After the great success of six previous editions of SEETEST in Bulgaria and Romania, the prestigious conference in the area of Software Testing and Software Quality Management will take place in Belgrade for the first time. The event rotates in different Balkan countries and gathers more than 300 IT professionals, software testing experts and well-known speakers every year.

The conference will be preceded by full-day courses on September 26, 2018 where the participants will get hands-on training in small groups in Software Testing’s latest concepts.

SEETEST 2018 will cover topics like Security Testing, Mobile Testing, Test Automation, Cloud Testing and many more current trends in the area of Quality Assurance. The conference format will be three parallel half-day tutorials in the morning and three tutorials in the afternoon on September 27. The Tutorial speakers at SEETEST are internationally recognized testing experts with tons of practical experience.

It is followed by one day of keynotes and presentations on September 28. Prospective authors are encouraged to submit papers for evaluation by the Program Committee. Organizers SEETB and Quality House guarantee that all papers will be subject to a “blind review” by at least two members of the Program Committee, on the basis of relevance, originality, importance and clarity.

SEETEST offers countless networking opportunities at the conference itself but a great addition is the Social event. It is specially designed in a format that allows attendees, sponsors and speakers to network and enjoy the evening.

The Serbian capital will host the event at the heart of New Belgrade business district in the luxury four stars hotel Crowne Plaza.

Save the dates and take advantage of discounts for early registrations! For more information, please visit the conference website.

Bulgaria ranks #1 for female ICT specialists in Europe

Sofia, March 7, 2018 - The Bulgarian Center of Women in Technology (BCWT), in partnership with the Ministry for the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the European Commission, are organizing the first SHEleader@digital conference dedicated to role of women in the digital economy.

Bulgaria has the highest percentage of women and girls in the ICT sector (27.7%) among the EU member states. The country is also at the top of the ranking for female IT professionals with 30%, almost double to the 16% average.

As the leading EU country with women in tech, on April 12^th Sofia will welcome top ranked women leaders from all across Europe to discuss how to encourage and inspire more women and girls to enter professional and leadership roles in the digital industry.

The conference is part of the official calendar of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU and will be held under the official patronage of the Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society Mrs. Mariya Gabriel. The event will be opened by Lilyana Pavlova, Minister of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU and Sasha Bezuhanova, Board Chair of BCWT and founder of MOVE.BG.

“The transforming digitally connected world that we live in requires the collective intelligence and professional contribution of all talented women and men who take on leadership to experiment with innovative ideas and validate new solutions. Women can play an even greater role than today with their participation in the digital economy of Europe and the world. SHEleader@digital brings together women leaders from Europe to find together solutions to this imbalance, to look for the dimensions of the female leadership authenticity and to connect the new generation of female entrepreneurs.”, said Sasha Bezuhanova.

Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg is among the keynote speakers and she will open the conference with a special video message.

The event will gather over 250 representatives of the business, non-profit and public sectors.

„At SHELeader@digital I want to get inspired form the stories of many other women and to be able to share with all the attendees some energies and good vibes to those who need it.", said Sabela Garcia Cuesta, Program Manager at Next Media Accelerator and one of the keynote speakers.

The conference will examine how women leaders can effectively partner to support female leadership in the digital world and change the common perception of women in tech. SHEleader will also discuss women’s role in today’s social and economic life and will explore how women leaders can contribute to the professional affirmation and economic independence of women at risk.

SHEleader@digital conference is organized in partnership with MOVE.BG, EDIT, Google, VMWare, Dell EMC, DSK Bank, Cisco.

More information: https://www.sheleader.digital/

About BCWT

The Bulgarian Center of Women in Technology (BCWT) is an organization that inspires, motivates and supports girls and women to find their place in the digital world. BCWT initiates and cooperates in the implementation of regional innovative projects, organizes trainings and thematic events and stimulates research collaboration, exchange of good practices and resource mobilization in the ICT sector. More information: http://bcwt.bg/

For more information

United Partners

Nikol Breycheva

+359 882 758 089

Nikol.breycheva@united-partners.com

Agile Serbia Conference has become the biggest Agile event in the region. 

During the last conference 500+ attendee from 10+ countries across Europe visited the event!For the next, 3rd Agile Serbia Conference, are prepared hot topics about Agile, Leadership and Software Development. You can also expect some novelties. The 3rd Agile Serbia Conference will be even more interactive than the 2nd one, with the promise to keep the quality of an educational part of the program. Join the biggest Agile and IT event in the Balkan region! See you on the 27th of April 2018!

For the full list of the speakers, more information and registration visit: AGILE SERBIA 2018

Facebook: www.facebook.com/PuzzleSoftware/

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/company/1174093/

Twitter: www.twitter.com/PuzzleSoft

От 27 до 29 март предстои провеждането на Шестото международно изложение и конференция Smart Cities 2018. Проявата ще срещне представители на бизнеса, общините и научните среди и ще представи нови технологии за адаптиране на градовете; дигитална инфраструктурна система; цялостни интегрирани услуги за населението; иновативен подход към интелигентното управление на енергията, водата, отпадъците и ресурсите.

Акценти в изложението:

▪ Домашна и сградна автоматизация ▪ Телематика - транспорт, публична администрация, превенция на бедствия ▪ Системи за пестене на енергия в хотелиерството, големи офис сгради, в производствата

▪ Иновативни системи за сметосъбиране ▪ Енергийна ефективност, когенерация ▪ Ефективни решения за отопление и охлаждане – термопомпи, котли и камини на пелети ▪ Eнергия от отпадъци и др.

Водещи компании от Австрия, Белгия, България, Германия, Гърция, Дания, Италия, Испания, Литва, Полша, Турция, Холандия, Швеция и Щвейцария заявиха своето участие. Сред тях са Национален клъстер за интелигентни транспортни и енергийни системи, Неон 10, Домотика.БГ, ТермоЛаб, Екотех Системи, Уормтек, Термо-помпени системи, Балканика Енерджи, Куатроджи, Херц, Innova, Amandus Kahl, Fronius, Dutch Dryers, DanStoker Poland, CPM Europe, Verdo Energy и много др. За 9-та поредна година ще се реализира Австрийски павилион.

* Паралелно събитие: Енергийна ефективност и възобновяема енергия (ЕЕ & ВЕ)

За първи път

Виртуално изложение ще функционира преди и след провеждане на Smart Cities. То осигурява допълнителна възможност на изложителите за представяне на решенията им и улеснява контакта с техни нови бизнес партньори.

Конференцията:

Интелигентни градове:

■ Партньорство “Дигитален преход” - част от инициативата “Градски дневен ред” на ЕС с координатор Софийска община и фокус към здравните и социални услуги; дигитализацията от гледна точка на електронното управление и градското планиране

■ Фирмени смарт решения и иновации: ▪ “Трансформация на градовете за Дигиталната Ера“ - SAP

▪ италианския консорциум Иннова ще представи свое дигитално решение за разделно събиране на отпадъци и др.

■ Кампания Watify на EC за модернизиране и дигитализация на малките и средни предприятия

Станете част от изявата – свържете се с нас: office@viaexpo.com, www.viaexpo.com

Шест клъстера от сектора на информационните и комуникационни технологии подписаха Харта и учредиха Федерация, в която обединяват усилия за развитие на иновациите, дигиталните технологии и българския бизнес. Първата стъпка на Федерацията е да окаже експертна подкрепа на законодателната инициатива за осигуряването на квалифицирани специалисти за българския ИКТ сектор.

С амбиция да работи за решаването на предизвикателствата пред успешното развитие на ИКТ в България, на 23 февруари 2018 г. в София шест от ИКТ Клъстерите в България учредиха обединяваща сектора Федерация на ИКТ клъстерите за цифрово бъдеще на България.

Учредителите на Федерацията са едни от най-активните организации в сектора: Фондация Клъстер информационни и комуникационни технологии, Български клъстер Телекомуникации, ИКТ Клъстер – Варна, ИКТ Клъстер – Пловдив, ИКТ Клъстер – Бургас и Български Технологичен Клъстер CODIA.

Учредителите са обединени от своята кауза, че прилагането на дигиталните технологии и  насърчаването на иновациите са основни предпоставки за увеличаване конкурентоспособността на българската икономика и създаването на устойчиво икономическо развитие на страната.

Първата инициатива на Федерацията е да подкрепи усилията на ИКТ бизнеса за въвеждане на работеща правителствена програма за привличане на квалифицирани специалисти от други държави (т. нар. „Сини карти“). В изпратено становище до министър-председателя Бойко Борисов, Федерацията представи своята позиция в подкрепа на бързото решаване на проблема с липсата на достатъчен човешки ресурс за работа с иновативните и върхови технологии в България.

Федерацията ще развива и прилага клъстерния подход, за да може да бъде създадена благоприятна бизнес среда за развитието на малките и средни предприятия в България. Според Хартата само чрез ползотворното сътрудничество между организациите в сектора е възможно успешно развитие на българския и европейски цифров пазар.

Федерацията ще:

-работи за ускорено прилагане на концепцията, принципите и инструментите на Индустрия 4.0 в България, като предпоставка за икономически растеж,

-насърчава конкурентоспособността на българските малки и средни предприятия чрез прилагане на дигитални технологии,

-подпомага образователната система в България чрез внедряването на съвременни процеси, технологии и програми, с цел придобиване на адекватни познания и умения,

-ще работи конструктивно с държавните институции и администрацията с цел адекватно създаване на политики, проекти, програми подпомагащи дигиталното развитие, образованието, и развитие на клъстерите в България.

За първи съпредседатели на Федерацията с едногодишен мандат се избират Председателите на Фондация ИКТ Клъстер – Петър Статев, и на ИКТ Клъстер Бургас – Петко Георгиев, като управлението ще се осъществява на ротационен принцип.

On 25^th January 2018, the annual meeting of the Balkan and Black Sea ICT Clusters Network took place. The event was hosted by ICT Cluster Bulgaria and was attended by representatives of 12 member organizations and guests from GIZ, USAID REG project, ESI Centre Bulgaria and Latvian Green Technologies Cluster. During the meeting 4 new partners were accepted – ICT Cluster Burgas, ICT Cluster Varna, Georgian Cluster National Platform and Foreign Trade Chamber of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The annual meeting was devoted to report from Serbian Clusters about activities in 2017, agenda for 2018 and election of new chairing organization. In the framework of Bulgarian precedency of the Council of EU, ICT Cluster Bulgaria was supported to be the chairman of the network in 2018. Additionally, the members discussed closer and more effective collaboration, new information and communication tools and upcoming innovative projects.   

On 24-25 January 2018, the kick off meeting of GIVE ESCP was held in Sofia, Bulgaria. The meeting was hosted by the Coordinator – ICT Cluster and attended by representatives of all 7 partners.

The main aim of the kick off is to facilitate a successful project start and provide an additional boost of motivation for the team members. Many aspects of the project implementation were discussed among partners and important decisions concerning project’s financial and technical implementation were taken. The project team has chance to meet face to face and to put the framework of a future successful and fruitful regional cooperation.

The seminar was organized by ICT Cluster Bulgaria, Small Business Standards (SBS) and. European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI)

The seminar was part of a broader SBS campaign on trainings for SME associations and ICT clusters and was designed to provide SME associations’ and clusters’ staff with the possibility to upgrade their knowledge and understanding of the European standardisation system and, in particular, of the ETSI specifications.

The objective was to raise awareness among National Standardisation Organisations (NSOs) about the value of further including SMEs in standardisation and to share experiences on SME initiatives.

The event was attended by representatives and experts from SBS, ETSI, CEN, CENELEC, European Commission, French Standardization Association, representatives of universities, ICT clusters and ICT associations from Bulgaria, Serbia, Macedonia, Romania, Greece, Albania, Montenegro and Kosovo.

The exercise allowed participants to share and identify good practices in reaching out and involving SMEs in standardisation.

Presentation form the event could be find below:

Session 1: Setting the scene - The standardisation landscape in the Balkans
- Lubomir Stanislavov, CEO and Member of the Board of Directors, Automotive Cluster Bulgaria

Session 2: Standardisation in the European context
- Radek Maly, Head of Unit, DG for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, Unit B.3 Standards for Growth, European Commission
- Ingrid Soetart, Project Manager – Stakeholder Engagement, CEN-CENELEC
- Xavier Piednoir, Head of External Relations at ETSI
- Christel Davidson, Director of SBS

Session 3: Tools for SMEs involvement in the standardisation - practiacl cases and exhchange of good pracices
- Jean-Loup Commo, French Standardization Association (AFNOR)
- Massimo Vanetti, IoT expert, appointed to oneM2M
- Emil Dimitrov, SBS experts, appointed to ETSI TC TCCE
- George Sharkov, SBS expert, appointed to ETSI TC CYBER

Session 4: Looking ahead
- Ingrid Soetart, Project Manager – Stakeholder Engagement, CEN-CENELEC
- Xavier Piednoir, Head of External Relations at ETSI

In September 2017 , GIVE European Strategic Cluster Partnership was approved for financial support by EASME. The partnership includes 8 clusters from three different industries (automotive, ICT and Green Technologies), 6 different countries (Albania, Bulgaria, Latvia, Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Romania) and 2 European regions (South East Europe and Baltic). This is the first cluster partnership established mainly by organizations coming from the Balkan countries that is financially supported by the Commission.

Leaded by ICT Cluster, GIVE partners strive for:

● creation of new value chain and favorable framework for establishing a sustainable cross-industry strategic cluster partnership(GIVE) in the field of green smart technologies focusing on automotive and transport sectors.

● building common knowledge base for internationalization and marketing for cluster managers and SMEs members and establishment of strong links among GIVE partners and SMEs members.

● building up sustainable strategic cluster partnership based on development of GIVE internationalization strategy and implementation roadmap.

● promotion of a GIVE strategic cluster partnership on a European, regional and national level in order to extend the partnership in different regions and industries and to create links to other ESCPs.

 The project has started in December 2017 but the official kick off will be on 24-25 January 2018, hosted by the ICT Cluster.

If you interested in project progress and implementation please follow us in the social networks:

1. https://www.facebook.com/greenictdevelopment/?fref=nf
2. https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12083393

You are welcome to collaborate with us!

On 6-7th of December 2017 was held the third partners' meeting of “Smart Factory Hub” project in Steyr, Austria. The project on which ICT Cluster is a partner is financed under the Danube Programme.
On the first day of the two-day meeting was discussed the implementation of the project as well as the past and current work packages. The partners also had discussion about next steps for development the already build mapping tool. Every partner also presented the good pratices for implementation of smart technologies into production process in factories in their countries. During the second day the consortium made plans for execution the next work package and when will be held the next project meeting, that will be in Belgrade. The meeting was attended by the project officer from JS - Mr. Marius V. Niculae, who gave high evaluation for the first year implementation of the project.

Project co-funded by European Union funds (ERDF, IPA)

Todor Mitov – representative of ICT Cluster was invited to present the programme “Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs” on a seminar “Business start-up and Development within the Context of Entrepreneurship 2020”. The training that took place in the period November 24 – 26th, 2017 in Veliko Tarnovo, aimed at addressing the need to spread the entrepreneurship culture among the young people in the country, especially those living and studying outside of the Capital. The participants were 40 students between age of 18-25, from all around the country, motivated to start and develop their own business. On 25th of November Todor Mitov familiarized the audience with the benefits of the “Erasmus for Entrepreneurs” programme.

On October 5th and 6th was held a work meeting on the project Smart Factory Hub in Pilsen, Czech Republic. The meeting was organize by University of West Bohemia.

On the meeting were discussed the execution of the Work package 3, Work package 4 and it were made planning for the upcoming Work package 5 as well as planning for the next technical meeting in Steyr in December.

On 6^th of October were held Bilateral meetings and workshops on respective deliverables of the WP3, WP4 and preparing for WP5.