Tag: bulgaria

Within less than a week, Sofia will host the biggest startup event in the world - the Founders Games, part of the agenda of Webit.Festival Europe 2019. Our team chose the top 200 among 4000 candidates from all over the world. They will all be able to compete for the big prize - an investment of up to €200 000. But the price is just a small part of the opportunities the startups get with their participation in the festival. They will not only be able to present their work to 10 000 Webit visitors, but also impress over 500 potential investors. The event strengthens the role of Sofia as a Digital Capital - a title that Forbes gave the city in 2016 after Webit.Festival. This year 27 of the major European cities are competing to host Webit. The winner will be announced during this year’s event on 14th and 15th of May. In the latest edition of the Founders Games you can see a total of 9 startups coming to Sofia from the Silicon Valley. This is another indication that over the years Webit has succeeded in establishing itself and Bulgaria as a technological destination. Even companies that are created in the world’s center of investment are inclined to travel thousands of kilometers to be part of the event. Webit provides its startups with event tickets, exhibition spaces and an unprecedented opportunity to show their business to top audiences. Through the years, Founders Games became an investment platform for matchmaking hand-picked early-stage/post seed stage startups and Round A scaleups with investors, corporates and media. Webit was among the first in the world (11 years ago) to start connecting the startup and the enterprise worlds. We were the first to provide grants (over €1 million yearly) to selected startups. A total of 65% of all startups participating in the Founders Games through the years receive the necessary funding up to 6 month after Webit. At the same time the mortality rate is just 30%, compared to an average of 95% failures in the startup sector. “I am proud of the fact that we are changing the image of Sofia and Bulgaria all over the world. So far, 9 Silicon Valley based startups (and 4000 from around the world) have applied for the Founders Games”, said the executive chairman of Webit.Foundation dr. Plamen Russev. Webit.Foundation is more than just speaking, more than just judging. We wish to provide startups with the best tools to help them sell their idea with the encouragement and guidelines provided by our speakers. 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.

This is the message that Webit’s Executive Chairman and Goodwill Ambassador for Bulgaria's Digital Affairs - Plamen Russev sent to the world from Davos and shared upon his landing at Sofia Airport. He shared his impressions from the past week at the World Economic Forum in Davos. This year Dr. Russev hosted a special forum and reception - Webit.Davos 2019.

Apple's Chief Executive Officer among Webit.Davos 2019 guests

More than 300 guests from the world elite accepted Dr. Russev's personal invitation, including Apple's CEO Tim Cook, the President of Harvard University - Larry Beikou, presidents and CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, and many other government and NGOs representatives, as well as media, among which CNN, Forbes, and others. Such elite of global leaders are seldom brought together. The forum took place in the area with the highest level of security at the Davos Forum in Hilton Garden.

“There are dozens of events happening in Davos every minute, and the competition for the attention of the world leaders is extremely high. It was an exceptional honor for me that over 300 global leaders were with us and respected us with their presence. This is also a signal to others about Webit's influence and next year we expect even more interest.“ - said Webit’s Executive Chairman Plamen Russev.

The development of artificial intelligence, the future of work and blockchain technologies were among the main topics of the event. As a Goodwill Ambassador for the Digital Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria, Dr. Russev introduced his high-profile guests to the exceptional opportunities Bulgaria provides as a hub for new technologies. Webit affirmed Sofia as a digital capital in the global media and continues to promote the city and Bulgaria as a place for innovation and opportunities for opening development centers and creation of new high tech jobs.

"Mercedes Benz creates its entire platform for autonomous cars based on artificial intelligence in Sofia. 1300 Bulgarians will write such a platform, again based on artificial intelligence, for another world giant - Bosch. After attending two consecutive editions of Webit.Festival, the creator of the world's most used database - MySQL, chose to invest in a local company that is working on his new, extraordinary project ... I can give dozens of other examples. Bulgaria is becoming a local technology superpower and that is completely in unison with the long-standing efforts of Webit and our partners to improve people's lives by developing entrepreneurship and increasing the influence of women in business and politics. For the last 11 years, Webit builds and affirms the image of our country through our global community of over 800 000 people, who receive Webit news and are part of our global family. " Dr. Russev continued.

"Although the tone of the discussions in Davos was a bit pessimistic, I am moderately optimistic about Bulgaria and the creative role of our country in the region. The main challenges are to work together and for the common good; education is a key factor and much has to be done in this area. Webit Foundation has already gathered over 3000 young people - the color of the nation and enlighten them about the future. We have many plans and a lot of work to do together in that direction!"

Plamen Russev has also hinted at another big update, which is to be officially announced soon. From his words, 26 European cities are currently bidding to host Webit.Festival 2020. Which are the cities, what are their proposals to Webit, and whether Sofia will remain on Webit’s world map, are questions yet to be answered.

Digital transformation is the process of adopting digital technology in all aspects of human society. Right now it sits atop the strategic agenda for businesses around the world and two-thirds of the top executives worldwide predict that their organizations will be vastly digital after the next two years. This will not be easy task, but it may bring huge opportunities for emerging and already established businesses. In the next 10 years between 40% and 60% of the companies in Fortune’s 500 will not play the same role on the world. Their places will be taken by new enterprises that manage to adapt best to the economic realities of the future. Over the last 8 years Webit.Festival has been all about creating density of opportunities for the business and entirely new entrepreneurial ecosystem. Among the 5000 guest of this year’s event in Sofia you can find top level speakers from all over the world, that will talk about the latest trends in the world of digital transformation. During the event’s Digital Transformation Summit the CEO of JetPack Aviation David Mayman will tell the audience about the smallest and lightest jetpack ever created and the change it can bring to the transportation industry. The chief designer of SAP Martin Wezowski will share his thoughts on how to build the future we want to live in and the merging meaning of what to be an innovator and designer. He will also talk about the designer’s role in creating of everything, including social and political systems in a space between cutting edge technology and humanism. The partner for Europe and Innovation at VCI Roby Stancel will talk about the digital transformation in the most real world. He brings to the stage two decades of experience in innovation, services, strategies, roadmaps and cultural transformations for over 100 partner companies. Now Stancel offers a unique combination of design thinking innovation and business strategy. As founder of Change Sciences, Pamela Pavliscak advises designers, developers and decision makers on how to create technologies that promote well-being. On Webit’s stage she will tell the audience how to design happiness - which has been the promise of technology right from the start. Researches suggest that technology has negative impact on our lives instead of aspiring us to get better at our work and augmenting human abilities. Pamela will share her thoughts on how we can start designing a long-term well-being rather than short-term goals. The Chief marketing officer of AngelHack Brian Collins will tell the best options for the existing communities to leverage their resources and build up their well-being. Right now AngelHack is the world’s largest and most diverse global hacker community. The company helps drive open innovation of tech products, platforms and brands with extraordinary smarts, scale and speed with tech education and hackatons. The CEO and Founder of SignAll Technologies Zsolt Robotka will speak about the first automated sign language translator that can improve the lives of 70 million people and unlock services for the deaf. Furthermore, the expert will share his thoughts on how to accommodate sign language users in smart cities. 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.

BASSCOM, the industry association of leading Bulgarian software development companies, presented today its annual report on the IT industry in the country. Among the guests during the press conference was Mrs Aniela Russeva, Senior Vice President of the Webit Global Series.

Georgi Zahariev, member of the Managing Board of BASSCOM, pointed out that the annual turnover of the members of the association is now over 1 billion US Dollars. Another interesting fact is the growth of the software industry in Bulgaria – 16.9% for 2015, 5 times more the growth of the country’s GDP. The members of BASSCOM also reported 278 milion leva of paid taxes during the last year. Outsourcing companies have a growth of 21% during 2015 – 217 million leva – an all-time record for the country. The people, working in the industry, are 19 000 and that makes it one of the most effective in the country. BASSCOM provided information that the salaries in the industry are 4 times bigger than the average in Bulgaria.

BASSCOM is a long term partner of the Global Webit Series of events and they both as communities support the growth of the market and industry and help the establishment of Bulgaria as a hub for the region of CEE, which already was proven by the title given to Sofia as The Digital Capital of the New Markets by Forbes after last edition of Webit in Sofia. BASSCOM also stated that in all industries there is already a need of IT specialists since all businesses are now transforming or started to adapt to the digital economy. Thus BASSCOM also announced a launch of special pilot of educational programme for IT specialists that will start not in the Universities but in the secondary school. First results will be visible on the market in the near future, when more young people will be ready to be part of the continuing growth of the industry in the country. We expect more companies to relocate their operations for the CEE region in Bulgaria as we have all the ingredients needed.

About Webit.Festival 2017: Webit.Festival is the European edition of the Webit Series of events, which will take place in Sofia, Bulgaria, from the 25th to the 27th of April, 2017. The festival consists of several parallel conferences and events, workshops, roundtables and exhibitions. The event is under the patronage of the Mayor of Sofia Mrs Yordanka Fandakova and the European Commission. The agenda includes Tech Summit, Marketing and Innovation Summit, Developers Summit and Smart Cities Summit. Separate area of the festival will be dedicated to startups from Bulgaria and other countries in the world. The agenda for the founders includes conference, meetings with investors, academy for startups and special stage for them to pitch their companies in front of a jury of investors, journalists and leaders of Fortune 500 companies. Webit.Festival is the most influential event on the tech and digital industry in the region. To buy your tickets for Webit.Festival 2017, click here. To apply for speaking, click here. To apply for partnership, click here. To apply for exhibiting, click here. To apply for our Founders Games, click here. To see the video gallery from Webit.Festival 2016, click here.