Plamen Russev

I first met Raja back in July 2014 at the Webit edition in Istanbul. Since then I can't stop admiring his work, his innovative thinking and visionary leadership in business transformation and brand innovation. Saying that, you can imagine how honoured I was when he accepted my invitation to become Honorary Chairman of one of Webit' 15 parallel summits over 17-20 June in Valencia - Brand Innovation Summit. And he surrounded himself in the Board with some of the world's top brand owners and industry leaders. I am proud to present you Webit' Brand Innovation Summit Chairman and Board Members: “I recently took on the honorary role of chairing Webit' Brand Innovation Summit, with an important objective of building an industry-wide focus on and momentum around the future of marketing and brands.”

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The building blocks of Webit' Brand Innovation Summit agenda are: - Brand Safety - Reputation Management - Branding Innovation - Brand Measurement in the new world - Brand Obsolescence - Brand Purpose - Brand Storymaking

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We are honoured to announce some of the keynotes and the speakers who create the unparalleled agenda of Webit' Brand Innovation Summit: ... to name a few! Grateful to host them all at Webit.Festival 2020! Stay tuned for many more to be announced in the following weeks and months. The Brand Innovation Summit is one of the 15 parallel summits hosted by Webit.Festival 2020 at the Marina of Valencia, Spain over 17-20 June 2020. Check all announced speakers so far. Get involved: Speak  |  Sponsor  |  Exhibit  |  Startup? Join now  |  Attend (tickets) Warm regards, Dr. Plamen Russev Executive Chairman of the Board, Webit.Foundation Goodwill Ambassador for Digital Affairs, Republic of Bulgaria Serial Entrepreneur / Investor www.russev.com | www.webit.org Personal: about me | LinkedIn | Twitter

I am honoured to announce the first 10 Honorary Chairs and speakers of the parallel summits of Webit.Festival hosted at the Marina of Valencia, Spain | 17-20 June 2020 under the theme PREVIEW THE FUTURE: More Chairpersons and parallel summits as well as their respected board members, topics and speakers are to be announced shortly. Stay tuned and get involved: Speak  |  Sponsor  |  Exhibit  |  Startup? Join now  |  Attend (tickets) Warm regards, Dr. Plamen Russev Executive Chairman of the Board, Webit.Foundation Goodwill Ambassador for Digital Affairs, Republic of Bulgaria Serial Entrepreneur / Investor www.russev.com | www.webit.org Personal: about me | LinkedIn | Twitter

I have the pleasure to announce the Chairs of Webit.Festival in Valencia, Spain on 17-20 June, 2020. For the past 2 years we have been honored to have the European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, Mrs. Mariya Gabriel as Chairwoman of the Plenary Session of Webit.Festival!

She has been one of the strongest creative and transformational powers in the current European Commission! Her work is instrumental for creating stable grounds for Europe building the Gigabyte Society, fostering dialogue and legislative packages for protecting the business and people in the cyberspace, empowering equality and inclusion and creating digital skills, supporting potential for better digital infrastructure, to name a few of her cabinet initiatives which she developed for a record short time.

On behalf of the global Webit community we wish her a lot of success and good luck in her new role as European Commissioner-elect for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth in the new European Commission. We are honored to have her being the Chairwoman for 3rd year in a raw of the Plenary Session (the Innovate!Stage) of Webit.Festival 2020 in Spain.

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A visionary leader with global impact! Before joining the Government of Spain, Mr. Francisco Polo has been one of the most successful founders and impact entrepreneurs of Europe founding and making Change.org the largest petition platform in the world.

At the age of 29 he put together his three passions - will for social change, the potential of the internet and his relentless determination to make things happen and founded the fastest-growing startup ever in Spain, growing it from 40 users to 2.5 million in 18 months only. Through his work he has helped millions of users to start campaigns on the issues they care about while also helping his clients to connect with hundreds of thousands of people to support their mission.

After making sure his new partners will continue growing Change.org, Mr. Polo committed his talent to improve the state of innovation and digital advancement of his country. Currently Mr. Polo serves as Secretary of State for Digital Advancement, Spain. We are honored to have Mr. Francisco Polo as Honorary Chair of The Global Impact Advisory Board of Webit.Festival 2020 in Spain.

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Webit.Festival 2020 | CHAIRS of SUMMITS

Mr. Thomas Debass is a senior government leader with extensive experience and network in tech/innovation, global finance, economic growth, media, and public-private partnerships! For the past 18 years, he has been working under various capacities for the U.S. Government and he currently serves as the Managing Director for Global Partnerships at the U.S. Department of State. Thomas has played a leading role in promoting and institutionalizing the role of innovation and partnerships as a tool for advancing policy and development objectives.

Thomas has played a leading role in promoting and institutionalizing the role of innovation and partnerships as a tool for advancing policy and development objectives. Thomas received the 2016 Wood Pencil Award for Innovative Use of Mobile Technology for mFish, a public-private partnership he led that aimed to bridge the digital divide as well as promote ocean sustainability for rural fishermen. He regularly gives lectures and talks about the intersection of foreign policy, business, and society.

On behalf of the global Webit Community and the Webit.Foundation - we are honored to welcome Mr. Thomas Debass as Chair of the Policy Innovation Summit of Webit.Festival 2020 in Spain.

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Mr. Raja Rajamannar is the Chief Marketing & Communications Officer and President, Healthcare Business of Mastercard

Globally recognized for his innovative thinking, leadership in business transformation that he has brought to executive roles across industries, and leadership in Mastercard’s marketing and brand transformation. The most recent awards among the many in his career are: WFA Global Marketer of the Year (2018), Forbes 2018 Top 5 World's Most Influential CMOs, Campaign Power 100, Business Insider’s 25 Most Innovative CMOs in the World, Billboards 2018 Top Branding Power Player and The CMO Club Hall of Fame.

We are honored to welcome Mr. Raja Rajamannar as honorary Chair of the Brand Innovation Summit of Webit.Festival in Valencia Spain on 17-20 June 2020.

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Professor Shafi Ahmed is a multi award winning surgeon, teacher, futurist, innovator and entrepreneur. He is a laparoscopic colorectal cancer surgeon at The Royal London and St Bartholomew’s Hospitals and has been awarded the accolade of the most watched surgeon in human history.

Among the recent numerous awards in his career are the Future NHS award for NHS70 by members of UK Parliament in 2018, top British Asian star in Tech awarded from HRH Duke of York in 2017 along with the British Bangladeshi of the Year the same year. His work has been featured in over 400 newspapers, tech journals and mainstream TV news channels including Sky, BBC, CNN, ABC, Al Jazeera, CNBC, Time, Forbes, Bloomberg.

He is one of the top 20 global influencers in Digital Health and Virtual Reality. We are honored to have Prof. Shafi Ahmed as a Chair of Webit.Health Summit for the past 3 years and as part of the upcoming Webit.Festival 2020 in Spain!

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Coming up next, we shall announce the Chairs and the advisory board members of the rest of the summits hosted by Webit.Festival in Valencia, Spain on 17-20 June 2020, including: - The Digital Entertainment and Media Summit - The CyberTech Summit - The Future of Food Summit - The Future of Work Summit - The Mobility Summit - The FinTech Summit - The Blockchain Summit - The Venture Summit - The Startup Academy - The Spirit of Webit to name some. See you at the Marina of Valencia in Spain on 17-20 June 2020! Warm regards, Dr. Plamen Russev Executive Chairman of the Board, Webit.Foundation Goodwill Ambassador for Digital Affairs, Republic of Bulgaria Serial Entrepreneur / Investor www.russev.com | www.webit.org Webit: web site | Linkedin | Facebook | Twitter Personal: about me | LinkedIn | Twitter

Webit.Festival in numbers

I always follow my heart - we say that the Webit community (reaching out to more than 800,000 digerati from all around the world) is a community of people with BIG hearts ... and I trust the numbers! I wouldn't say that my heart makes no mistakes - but the numbers are always true! This is the reason I have asked my team to present our work and impact at Webit in numbers and I am very proud with the results:    

The winner (WeFarm) of the largest startup challenge on the Planet - the Founders Games hosted by Webit has oversubscribed and closed a round of €13 Мillion less than 2 months after the Festival.

   

67%	of all selected startups/scaleups exhibiting and pitching at Founders Games of Webit.Festival close a funding round up to 8 months after their participation at the Festival.

  These numbers give us the strength and confidence to continue the way we walk for the past 12 years and our mission: IMPROVING THE STATE OF WELL-BEING through

• Boosting entrepreneurship & Innovation
• Empowering equality and inclusion
• Exploring and supporting impact resilience and sustainable development solutions

Thank you from the bottom of my heart and look forward to have you among the Webit.Foundation partners in the years to come! 🙏 See you at the Marina of Valencia, Spain on 17-20 June at Webit.Festival 2020! Dr. Plamen Russev Executive Chairman of the Board, Webit.Foundation Goodwill Ambassador for Digital Affairs, Republic of Bulgaria Serial Entrepreneur / Investor www.russev.com | www.webit.org Webit: web site | Linkedin | Facebook | Twitter Personal: about me | LinkedIn | Twitter

Did you manage to book your Webit ticket at super early bird price? If not - we have good news for you! We have just announced a very limited number of only 100 Platinum tickets! Hurry up - the previous batch of discounted tickets was sold out for less than 24 hours. The Platinum ticket is your VIP access to all Webit.Festival parallel summits, to all speakers in the Platinum Lounge, guests of honor, the 3 expo areas, the invitations only events, the yacht soirees, the black tie receptions, all parties and the entire Webit Tech Fiesta to name a few.

Book Your Platinum Ticket at 1/2 price - save €2400

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More amazing speakers announced

They are joining the previously announced global leaders including: ... and 500 more to be announced in the following months! Webit program committee has approved the major focus tech areas for the 15 parallel summits of Webit.Festival, Valencia 2020, Spain:

• AI (Artificial Intelligence)
• IoT (Internet of Things)
• VR/AR (Virtual Reality / Augmented Reality)
• Next Gen Cloud
• Blockchain
• 5G
• Biotech
• Robotics

Get ready for more announcements of over 500 first world class speakers in 15 parallel summits of Webit.Festival Europe 2020, at the Marina of Valencia, Spain. The Platinum Ticket gives you personal access to the special Platinum Lounge with opportunity to mingle with all of them, along with access to invitation only events, yacht soirees, black tie receptions to name a few.  

Book Your Platinum Ticket at 1/2 price - save €2400

     

Register you interest to become a speaker and join the global leaders who shape the tech industry and define the future. Theme of Webit.Festival Europe 2020: Preview the Future (i)

Share you ideas and apply to speak @ Webit

 

Watch the above video

and you will know why many say that speaking at Webit.Festival Europe can be a career and life-changing experience. Share your ideas, experience and knowledge with thousands global leaders coming from 120+ countries.

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Visitors by Region

 

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Attendees' Interests in Tracks

   

Other opportunities to join Webit.Festival Europe '20 in Valencia, Spain include:

  See you at the Marina of Valencia, Spain on 17-20 June, 2020! Warm regards, The Webit Team      

Webit.Foundation - a non-for-profit organization producing the Global Webit Series has announced a call for a new host city for the European edition of Webit.Festival from 2020 onwards. A record number of 27 cities including London, Paris, Tel Aviv, Vienna, Madrid, Brussels, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Valencia, Budapest to name a few expressed their interest in becoming a host of the nest Webit.Festival editions 2020 - 2022. “This is a record breaking interest. There is not even one other event regardless of the industry or the focus (including sports events) to have received such interest from so many European cities.” said Dr. Plamen Russev, Executive Chairman of Webit.Foundation. “We are honored and very excited to have the chance to explore all of them and to choose the most ambitious host for the next 3 annual editions of Webit.Festival Europe starting 2020.” The winner of the open call shall be announced at Webit.Festival Europe 2019 in Sofia. For the past 3 years, Webit returned to Sofia (where it started) 11 years ago, after 4 successful editions in Istanbul. 3 years ago (and many years back) the global media have been calling Sofia – “the capital of the poorest country in EU”. Nowadays Webit has been called by Forbes and the Economist a catalyzer of “the rise of Sofia, Bulgaria as a credible location for technology talent and investment” and changed the narrative from “Sofia – the capital of the poorest country in EU” to “Sofia – the Digital Capital” and by helping change not only the global image of the country, but also bring business, support the growth of the startups ecosystem and delivering a measurable impact of over €60,000,000 to the local economy. This is the number which all host-city candidates approved, based on the international standards for the bidding process.

For the second year in a row, history is being created in Bulgarian capital Sofia. So far no one in the world has ever made such effort to inspire the talented young people of a nation and meet them face to face with their future. But this is what is going to happen during the Webit.X initiative. The event was announced at a joint press conference by the Chairman of Webit.Foundation, Dr. Plamen Russev, the Minister of Education and Science of Bulgaria, Krasimir Valchev and the President of the Council of Rectors of the Higher Education Institutions in Bulgaria, Prof. Dr. Eng. Lyuben Totev. Webit.X will be the largest platform in the world for inspiring the young people of a single nation. The event will take place on 14th of May at 18:30 in Hall 1 of the National Palace of Culture as part of the program of Webit.Festival Europe 2019 - the largest festival for innovation, digital technology and entrepreneurship on the continent. Within Webit.X, Bulgarian high school and college students will have the opportunity to experience incredible technologies and see with their own eyes robots with artificial intelligence, flying machines of the future and hear invaluable advices from their creators. Here you can see a video from the last edition of the initiative: Webit.X is a joint initiative between Webit.Foundation and the Ministry of Education and Science of Bulgaria and is under the patronage of Minister Krasimir Valchev. The Ministry will select and award the most talented and successful students of Bulgaria. “No one in history has ever done anything like this. 3000 children from all over Bulgaria will see the future with their eyes. If we can change the future path of only one child in Bulgaria, so it can take its moonshot, it would be amazing. But I can assure you that it will not be just one child”, said Dr. Plamen Russev. According to him, Webit realizes that it can not force someone to do something about their future. But it can inspire people to dream and make their own life and the lives of many others better. This is the reason for the creation of Webit.X project - to inspire the future of Bulgaria. Due to the huge success of last edition of the festival, this time it will be held at the National Palace of Culture (NDK). Webit.Festival is so large, that additional facilities will be built in front of NDK to accommodate the thousands of guests at the event. Webit expects to welcome 15 000 visitors from 120 countries. More than 450 speakers will be features on the stages, including top entrepreneurs, politicians, scientists, investors and startup companies. Webit’s goal is not only to create contacts between innovation systems and entrepreneurs, but also to inspire a better future for Bulgaria, Europe and the world. The common task with the Ministry of Education and Science is to provide the excellent students with access to the latest technological inventions in the world. [caption id="attachment_6116" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Bulgarian Minister of Education and Science Krasimir Valchev[/caption] “Webit can inspire students to develop their interests and abilities in important technological areas such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, biotechnology, bioengineering and countless other interdisciplinary sciences. These are just several of the important transformations that will happen in the near future”, said Minister Krasimir Valchev. He expressed his hope that the young people who will visit Webit.X will be motivated to dream and be proactive in creating their future, because the future belongs to the educated people with digital skills. Check out the full agenda of Webit.Festival Europe here Here you can see a full list of the confirmed speakers at Webit.Festival, while here you can get all the information you need about the tickets for the event.

Artificial Intelligence and Robotics are probably the two technologies that will create the most dramatic change in the way we live in the next several decades. In recent years we have experienced huge advancements in both fields and we are on the brink of their mass involvement in our everyday lifes. While the inclusion of robots still may sound futuristic to many of us, AI is already taking its place for both corporate and domestic use. Personal asistants, such as Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri are part of the daily life of millions and this is just the beginning. During Webit.Festival Europe you will be able to witness demonstrations of amazing technologies in the fields for Mobility, Robotics and AI. Here are some of them: Harmony presented by Guile Lindroth - Realbotix, CTO Time: 14th May, 14:30-14:40 at Innovate Stage The first companion robot with advanced AI. The unique machine has a human-synthetic skin, synced eyes, lip synced mechanics, articulated neck, changeable face and customizable apps eBee presented by Jean-Thomas Celette - senseFly, MD Time: 15th May, 11:39-11:49 at Innovate Stage The professional’s fully-autonomous mapping drone is able to capture high-resolution aerial photos tou can transform into accurate orthomosaics (maps) & 3D Models. Augmented Reality presented by Prof. Shafi Ahmed - Medical Realities, Chief Medical Officer Time: 14th May, 16:22-16:32 at Innovate Stage The Medical Realities Platform delivers high-quality surgical training using Virtual and Augmented Reality. It is a technological powerhouse designed to deliver realism and immersion. Hoverbike presented by Oriol Rafart - Malloy Aeronautics, CEO Time: 15th May: 17:17-17:27 at Innovate Stage The Hoverbike can deliver heavy aid, people, and equipment over building, rivers and mountains autonomously at the push of a button - cheap, safe and reliably. Furhat presented by Samer Al Moubayed - Furhat Robotics, CEO Time: 15th May, 09:52-10:07 at Innovate Stage The social robot that communicates with us humans with self learning social skills. GET presented by Leonid Plekhanov - GET, CEO & President Time: 15th May, 15:52-16:02 at Innovate Stage Wireless power network that enables battery-powered drones to recharge while still in flight FlytCycle predented by Ansel Misfeldt - FlytAerospace, Founder Time: 14th May, 17:23-17:33 at Innovate Stage Hoverbike that can traverse any terrain just a couple of feet off the ground Cybershoes presented by Michael Bieglmayer - Cybershoes, CEO Time: 14th May, 14:30-14:40 at Innovate Stage The only shoes for walking in VR that won’t let you bounce into a wall EnduroSat presented by Raycho Raychev - EnduroSat, Founder Time: 15th May, 17:17-17:27 at Innovate Stage EnduroSat provides simpler access to space for visionary business customers, scientists and technologists. It is a new type of interconnected and decentralized space infrastructure. During the event you will get the chance to listen to top enterprise, science and policy leaders, such as the Airbus Defence and Space CEO Dirk Hoke, the Senior Parther at McKinsey & Co Paul Willmott, the VP of Amazon Paul Misener, the EU Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society Mariya Gabriel, the Deputy Director-General of World Trade Organization Yonov Frederick Agah and many others. Check out the full agenda of Webit.Festival Europe here Here you can see a full list of the confirmed speakers at Webit.Festival, while here you can get all the information you need about the tickets for the event.