompanied by rote.

This largest event in the Baltic States is unique because it is playing the role of a bridge between the West and the East: it gathers industry experts from both the European Union and the CIS, discussing urgent problems and find areas of common interest. Every year, the number of visitors is growing. This time, we expect around 400 experts from Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Germany, Sweden, the UK, France, Denmark, the Netherlands, Poland, Israel, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and other countries.

The event is widely covered in the media: the partners of Telco Trends are leading telecommunications publications – “Cableman”, “Telesputnik”, Mediasat, ICT-Online.ru. We are working with industry associations of the CIS and the EU countries - their leaders every year come to the conference, gladly communicate with the Telco Trends participants and help them to find partners in their own country.

The forum will address the hottest industry topics. How a single digital market in Europe develops, how is changing the regulatory basis and the regulatory system? How ОТТ services affect the business environment and how to resolve the interaction issues between participants of the market and compliance with copyright in a civilized manner? Experts will discuss the trends of the telecommunications industry, technical and legal issues, new trends related to the development and convergence of technologies.

The representatives of the EU regulatory agencies, heads of industry associations, leading operators and suppliers of equipment and solutions, such as SES and Astro Strobel will perform before audience.

An exhibition of content and technical innovations will take part in the framework of TELCO TRENDS: television and multimedia solutions from leading manufacturers. It will be possible to get acquainted with new channels, to learn about the development plans and evaluate the latest technologies.

The Association “Electronic money” has become our partner this year. Its leader Viktor Dostov will perform before an audience telling the representatives of the telecommunications industry about the development and evolution of payment systems and new solutions that can help operators to quickly, conveniently and securely receive payments from their customers.

Time for the individual meetings and negotiations will be allocated: pleasant atmosphere, pine fragrance, a light breeze and calm landscapes contribute to tying useful contacts and concluding agreements.

At evening, traditionally, the guests of TELCO TRENDS will have a rich entertainment program: a cocktail party on the beach, funny beach tournament and other unforgettable events you will remember with pleasure the whole year.

Working languages: Russian, English. Simultaneous interpreting will be ensured.

You can register and get more detailed information on the official website of TelcoTrends www.telcotrends.eu

Follow us on the official page of Telco Trends on Facebook or Twitter:
www.fb.com/telcotrends
www.twitter.com/telcotrends

Join our event on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/220307921666461 !

We offer a wide range of advertising and sponsorship opportunities that will adventitious present your company to the participants of “TELCO TRENDS 2016”.

Here you can see the list of last year's participants:
http://www.telcotrends.eu/ru/arhiv/2015?view=all

We look forward to seeing you in Jurmala at TELCO TRENDS 2016!

According to the conclusions of the Strategic ICT Clusters’ Meeting for Danube ICT Clusters’ sustainable cooperation for smart and inclusive growth project which was held on February 18th and-19th 2016, in Belgrade, Regional Surveys have been implemented.
The surveys has been conducted under the framework of the DANUBE ICT Project and gave an opportunity to regional ICT clusters, business organizations, ICT SME’s as well as cross industry clusters to express their opinion about current business conditions and prospective for cross-border  and cross industry collaboration in the region.
As a main result of thorough questionnaires, responded from almost all regional countries, there is very high scale of recognition of cross-border and cross-industry cooperation as business opportunity.
The Strategic Action Plan for regional cross-cluster collaboration was elaborated based on the surveys’ results. The two potential projects on which the project partners will be focused in their future collaboration are:  Comprehensive value chain mapping for smart agriculture in the Balkans region and Entrepreneurial discovery for cross-cluster development of business models and smart technology-service solutions for precision agriculture. The project ends on 31th May 2016.

In the framework of the Danube ICT project implementation, two surveys were prepared and shared with regional partners – members of the Balkan and Black Sea ICT Clusters Network.  The first was devoted to clusters and business organizations and the second for SMEs from the region. The surveys are part of the Action 2 of the project which aims is to support the development of sustainable collaboration among ICT Clusters through the elaboration of a strategic action plan for transnational cross-industry and cross -cluster collaboration, including industries of common interest, in order to propose future projects. We have received 85 responses from all member countries. The final results from the surveys you could find there:
Danube ICT - Survey Clusters
Danube ICT - Survey SMEs

Началната среща по проект Ventures8  по програмата „Еразмус за млади предприемачи” се проведе в Сабадел (Испания) на 21-ви април 2016 г. Консорциумът състоящ се от 11 организации направи първоначалното му планиране и определя неговите 6-месечни цели.

BizzIT конференция  се проведе в Парк Хотел Кюстендил състоя на 23 април 2016 г. В нея участваха над 150 души, включително ученици от 8 до 12 клас на училищата в гр. Кюстендил. Конференцията обикаля цяла България. Нейната цел е да запознае широката аудитория с възможностите и новостите в ИТ сектора. Сред темите на форума бяха правилният път както към кариера в ИТ бранша, така и към създаването на успешен ИТ бизнес на глобално ниво.

Темите на форума бяха дигитален маркетинг, програмиране, роботика, автоматизация на дома, онлайн търговия и създаване на собствен бизнес.

На конференцията, Тодор Митов, Асистент проекти в ИКТ Клъстер, представи програмата  „Еразъм за млади предприемачи” и  възможностите, която тя предоставя. 

Иво Василев разказа своята успешна история от участието си като млад предприемач в програмата „Еразъм за млади предприемачи“ и развитието на собствен бизнес. Иво Василев е участник по програмата през 2012 г. с подкрепата на ИКТ Клъстер  като посредническа организация.

Презентация за програмата "Еразъм за млади предприемачи" от събитието може да намерите тук: "Еразъм за млади предприемачи"

На 12.04.2016 г. от 10.00 часа  в бар „Мементо“ екипът на ИКТ Клъстер организира среща на сутрешно кафе с журналисти.

На срещата журналистите се запознаха с целите на програмата „Еразмус за млади предприемачи“, възможностите, които предоставя и стъпките за кандидатстватне.

На 12.04.2016 г. от 10.00 часа  в бар „Мементо“ екипът на ИКТ Клъстер организира среща на сутрешно кафе с журналисти. Целта на среща беше да се представи позицията на фондацията относно постигнатите успехи през последните години на европейската клъстерна сцена, тенденции за развитието на клъстерите в Европа и  политиката  на България в тази насока. Прес съобщението от събитието можете да намерите тук.

Brussels 21 March 2016 – The largest group of ICT clusters in the Balkan and Black Sea region, BBS ICT Clusters Network, becomes member of the European Digital SME Alliance.

The European Digital SME Alliance was officially launched on 15 March 2016 during the CeBIT of Hannover. The alliance is a Brussels based international non-for profit association that promotes the interests of European digital SMEs in the EU.  

The BBS ICT Clusters Network is the joint effort of 19 national and regional clusters in South East Europe.  Its aim is to strengthen collaboration among clusters and increase the competitiveness of the sector on the global market.

Dr. Oliver Grün, president of the European Digital SME Alliance welcomed the new membership: “The BBS ICT Clusters Network is a strong regional partner for our Alliance. With it we strengthen our position as the largest organization representative of the ICT SME sector in Europe. Thanks to our existing and new members we now reach about 20.000 SMEs in 18 countries both EU members and neighbors.”

Stelian Brad, President of BBS ICT Clusters Network for 2016 sees in this membership a big opportunity to increase the visibility of the ICT sector from the Balkan and Black See region in the Western part of Europe and true chances for new Est-West ICT-related businesses. “We see this step well-aligned with the paradigm of playing together a smarter game, not draining brain”, Dr. Brad said with the occasion of official announcement of the new membership.

На 14.03.2016 г. в Парк Хотел Витоша се състоя семинар „Стандартизация за МСП“. Семинарът бе организиран от ИКТ Клъстер и  Small Business Standards (SBS) с методолoгическата подкрепа на Европейски Телекомуникационен Институт за Стандартизация (ЕТСИ).

На събитието присъстваха експерти от SBS, ETSI, Европейския комитет по стандартизация (CEN), Европейския комитет за електротехническа стандартизация (CENELEC), Български институт за стандартизация, представители на университети, фирми и клъстери от ИКТ сектора в България и балканския регион.

Основната цел на семинара бе повишаване на информираността на участниците за ИКТ стандартите и тяхната роля, функции, процес на подготовка и въздействието им върху конкурентоспособността на бизнеса.

Програмата на събитието включваше следните 4 модула:

• Стандартизация, предизвикателства и възможности пред МСП;
• Стандартизация – ключов инструмент за ИКТ МСП;
• Стандартизация и конкурентоспособност за МСП;
• Обучение по стандартизация за ИКТ МСП;

Резултати от семинара:

• Четирите университета – Нов Български Университет, Технически Университет – София, Университет в Скопие „ Св. Св. Кирил и Методи“, Технически Университет – Клуж – Напока и Технически Университет – София изразиха интереса си за създаването на бакалавърска и магистърска програма по стандартизация, базирана на методологията, представена  от  ЕТСИ. Представителите на университетите приеха предизвикателството да създадат и организират съответните курсове по стандартизация още тази есен.
• Представителите на БДС, българските експерти в ЕТСИ и ИКТ Клъстер решиха да започнат по-тясно сътрудничество помежду си по въпросите дискутирани по време на семинара. 
• Представителите на фирмите изразиха интерес към определени стандарти. ИКТ Клъстер ще им предостави необходимата информация и съдействие.

Презентации от семинара:

Education about Standardization for SMEs – Mr. Hermann Brand

The EU Regulatory Framework and the Role of Small Business Standards – Mrs. Christel Davidson

Trainings to SMEs on how to benefit from and why to participate in standardization - Mrs. Ingrid Soetaert

BDS role for Bulgarian SMEs in collaboration with universities - Mr. Ivelin Burov

Review Of Etsi Tc Attm - George Babinov

ETSI Technical Committee TCCE TETRA and Critical Communications Evolution - Mr. Emil Dimitrov

The Role And Goals Of The European Digital SME Alliance - Mr. Peter Statev

The experience of the Technical University of Sofia in education about standardization – Mrs. Milka Vincheva

ICT Cluster е партньор на Форума и изложението за интелигентни градове 2016. Събитието ще се проведе от 5 до 7 април в София и цели да покаже модерни технологии и работещи практики, които могат да превърнат градовете ни в по-екологични и ефективни системи. Повече за събитието на: http://viaexpo.com/bg/pages/smart-cities

 ICT Cluster joint with European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and Small Business Standards (SBS) are organizing one-day training seminar that will take place on 14th of March 2016 in Sofia, Bulgaria.
This seminar will provide participants with knowledge and understanding towards ETSI curriculum outline about EaS and its approach, and will include following modules:
• Standardisation, challenges and opportunities for SMEs
• Standardisation – a key tool for ICT SMEs
• Standardisation and competitiveness for SMEs
• Education about standards for ICT SMEs

The organization of the seminar is the first step till development of Balkan Academy for implementation of ICT Standards in Higher education curriculums. The main purpose of the seminar is raising the awareness of ICT standards role, function, process of preparations, implications on business competitiveness.

On 8th March 2016, in Brussels on a “Cluster GO International” Launch event, the GIVE partnership was awarded with a label ESCP-4i for European Strategic Cluster Partnership. Mr. Peter Statev – chairman of ICT Cluster, the leading cluster organization, received the certificate on behalf of the partnership. 

The Green ICT Development (GIVE) partnership is focused on building up a strategic cluster partnership in the field of smart green technologies among the three industries: automotive, renewable energy and ICT. It is based on cross-industry, cross-cluster, and cross-border and cross-regional collaboration as it encompasses 8 partners from 7 different countries, 2 European regions and 3 industries. The partners in the partnership are: Foundation Cluster Information and Communication Technologies, IT Cluj, HAMAC, AITA, MASIT, ICT Cluster Plovdiv, Automotive Cluster Slovenia and Green Current Renewable Energetics and Innovation Cluster.

The label will give more visibility of the partnership and its members and they will benefit from the information and support resources of the European Commission in order to achieve their strategic goals and SME internationalization.