Tag: speaker

Hristo Hristov is the CEO of NetInfo and Official Representative and Chairman of IAB. He joined Webit.Festival Europe 2018 to share some insights on the future of Blockchain in digital media and advertising.

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The crypto market exploded over the last three years. A lot of industries started looking at blockchain as a technology, as to whether it can solve some of their biggest challenges.

Let's look at blockchain:

Blockchain as a technology is still at its infancy. We're still at the hype cycle and blockchain is sitting right next to autonomous vehicles which I don't see happening in the next two or three years and Event-triggered marketing. So as a technology, blockchain might grow into something big like the internet or even bigger, but it might also fade away into some narrow use cases.

How can Blockchain improve the Digital Media and advertising landscape?

There are some use cases which are rather obvious:  * Fraud detection and prevention  * User Identity  * Buying and selling inventory, etc

Centralization vs. Decentralization

Trust a third party or to use a decentralized approach?

Decentralization PROs

* Durability, reliability and longevity - Due to the decentralized networks, blockchain does not have a central point of failure and is better able to withstand malicious attacks. * Process integrity - Users can trust that transactions will be executed exactly as the protocol commands removing the need for a trusted third party. * High quality data - Blockchain data is complete, consistent, timely, accurate and widely available. * Transparency and immutability - Changes to public blockchain are publicly viewable by all parties creating transparency. All transactions are immutable, which means they cannot be altered or deleted.

Decentralization CONs

* Trusted 3rd parties - it's not Central vs Decentralized. The advertising ecosystem is based on trusted third parties. These 3rd parties are innovation drivers. * It's too slow - Digital advertising is real-time. RTB standard requires service response in 100ms.

There are several examples which already use blockchain in addressing some of digital advertising's biggest challenges.

adChain tries to create a token curated registry of publishers in order to verify and simplify the buying. And papyrus is a decentralized programmatic value management platform aimed to radically improve programmatic advertising stack. All of these solutions are in the making, they are not really ready but they are evolving pretty fast. Several years ago we were talking about mobile apps, then AI, now blockchain. The hype cycles of few years ago were longer and we used to have more time to adapt to them. But now they are becoming shorter and they’re starting to overlap. It wasn’t long long ago that we were talking about programmatic buying. Now it is programmatic buying on a decentralized exchange powered by blockchain.

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Missed the 2018 edition of Webit.Festival Europe? Don’t miss the 2019! Get your super early bird 2in1 tickets – 2 for the price of 1 here!

"The future is very important, because we will kind of spend the rest of our lives there. So we better make it really good. :)"

Martin Wezowski is the Chief Designer & Futurist at SAP. He joined Webit to put some perspective on “what is work and what is human in a superhuman future”.

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Martin, being a fan of the Beatles, started with playing a tune that resembles the style of the iconic band. But later he revealed that the song was created by AI that mimics the Beatles.

"It listens to everything that The Beatles have ever done and makes new songs. It does it so successfully that it has over 2M views on Youtube. That should really raise deep and profound questions."

The main question is WTF - What’s the future?

One example of that is the healthcare.

"It takes 7-10 years to make a doctor, which gives us a severe shortage of doctors."

With the soon-future-AI, medical help will be in infinite amount everywhere, all the time for everyone. That should also change our minds about what is human work. Nowadays AI can diagnose heart diseases or lung diseases more accurately than humans. Funny enough, humans and AI combined are almost 100% correct. In the 90s we decoded the human genome. It took billions of dollars. Now there is a DNA sequencer for 1000$. What does this mean for research? What does it mean for animal testing?

The NOW has never been so temporary as it is today.

Maybe we should start imagining the futures that we want and start creating them, rather than react to what we where we are today because thus we are too late. That might be a little scary because we see jobs disappearing. A hundred years ago almost everybody worked at farming, fishing, forestry. Now it's only about 2%. What did they do? What would they think if you'd tell them: "Most of you will not be in agriculture." What would hey imagine that they will do, accounting? Web development? We are in the same situation today. And it doesn't matter because we will imagine new jobs as they emerge. We can't plan for it. And the real question is this:

What to teach kids to become relevant in 30 years from now?

How can we adapt to the change? What new values do we need? The stability of planning is a little bit of fake. The opposite to stability is not instability, it's emergence. It's risk, it's rock'n'roll. To transform, to challenge and take risks. Innovation is sort of rock'n'roll in business and we need more of that.

One thing we rely on is the thinking of the 3 horizons.

1. Continuous innovation - Ready to consume: Traditional KPIs (key performance indicators) of predictable outcomes and repeatable results and scalable efficiency.
2. Adjacent innovation - Ready to Co-innovate: Forecasting your intelligence and resources to the near future, the next, the adjacent innovation where you co-innovate with your partners and/or customers.
3. Transformative Innovation - Ready to Inspire: Thinking away from what you can do today and the tools you have. Your vision and thought leadership leads to ideas that you must articulate very clearly so you can have a decent discussion on executive and board level about these ideas.

 

Help the world run better and improve people's lives.

These two things go to the two sides of the spectrum with 4 dimensions:

1. The self running company

For example: Counting logotypes in commercials for example is not a human work anymore. Machines do that now. And it changes the whole business model for the industry. Now they pay for what they get.

2. Self organizing Business Ecosystems

They are built on the philosophy that the current power is a like money - the more you hold, the more powerful you are. The more relevant you make yourself in the distribution of that power - the more powerful you will be.

3. Augmented humans

The Super Human - that we all carry inside. By removing the constraints of the human bias and knowledge we can be beyond that and be super human or human at last. That answers the question: What is the smartest app? Well that's the one that makes YOU smarter.

4. Purpose Led New Market & Business Models

Why are you relevant 10 years from now? It doesn't have to be to save the planet, you have dreams and focus and markets, you would like to create. Something that excites you to the moon. Articulate that very well - why are you relevant 10 years from now - because if you don't, you might not be.

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“Everything from the beginning is an open end and it's up yo us to actually sit down and actually use this methods and look across all the 3 horizons, articulate futures that are desirable where we can play a significant positive role. That's our purpose. And if we do that I actually think we can design futures that we all want to live in. And we should remember to have some fun as well. :)”

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Missed the 2018 edition of Webit.Festival Europe? Don’t miss the 2019! Get your super early bird 2in1 tickets – 2 for the price of 1 here!  

Though the moderator of the panel was still sitting on his plane, being late for leading the discussion, the Advisor at 8VC Jon Soberg, the founder and co-CEO of H-Farm Maurizio Rosi & the Investment Director at iTech Capital Alexey Telnov managed to deliver their experience and insights in the discussion about Investments in FinTech at Webit.Festival 2017. Stay tuned with the latest innovations by booking a ticket to Webit.festival Europe 2018 Technology is changing everything, in all sectors, businesses and business models and has an impact on society in the daily lives of millions of people. Technology is effective once it’s combined with the next generation.

FinTech is data

Money is data too, they represent the value. As we’ve already entered a “data age”, there’s much more consciousness about the data. From online payments through digital wallets and asset management, this is a pretty vast area of settling a company and acquiring a market segment of. As for FinTech where the area has been controlled by the big banks and large organizations until recently, now we see more and more startups creating new products and truly having an impact. Even though it’s getting more crowded in the last few years, this market still provides probably the biggest opportunity that’s out there in terms of a market.

One of the advantages of investing in FinTech is that one always knows where the money come from

By default, FinTech companies are dealing with money so that makes an investor’s job easier in order to track the flows. This area is fairly straightforward when it comes to a particular business model and the way the business works. The market for financial services is more than enough large so nobody has to ask questions about the size of the market or how companies in the sector will make money. The question is whether they can execute and succeed. The buzz in FInTech naturally raises the question of security: security solutions and their integration in FinTech products and services. Companies are putting more and more information on the cloud so security is a sensitive issue in all areas and needs to be paid proper attention to. Companies operating in this domain need to deal with regulations, licences and still find a way to keep their customers data secure.  

Webit.Festival - a place for minds to meet. Marius Ghenea, the Investment Director of 3TS Capital gave a keynote at last year’s edition about seizing opportunities and avoiding pitfalls in the fast-growing Central & Eastern Europe risk-capital ecosystem. 3TS Capital has been investing in countries in the CEE region for quite some time and Marius, as a serial entrepreneur and angel investor himself has gained deep insight on the specifics of this market. Though being quite underestimated in the years back in time, CEE is slowly but surely getting its footprint in business, tech and innovations. The region has drawn attention not only with unicorns such as Skype, Avast, Transferwise and AeroMobil but also with the emergence of multiple, active and growing startup ecosystems across and around.

CEE sure has its historical, economical and national challenges to overcome

The diversity of this region consists of countries in the EU, countries yet to join the EU, countries with an “on the way” developed startup ecosystem and ones that have yet to work towards the achievement of it. This calls for quite a turbulent, hard to define business environment with ounces of political, ethical and cultural differences ranging for each country. Despite the tiny late development, things are starting to look more and more promising. The IT sector has been rapidly growing, adding to a growing GDP for some of the countries. In the last years, we have seen business association networks popping up in the region. One of the things happening more often now is that a growing number of these national and regional associations have been connecting with large organizations and business angel associations on a European and worldwide level. Webit.Festival gathers exactly the people, entrepreneurs and investors involved in this ecosystem mixed with players in the worldwide scene to create a colorful mix. Check our website for more details of the 2018 upcoming edition.

Ever since the emergence of the homo sapiens species on this planet, human nature is directly related to constant processes of transformation and development. But in the modern society we live in, these changes are happening at a much faster pace than most of us can understand. This year, Webit.Festival Europe will address precisely these comprehensive processes of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which in the coming years will change almost every aspect of our lives fundamentally. And there is hardly anyone, who understands today’s Digital world better than the renowned communicator and expert in Marketing and Media Igor Beuker. He will be among the keynote speakers during the Opening ceremony of the event, which will take place on 25-26 April in Sofia Tech Park. In the space of 25 years, Igor Beuker was kicked out of professional football and went from a college dropout to a radical marketing visionary and modern-day serial entrepreneur. He has become one of the prominent speakers in the international business speaking circuit. And he hasn't slowed down since. Today he is an energetic professional communicator, renowned keynote speaker & host, award-winning marketing strategist for Nike, Amazon, L’Oréal and Unilever, new breed trendwatcher for several Fortune 500 companies, serial entrepreneur with multiple exits, and angel investor. Global enterprise leaders and media have labeled him one of the most inspiring, innovative and influential speakers and entrepreneurs. In the recent years he appeared on countless television and radio shows as an expert voice on emerging trends in marketing, media and innovation. During his keynote speech at Webit.Festival, Igor will explain to the audience why he thinks that intelligence is the ability to adapt to change. Igor will look at the trends through his Math Man lens and will share his thoughts on the world’s current systems, that were developed for the 20th century. He will also present his views on the path Europe has to take to lead the digital economy and build collaborative ecosystems, instead of “egosystems”. Watch Igor’s appearance on at CEEDS’15 by Webit:

What’s the common between diabetes, fitness, medical researches and style? Well, actually, there’s a lot linking them. But maybe we will surprise with something you still don’t know. What all those have in common, is the name of one of our WEBIT.FESTIVAL’2017 lectors, Sridhar Iyengar. He is founder of three different companies, harnessing power of biotechnologies in an unique stylish way or in other words, a serial entrepreneur, definitely loving style, paired with high functionality. Starting with the AgaMatrix company, whose blood glucose monitoring products are the first medical device connected to iOS; continuing with Misfit, whose beautiful tracking fitness bracelets partnered with Coca-Cola, Victoria’s Secret and Swarovski; and ending up (for now) with Elemental Machines, a network of innovative sensory devices connected to a software so that environmental parameters in laboratories can be controlled from a distant location - this is what Mr. Sridhar Iyengar have left a part of himself in. Have you heard about the Misfit bracelets? Maybe you have even used or still use them too?  The company producing them, founded by Iyengar, has been acquired by Fossil Group (creating original accessories for brands like Adidas, Emporio Armani, Karl Lagerfeld, Burberry, DKNY, Diesel) for $250M in 2015. But have you been wondering what do successful people do once they get (a) baby company sold? Of course they’re not likely to settle and cry, but easy find another great idea to develop. This is exactly what Sridhar Iyengar does - very soon after Missfit have been sold, he launches Elemental Machines. Partnering with former Apple  and Pepsi CEO John Sculley, the new company of Sridhar raises $2.25 million in initial funding and maybe the tagline of Elemental Machines has a lot to do with this fact: “Helping scientists accelerate discovery using sensors and machine learning,” The idea of the sensors and the devices is to improve the complex biology and chemistry-based processes and making the results clear, transparent and consistent. Mr. Iyengar holds more than 30 US and international patents and is also Ph..D. from Cambridge University, keen runner and drummer. What’s the common between those above and his three innovative companies, and is there a fourth baby company on the way? Maybe he will tell us straight from the WEBIT.FESTIVAL’17 stage. Or who knows, maybe we all will help him to get a new idea born. Because inspiring, is one of the things WEBIT does best! 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. To learn more about the events that are part of the festival, click here. To see pictures from our previous events, click here. For all this information and even more, visit our website www.webit.bg. Contact: Aniela Russeva

aniela@webitcongress.com

No, it’s JetPack man. He will fly over Webit Festival 5000+ attendees! And not not by plane! He will just fly! Watch out because David Mayman, the creator of “The World’s First True Jetpack” and CEO of JetPack Aviation is coming to Webit.Festival’2017! And who knows - maybe will do a storm by landing on scene by his untraditional vehicle. Have you ever wanted to fly? Maybe as a child you’ve wanted to fly with a pair of wings, to see all the beauty that birds see from above and to feel the ultimate freedom of the sky? Then real adults life comes and you learn you can only fly by plane, or eventually parachute or something else of the kind. But David Mayman, one of our great speakers, didn’t settle and worked hard to make flying possible nowadays. “I've always dreamt of creating and flying a jetpack - to me this is the ultimate expression of flight - no wings, minimal airframe and very compact.”, he says. If you have recently heard of that vertically flying man in New York, London, and Monaco but you still don’t believe it, you can trust us, he’s real. “It really is like having a motorcycle or a bicycle in the air.” by his own words. Not only he proves flying is possible, but what’s more, he thinks he can teach you, even if you have never piloted a plane before. David is a professional pilot with a curious career path combining aviation, internet technologies and commerce but he have always found real passion in aircraft. He devoted 25 years of discovering the ultimate freedom feeling by creating “The World’s First True Jetpack” - light enough to be carried by a man and small enough to fit in a car. David have completed more than 400 test and a couple of real flights, armed only with his Jetpack on back. The most recent model ot JetPack, JB-9, could reach 10,000 feet (3,050 metres) and a highest speed of 102 km/h with duration of the flight for about 10 minutes, says JetPack Aviation. The company wants to raise £300,000 in order to invest in further research and development for its JB-10 JetPack and VTOL aircraft. And if today JetPack flying symbolises distant future, Mr Mayman says will work hard to create a commercial use JetPack so that one day JetPack could be a usual way of hanging around used by next generations. 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. To learn more about the events that are part of the festival, click here. To see pictures from our previous events, click here. For all this information and even more, visit our website www.webit.bg. Contact: Aniela Russeva

aniela@webitcongress.com

The blue track of the Global Webit Congress will be featuring such key concept as what does entrepreneurship, startups and business knowledge have in common. Prominent speakers together with Tech leaders, influential Founders, CTOs, CIOs of the world’s most innovative companies, disruptive start-ups, top talents, and over 400 investors and 300 accredited media will participate in these inspirational discussions. Join them now! People tend to think about entrepreneurship exclusively in the context of startup ventures with a couple wild-eyed risk takers working out of a garage. What is entrepreneurship actually? Why is it relevant to all stages of life in business? How can it make even a mega-multinational more successful? What are the stages of entrepreneurship, what all stages have in common, and why you are more entrepreneurial than you think (and that is a good thing). Entrepreneurs need everything that is taught at a business school. Whether you are starting a company, buying an existing company to run or turn around, turning around a failing division inside of a company, or building a new business unit for your successful company …entrepreneurs use every tool to get the job done. At the blue track of the Global Webit Congress one of our keynote speakers, Paul Kewene-Hite will briefly explore why entrepreneurship is vital to business of any condition and size. Paul Kewene-Hite of INSEAD has over 23 years business experience with start-ups and major technology companies.

He actively mentors and consults to business and social entrepreneurs as well as governments and companies of all sizes. He has successfully worked in every corner of a technology company from tech support to finance to sales and business development to CEO.

He was a Technology Evangelist at Apple, and Director of Strategic Planning and New Business Development at NEC Computers. He was a venture capitalist and has served as VP, President and CEO of technology startups in the USA and Ireland. In addition to building technology companies, he has restructured and turned around companies in Australia and the US, he has launched a new venture in China, he built a strategic plan for an initiative by the Welsh government. He has opened new markets for businesses around the world. He has been instrumental in landing hundreds of millions in revenue for companies, and he has been intimately involved in raising millions in venture capital for multiple ventures. He has authored technology white papers and business plans, and has performed extensive business planning from full P&Ls to operations to market launches.

At INSEAD he is Director of the Entrepreneurship Accelerator, the Head Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EiR) as well as an Affiliate Professor of Entrepreneurship. Quite an impressive experience. Visit the Leaders of the Future Tech Summit to hear him and join the discussion on Startups, Entrepreneurship and Business knowledge book your tickets with early bird prices now.  

Peter Fredell has had a career in international banking and capital markets. He will be a speaker at the Blue track at Webit Global Congress 2014. Peter has a successful record of accomplishment of developing financial services businesses. Since 1992, he is founder of Fredell & Co, investing in the financial and technological space. Fredell is today the largest shareholder of Seamless. He joined the board of Seamless in 2009 and since 2011 is CEO of the company. Seamless is a global mobile payments company that provides prepaid top-up systems and mobile payment services for mobile operators, distributors, retailers and consumers. The company has two main product lines: the proprietary transaction switch ERS 360˚ for top-ups to mobile operators and distributors, and SEQR for mobile payments in stores, on-line and in-app. In its home territory of the Nordic region, Seamless has established the proof points for its business and leading retail merchants, who have adopted the system, including McDonalds Sweden. Seamless is an international company with customers in more than 30 countries, from Brazil in the west to Thailand in the east. Their ambition is to build sales, support and operations in Stockholm, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pakistan and Ghana. It boasts over 3.1 billion transactions handled annually for more than 40 operators in these countries. Peter Fredell will be a speaker at the blue track of the Global Webit Congress. To meet Peter Fredell and learn more about mobile payments and the success story of Seamless book your ticket at an early bird price now.