Tag: digital economy

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.

The world is advancing in its digital transformation process

  Being innovative and decisive, persistently driving the change, will be basic traits for any organization planning to stay competitive and live up to the expectations of our technologically thriving world. The 2019 DXC Global Digital Enterprise Survey, written by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and sponsored by DXC and Leading Edge Forum suggests that this will be “a year of decision-making and profound change”. This statement supports Diana Stefanova’s (Managing Director EMEA R&D VMware) views on digital transformation shared on the stage of Webit 2018: “Companies have to constantly innovate. If companies do not disrupt themselves, they will be disrupted by others.” Join Webit 2019 to hear more about current technological trends and how businesses cope with them

Surveying more than 600 executives on their strategies for digital transformation

EIU reveals that the majority of businesses (over 80%) plan to increase their 2019 investments in digital technology. As numbers suggest this is by far not a hazard as 70% of the respondents confirm that organization’s profitability has increased thanks to their digital strategy. Investments in cloud computing, mobile and applications are already considered entangled to modern business, so exploring emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, server less computing and others, could lead to greater agility and competitive advantage. On the matter, 75% of respondents state that a modern IT infrastructure positions their organization to produce stakeholder value. On the stage of Webit 2018 we also welcomed Mikael Conny Svensson - Vice-President Government Affairs & Public Policy, Mastercard Europe, who shared his vision for Europe in 2030-2050: “Innovation is absolutely necessary, not just to do business now, but to do it in the future too” Explore the report and find more interesting insights here By uniting data and analysis, an organization confidently adds value to its strategy and its further implementation, however, the adoption pace is still rather imperceptive. Only less than 30% of the organizations see their business units as “digitally enabled.” Thus, fundamental to a successful digital transformation is adequate cultural transformation. About 40% of respondents state that the process should be supported by significant initiatives related to organizational change, new recruitment and training programs, digital task forces activation, as well as strong understanding and commitment from core executives to keep and guide the “digi course”. As Igor Beuker, a professional speaker, serial entrepreneur and Angel Investor shared his thoughts on innovation at our 10th birthday: “Innovation is a culture, not a department!” Get the chance to hear about it,first hand experience at Webit.Festival Europe 2019, where attendance is 75% C-level. Evolving and moving forward to the digitization of the business has been proven to be a strategic benefit to any organization. So, if for any reason you still doubt the value of digitizing your company or industry, come to Sofia - the digital capital and get insights from the people implementing this transformation worldwide. Like what you read? Subscribe here and never miss Webit news and special promotions!

A few days before the upcoming holidays, we will keep this very brief. We kindly invite you to watch the premiere of the Webit.Festival Europe 2019 trailer - and join us on this virtual journey. Hope you have also marked your calendar: May 13-15, 2019 and you will join us at the 11th annual edition of Europe's Tech and Innovation Festival along with 10'000 other founders, business, academia and policy leaders from 111 countries. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZGC-0zEXSk[/embed] Please accept our Season's Greetings! May you have the joy of shared love and warmth in your family!  Let 2019 be successful and peaceful! Yours, Webit team

You must have heard about data

Just open up any news website, newspaper and the figures are there. It’s the buzzword of our time - everybody is talking about data, flow of data, security, protection, etc. As is technology. You use technology everywhere - all around you. Уou use it every single day. Аnd that’s exactly where the real danger lies. The Estonian Prime Minister, Kersti Kaljulaid, is saying that society is changing because of the washing machine, not because it landed on the Moon, quoted by local media seems more inline with what’s happening today that any other jibber jabber. That’s to say, simple, everyday technology really changed the way people live, not high end software that very few people possess.

Now that you are scrolling facebook..

..how do you know that one of your friends is not exactly your friend? Or perhaps somewhere out there is holding you personal data for God-knows-what? Well you can’t. Internet and the websites offer anonymity to a huge extend. At least to somebody who knows how to work with data. For the artificial intelligence there are no hidden spots. Jason Jercinovic, the Global Head of Marketing innovation of Havas, tackled the ethical issues of companies using data, personal data, for various purposes @Webit.Festival Europe 2017. Machines today know all about you - the emojis you use, the personal thoughts you share and anybody with access to that can easily use this information. Why is it OK for a car company to know its customers, their behavior and send newsletters with the innovations they would be interested in? But it’s not OK when terrorist groups research and target young men and women to enter the military? Companies are still struggling to define what sensitive data is and how to protect it. The lack of clear regulations doesn’t help in fighting the problem. The first steps towards some kind of decision have been taken. In January 2012, the European Commission proposed a comprehensive reform of data protection rules in the EU. The directive will effectively enter into force from May 2018.

This and more will be discussed @Webit.Festival Europe 2018

Webit is the flagship event of a European digital week part of which will be the Digital Assembly, the annual high level gathering of European executives. Topics like Data encryption, privacy & security as well as data flow and its ethical implications are part of the Innovation Summit. They will be covered by experts and legislators. If you want to keep up with the latest trends in the world of digital economy and technology, then Webit.Festival is the right place for you. Visit our website and book 2 in 1 of our Super Earlybird tickets for Webit.Festival Europe 2018. You can watch Jason Jercinovic’s keynote here: [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlDC9VSxUCU[/embed]

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.