Leading European telecommunication experts are to meet in Jūrmala for Telco Trends 2017

TELCO TRENDS 2017, the largest international telecommunication conference and exhibition in the Baltic States, is going to be held in Jūrmala from 14 to 18 August 2017. Experts from 37 countries are going to discuss the most topical issues of the industry.

Over 7 years the Telco Trends conference has become one of the leading platforms in Eastern Europe, bringing together professionals in the field of electronic communications.

At Telco Trends, experts from CIS countries receive first-hand information on reforms in the European telecommunications sector and how legislative changes would impact operators’ activities. Entrepreneurs from the EU can discuss joint projects with colleagues working in the multimillion-dollar markets of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Moldova.

The participants of the event include heads of professional associations, influential European lawmakers, representatives of the largest market players, as well as leading industry experts, and the warm, friendly atmosphere that Telco Trends is famous for ensures that the communication goes beyond the formal.

The organisers have prepared an extensive and engaging programme that covers the most pressing topics of concern to the participants of the electronic communications market.

As always, Telco Trends 2017 will provide a discussion of the most significant topics in the field. Experts are going to assess the results of reforms in regard to the EU’s Digital Single Market and analyse new legislative initiatives. Difficulties in regard to introducing local content to the global market are going to be discussed at the broadcasting organisation forum.

The best experts are going to analyse the dynamics of the international TV and OTT services market and the development of innovative payment technologies, since business activities of Pay TV operators and companies working in the e-commerce segment have become more global due to modern communications. In addition, effective methods in combating content piracy and protecting intellectual property are going to be highlighted.

The exhibition of technical and technological novelties, as well as the content fair CONTENT MARKETPLACE – a new addition to Telco Trends 2017 – are going to be held during the conference.

The global leaders in providing technical solutions for Pay TV will demonstrate their know-how. For TV channels and video libraries, top-notch films, series and cartoons are going to be presented. Pay TV operators will learn about the best offers in regard to channels and video services.

After an intense work day with plenty of useful information and newly established contacts, guests are welcome to enjoy an eventful evening programme and informal communication in the exquisite setting of the best Jūrmala restaurants. The cosy resort atmosphere, peaceful marine sceneries and picturesque nature create a unique aura, making Telco Trends an ideal place for business meetings.

You can get more information and register at the official Telco Trends web-site www.telcotrends.eu

Working languages: Russian, English.

Register at a discount until 1 June!

Follow TELCO TRENDS’ official Facebook and Twitter accounts to find out the most up-to-date information about Telco Trends:
www.fb.com/telcotrends
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The 8th EURAXESS - Researchers in Motion Network Conference took place on 15-17 May in The Hague. The event brought together more than 200 representatives of universities and organizations participating in the program across Europe. Representative of ICT Cluster - Todor Mitov participated in the conference as well as in the workshops. During the three day conference, were discussed the program's potential and challenges that need to be overcome, the services it could provide, as well as some of the ways for improving the national network.

Тhe second edition of the conference for promoting the entrepreneurship in Kyustendil - BizzIT Kyustendil 2017, took place on 12.05.2017. The event was organized by Webrika on the initiative and support of Kyustendil Municipality. It brought together more than 100 students and prospective entrepreneurs. Representatives of the ICT Cluster were speakers at the event. Mr. Petar Stattev, Chairman of ICT Cluster, told how business is developed in Bulgaria and abroad and the qualities that a successful entrepreneur needs to own. Todor Mitov presented the program – “Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs” and the opportunities it provides for people that are ready to start a business, but lack the necessary knowledge and skills.

 ​Красимира Шиндарова и Тодор Митов взеха участие в 19-тата среща на партньорите по програмата "Еразъм за млади предприемачи". Събитието се проведе в Брюксел, Белгия на 29-30 март в Хотел Блуум. На срещата бяха обсъдени фокусът и бъдещи цели на програмата. Събитието даде възможност посреднически организации от Европа да споделят препятствия и добри практики, както и да представят своите млади и опитни предприемачи.​

Shirin Amin and Stefan Hristozov are young entrepreneurs who started their exchanges under the program Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs.

On 8th of March in Brussels within the broader context of the S3 activities, was held “Synergies between European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) & Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Funding: The Stairway to Excellence (S2E)”. The 2017 Conference on the synergies between Horizon 2020 (COSME, ERASMUS + etc.) and ESIF was organized in collaboration with the European Parliament (EP), and DG REGIO to raise awareness of major stakeholders on (1.) the progress in exploiting the synergies between Horizon 2020 (and other funding programmes) and ESIF and (2.)Discuss practical bottlenecks emerging when R&D&I actors will start implementing the available tools for synergies between funds.

This event presented the achievement of the project, lessons learnt and discuss challenges ahead with regional and national managing authorities who are involved in the managing R&I funds in order to exchange ideas and good practices. 

Key objectives of this event were:

• To present the achievement of the project, including lessons learnt from the S2E National Events organized since 2015.
• A better understanding of the national (and regional) innovation ecosystem with a special emphasis on the identification of obstacles, barriers and potentials to innovation.
• Raising awareness of the actions needed to enable synergies between different EU funding programmes for research and innovation.
• Sharing experiences in combining Structural Funds and Framework Programme to improve excellence in R&I systems.
• Drawing lessons for the future and identifying follow-up actions to enhance the potential synergies between different EU funds in the MS.

The "Stairway to Excellence" (S2E) initiative is a pilot project funded by the European Parliament (EP) and focused on supporting European Regions and Member States in enhancing synergies in the use of different EU funding sources for research, development and innovation (European Structural and Investment Funds and Horizon 2020, also taking account COSME, ERASMUS+, Creative Europe and so on).

The Smart Specialisation Strategies (S3) are now a reality in Europe. With EU regions and nations having completed the technical fulfilments of the ex-ante conditionality and related action plans, the activities are now moving to the implementation phase. More information is available.

Mr. Peter Statev – Chairman of ICT Cluster was a keynote speaker at the 1st  brokerage event on 6th of March in Sofia, Bulgaria organized by the MOVE European Strategic Cluster Partnership.

In the event participated representatives of clusters, companies and universities from Bulgaria, France, Italy, Spain, Poland and Macedonia. They presented their organizations and main activities in the field of transport and logistics, smart mobility, smart cities, ICT and green technologies. Mr. Peter Statev made a presentation to the participants about the cross innovation and smart cities.

Massimo Da Via from Italy presented the opportunities for internationalization in Third countries’ markets – Morocco and Brazil.

MOVE's European strategic cluster partnership got wider with joining of six new clusters from Germany, Macedonia, Poland, Italy and Bulgaria, wich develop their activities in the area of transport and logistics and IT.

The B2B part of the event gave opportunity to participating companies and clusters to meet each other and identify possibilities of cross-border and cross-sectoral cooperation.

Smart Factory Hub project has started with he kick off meeting held in Sarvar, Hungary on 9-10 February 2017. The project is financed under the first call of the Danube Transnational program.  The partnership includes 12 partners from 10 countries of the Danube region. 

SMART FACTORY HUB (SFH) main objective is to improve framework conditions for Innovation in the area of smart factory/Smart Manufacturing, based on Research and Innovation Smart Specialization Strategy (RIS3) centred model.

The meeting put the framework of the future successful project implementation as partners agreed on project administrative and technical procedures. The tasks and deadlines for the first reporting period were underlined.

Together with the kick off meeting on 10th March the kickoff event of the project took place. The event was attended by the representative of JTS and the mayor of Sarver. The project partners had chance to visit the Flex factory and see the future technologies for optimization of production and HR processes.

More information about the project you can find here.

На 16.02.2017 г.  в Министерство на Икономиката /МИ/ се проведе среща между представители на Министерство на Икономиката и Асоциация на Бизнес Клъстерите.
 
От страна на МИ в срещата участваха:
Доц. д-р Теодор Седларски – министър на икономиката;
Г-н Васил Караиванов – съветник на министъра;
Г-жа Евелина Пенева – Главен директор на ГД “ЕФК”;
Г-жа Людмила Тозева – Началник отдел, “Програмиране, наблюдение и оценка на ОП”, ГД “ЕФК”;
Г-жа Нина Цанева – Директор “Връзки с обществеността и Протокола”, МИ.
 
От страна на АБК в срещата участваха:
Г-н Венцислав Славков – председател на УС на АБК;
Г-н Петър Статев – член на УС на АБК;
Г-н Светлин Рангелов – изпълнителен директор на АБК.
 
Г-н Славков запозна участниците с развитието на клъстерите в България, като обърна внимание на големия брой регистрирани клъстери – 298. За сравнение в страни, като Германия, Австрия, Румъния, Унгария и др. техния брой е значително по-малък. Забелязва се тендеция в годините, в които се обявяват сесии за подпомагане на клъстери, регистрациите да се увеличават лавинообразно, например през 2013 г. те са 106, през 2016 – 60, при среден брой 8-10 регистрирани клъстера годишно. В тази връзка бе отбелязано, че по предложение на АБК от МИ е въведена система за категоризация на клъстерите на “новорегистрирани”, “развиващи се” и “развити”. Приложен е и диференциален подоход за финансиране, в зависимост от степента на развитие на съответния клъстер.
Г-н Славков изказа задоволство от съвместната работата през последните две години с екипа на МИ, мнение, което бе подкрепено и от г-н Петър Статев.
Дискутиран бе и въпросът за възможността АБК да представлява федералната асоциация на средния и малък бизнес в Германия /BVMW/. Темата за представител на BVMW в България е била поставена по време на посещението на Президента Радев и г-н Седларски в Берлин. Решено бе този въпрос да се консултира в оперативен порядък със СТИВ – Берлин.
 
 
От своя страна г-н Статев постави въпроса относно проблеми възникнали при подаване на документи по електронен път, за редица конкурсни сесии – както по ОПИК, така и по Националния Иновационен Фонд. За устойчивото решаване на проблема, бе предложено на МИ експертна помощ от водещи специалисти в ИКТ клъстер. Поставен бе и въпросът, за недопускането до текущия конкурс, на клъстерни организации регистрирани в обществена полза – практика противоречаща на принципите на съвременния социално отговорен бизнес и европейска практика. Представителите на МИ споделиха, че затруднението по този въпрос идва от Министерство на финансите. Общото желание бе, за следващите сесии това да бъде регулирано по подходящ начин, така че клъстери членове на АБК с такъв статус да не бъдат ощетявани.
 
Страните се обединиха около нуждата и желанието да бъде осъществяван подходящ, навременен и ефективен мониторинг върху резултатите от финансирането и се договориха да продължат диалога за намиране на ефективни и своевременни решения на поставените въпроси.
 
Във връзка с подготовката на документите за следващия конкурс за иновативни клъстери, г-н Петър Статев посочи, че съществено предизвикателство пред Българската индустрия е прехода към автоматизирани и ефективно управляеми производствени процеси. Предложено бе фокусът на следващия конкурс за клъстери да са именно принципите заложени в модела за преход към Industry 4.0.

Paola Gushterova a NE form Bulgaria successfully her exchange of experience in Greece under the project Ventures 8 within the program “Erasmus for young entrepreneurs”. She sprend 2 months with Anastasios Ioannidis,the host entrepreneur, within his company - Motive Consulting witch is in the field of legal, fiscal and other consultancy services.  

As partners of Webit.Festival 2017 we would like to inform the members of ICT Cluster about the latest news for the event.

In April, the festival will welcome more than 5000 attendees from 80 countries and over 100 speakers. Among them you will find some of the companies on the Fortune’s 500, top brands, policymakers, founders of some of the most innovative businesses and the most exciting startups, not only in the region, but throughout the world.

The event is held on 25 and 26 April under the patronage of the President of Bulgaria Rumen Radev, the Mayor of Sofia Yordanka Fandakova and the European Commission. It will be attended by successful mayors in the country and abroad.

Your presence on Webit.Festival will make you part of a global community of some of the most influential people from 5 continents, who draw the future of the world.

The communication with representative of the highest levels of the private and public sectors will contribute to the development of your B2B Communication and will improve the interaction of your business with government institutions.

Speakers on Webit.Festival will share their experience in improving the quality of services, mastering new technologies, providing innovative solutions, creating opportunities to improve software education, cooperation between public and private sectors, development of healthy business climate and promotion of fair competition.

Along with Webit you can help for improving the level of public awareness about the state of the ICT sector in Bulgaria and develop the image of Bulgarian software and communications industry abroad.

Events during Webit.Festival are conducted in three main areas - Enterprise, Policy and Startups.

In Enterprise you will find out more about the world of software development (Dev Summit), marketing and innovation (Marketing & Innovation Summit), digital transformation (Digital Transformation Summit), managing large databases and cloud services (BigData & Cloud), financial technology (FinTech Summit), internet of everything (IoE Summit) and privacy and security (Security & Privacy Summit).

During the Dev Summit you will learn about current trends in topics like: What is DevOps, How can you streamline and automate Ops, Agile & DevOps, Boosting developers productivity with DevOps and Managing deployments and infrastructure with DevOps.

The conference will meet you with people like Don Dodge (Developer Advocate, Google), Jonas Jacobi (VP, Cloud and Mobile Technology Strategy, IBM), Peter Heinrich (Developer Evangelist, Amazon), Christoph Auer-Welsbach (Partner Innovation Leader Europe, IBM watson) and Patrick Hagerty (Technical Advocate, IBM Bluemix).

Meanwhile, the Digital Transformation Summit will give you information about the best practices of digitizing your business, so that in can be successful in the technological age. During the conference you can listen to top level speakers, such as the CEO of JetPack Aviation David Mayman, the Founder of Change Sciences Group Inc Pamela Pavliscak and the CMO of AngelHack Brian Collins.

Three host entrepreneurs and one new entrepreneur from Bulgaria represented by ICT Cluster as their Intermediate Organisation successfully completed their exchange of experience within the project Ventures 8 under the programme Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs.