KEYNOTE SPEAKERS & MODERATORS

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  Mariya Gabriel

  European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth

  Mariya Gabriel is the European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth since 2019 and former European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society (2017 - 2019). The overall objective of her overarching portfolio aims at the full realization of the Digital Single Market. Her strategic vision has consistently placed European citizens at the center of the policies, helping them acquire digital skills to succeed in the digital transformation process. She has focused her efforts on putting forward an ambitious digital programme in the context of the next MFF, investing in HPC, AI, cyber security, but also the creative, audio-visual industries and media, bringing benefits to all European citizens. She has extensively engaged with external EU partners to enhance digital cooperation, in particular with the Western Balkans and the Mediterranean region.

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  Emil Boc

  Mayor of Cluj-Napoca

  Mayor of Cluj-NapocaEmil Boc is the Mayor of Cluj-Napoca, the most important city of Romania, outside the capital, in terms of size and economic development. Major in Law and also in History and Philosophy, Emil Boc has a PhD in Political Science and Political Philosophy.

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  Dimitar Vasilev

  Chairman of Management Board at Bulgarian Business Forums

  Dimitar Vasilev is Chairman of the Bulgarian Business Forums and Executive Director of Webest Ltd.- a digital marketing company. He is part of the Digital Leaders Network of the World Economic Forum. Dimitar is a full member representing Bulgaria in the European Startup Network and a member of the Governing Boards of Varna European Youth Capital and National Representation of the Bulgarian Start-up Entrepreneurial Community. President of Round Table Bulgaria and Member of the Board of Directors of Round Table Varna. He strives to encourage the entrepreneurial and personal development of young people in every effort.

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  Emilia Botezan

  Head of International Affairs and Foreign Investment Department

  Emilia Botezan is the head of the Foreign Affairs and Investments Department in the City Hall of Cluj-Napoca. She has been in the institution for more than 17 years. In this period of time she came into contact with many international delegations and investors interested in Cluj-Napoca and with her department developed different tools for promoting the city as an interesting destination for investments. Emilia Botezan is the person who offered the investors the first glimpse of the city’s potential. However, she says, it’s not the numbers and the charts that convinced investors to come to Cluj, but the feeling of trust and the quality of people that make Cluj a destination for business and for innovation and research. Emilia is one of the local connectors of people, passions, skills and opportunities. She has the administrative background to channel the stake holder`s enthusiasm into a working ecosystem that generates development and well-being for the Cluj-Napoca`s living people (eighter by birth or by choice). To ensure a big picture for those interested to know why should they invest in Cluj-Napoca she designed and created the first business online platform owned by a municipality, www.clujbusiness.ro

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  Rumen Radev

  President of the Republic of Bulgaria

  Rumen Georgiev Radev was born on June 18, 1963, in Dimitrovgrad, Bulgaria. He is a Bulgarian politician and former major general who is the current president of Bulgaria since January 22, 2017. He graduated from the Georgi Benkovski Bulgarian Air Force University in 1987 as the top graduate. In 1992, he graduated from the US Air Force Squadron Officer School at Maxwell AFB. From 1994 to 1996, he studied at the Rakovski Defence and Staff College, where he was also the top graduate. He holds a Doctor of Military Sciences degree in the field of improvement of tactical training of flight crews and simulation of air combat. In 2003 he graduated from Air War College at Maxwell AFB in the United States with a Master of Strategic Studies with honors. He speaks Bulgarian, English, Russian and German.

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  Plamena Marinova

  Deputy Mayor of Varna

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  Lilia Hristova

  Director of Department “Education and Youth Activities” municipality Varna

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  Adrian RĂULEA

  Programme Director of Cluj Metropolitan Area Association

  Mr. Adrian RĂULEA, holds a Master`s degree in Electrical Engineering from the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca and completed the classes of the Master`s program European Affairs and Program Management at the Babes-Bolyai University. He is currently the Programme Director of Cluj Metropolitan Area Association. With over 10 years of experience, Adrian has filled various capacities in project management in both the private and public sectors. In his previous role as the Head of Strategy and Local Development department, Cluj-Napoca Municipality, he coordinated large scale infrastructure projects financed through the Structural Funds. In 2015, he joined the Cluj Metropolitan Association as Development Coordinator being responsible for building up a governance scheme for the metropolitan area of Cluj, preparing the strategic development documents for the metropolitan area (Integrated Development Strategy 2015-2023 for Cluj Metropolitan Area, the EBRD financed Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan) and coordinating the organization`s projects (H2020, Interreg, Urbact, Norway Grants etc.). In the past five years he worked also as a consultant for international organizations like the EBRD and the World Bank.

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  Oana Buzatu

  Cluj-Napoca City Hall

  Oana works in institutional communication and for the last 10 years she has been the Spokeperson of the Municipality of Cluj-Napoca and the Chief Service of the Citizen Information Centre of the institution, in charge with the local administration’s interaction with the citizens. From this position she has been involved in most of the municipality’s processes of becoming more friendly and participative for the citizens, enhancing transparency and also better understanding and updating the needs of public services. She is at present part of the internal team them is working to implement digital transformation in the Municipality and boosting of the innovative potential of the public employees. She has a bachelor degree in Journalism, a Master in Communication in the Public Sector and she is interested in public policies processes as ways to achieve the increase of life quality for communities.

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  Bilyana Raeva

  Varna Representative in Brussels

  Bilyana Raeva was elected as a Member of the European Parliament to the first European elections in Bulgaria in June 2007. In the European Parliament she is chairing the Delegation for relations with Switzerland, Iceland and Norway and the European Economic Area (EEA). She is a member of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, an alternate member of the Committee on Economic and Financial Affairs and Vice-President of the EP`s "Urban Development" Intergroup.From 2013 she is a representative of the Municipality of Varna in Brussels and participates in the campaigns of the city of the European Capital of Culture 2019 and the European Youth Capital 2016 and 2017. In 2015 he is authorized by the Mayor of Varna to represent the municipality in the Managing Board of the Association "Varna - European Youth Capital".

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  Bianca Muntean

  Co-Founder & Coordinator Transilvania Digital Innovation Hub

  Bianca Muntean is the manager of Transilvania IT Cluster, gold-labeled by ESCA, with over 20 years of experience in ecosystem development. Bianca is a member of the European Cluster Expert Group, a group coordinated by DG Grow on behalf of the European Commission, and also actively participates in various Advisory Boards focused on digital transformation at local, regional and national level. In 2019 she was awarded the title of EU Cluster Manager of the Year by the European Commission, and her work is focused on supporting cross-sectoral collaboration in Europe. Bianca is also the recipient of the Open Innovation Award in 2017, given by the European Commission and The Open Innovation Strategy and Policy Group. As Manager of Transilvania IT Cluster, she founded and coordinates Transilvania Digital Innovation Hub.

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  Evelyn Bakinta

  Innovation Strategy Officer StartupCity Heraklion

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  Elisabete Sampaio de Sá

  Innovation Strategy Officer StartupCity Braga

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  Arturo Villar Menéndez

  Global Innovation, Founder of SCEP StartupCities

  Arturo is a passionate open innovation entrepreneur. During the last 10 years, Arturo has been working in management of global innovation for the industrial sector with senior competencies on open Innovation, co-creation, and to reuse and identify synergies from other sectors for implementing new innovative solutions. Arturo is a key supporter of the European Innovation Council, expert evaluator of European Commission, PhD on Energy Engineering, and JCR reviewer of scientific publications on clean technologies and environmental issues.

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  Maria Metz

  CEO at NTT DATA Romania

  Maria Metz has been working in the IT&C industry for over 20 years, ever since the company was established. Throughout her career at NTT DATA Romania, she has actively contributed to building relevant structures and shaping the specific business processes by developing and integrating markets and portfolios to meet the constantly changing requirements. Maria has a collaborative leadership style, is a proponent of the constant transformation defining an agile organization, and upholds the importance of people in a digital world.

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  Todor Petkov

  General Manager at KBC Digital Development Center

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  Nina Moldovan

  General Manager and President of the Board at Winners First SA

  Experienced manager and strong business development professional with a demonstrated history of working also in the non-profit organization that focuses in supporting entrepreneurship in Romania. She has an extensive experience in new business development and a thorough understanding of the challenges and opportunities faced by the start-ups, because she always had the opportunity to be involved in all the Projects from very early stages. In the past 18 years she led the development of several business and projects in areas such as tourism, real estate and hotels.

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  Dilian Popov

  Chairman of the Management Board of ICT Cluster - Varna

  Founder of IT companies in cloud infrastructure, cloud integration and migration, telecom, internet marketing, BPO and consulting sectors. Financial exec with broad experience in all aspects of financial management. Direct experience with Cloud, VoIP, SIP, real estate, derivatives, financial consulting and alternative forms of funding. Specialties: cloud, telecom, internet marketing, alternative funding, new financial structures

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  Adria Berari

  Cluj Cluster for Education C-EDU

  Adria is one of the newest members of Cluj local innovation ecosystem team, a young professional at the start of her career, with a MA in Diplomacy and Foreign Policy, and a BA in Modern History and International Relations. While her chosen studies focused more on the international, her chosen career path focuses on the local potential to achieve bottom-up systemic change, that can be made in order to improve the community and ensure better opportunities for the local youth. Adria is a member of the coordinating team of Cluj Education Cluster C-EDU strategic program, StartupCity Cluj-Napoca, currently contributing to the co-desgin of the first Innovation and Experiment Fund in Romania, designed for students and young people, and Global StartupCity Cluj-Napoca initiative, focused of #EuropeanInnovationArea (#EiA).

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  Dalila Ciuclan

  Cluj Cluster for Education C-EDU

  Dalila Ciuclan is a young professional working for the last 3 years at Cluj-Napoca City Hall, at the core of the local development department. Her tasks are related to innovative international projects, such as ROCK(H2020), Innovato-R (URBACT), Cluj Future of Work (UIA), etc. Dalila is one of the first public employees within the Municipality of Cluj-Napoca that find themselves at the intersection of formal and informal roles in the internal innovation, her meta competences working as bridges in the tissues of change process of the institutions. She has a Bachelor Degree in European Studies and International Relations, Faculty of European Studies, Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, and is passionate about Europe and Romania’s potential development within the European family. She assists, coordinates and support with activities related to planning, preparing reports, monitoring contracts, grants, and cooperative agreements for different projects.

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  Yavor Petrov

  CEO at iCard

  Yavor Petrov has over 20 years of experience in the fintech sector. He is passionate about technology-enabled financial products and services. He has been working for iCard since the establishment of the company in 2007. Thanks to his strategic approach as Chief Executive Officer, the company has been sustainably developing and strengthening its positions. Today, iCard is a leader in the fintech market. It successfully operates across more than 30 countries in Europe, has over 1 million customers, and 250 plus employees.

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  Sonya Georgieva

  Director of the Tourism Directorate in the Municipality of Varna

  Sonya Georgieva is the director of the Tourism Directorate in the Municipality of Varna. She has a master`s degree in economics and law with a degree in law. The specialized administration "Tourism" was established on the idea of the Mayor of Varna Municipality in 2013. It is the first one of its kind in the country and provides administrative services to citizens and information to tourists. At the same time, it advertises Varna as a destination on the domestic and international market, working in close cooperation with the representatives of the tourism business.

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  John O`Brennan

  Jean Monnet Chair of European Integration at the National University of Ireland

  Professor John O`Brennan holds the Jean Monnet Chair of European Integration at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth. He is also the director of the Maynooth Centre for European and Eurasian Studies and a member of the Irish government`s expert advisory group on Brexit. He is the author of 3 books on the European Union, as well as more than 100 other academic publications. He is a frequent expert guest on EU issues on radio and television and has published commentaries on EU politics in Die Welt, El Pais, The Irish Times, The Guardian, Liberation, and many other newspapers.

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  Professor Evgeni Stanimirov

  Rector of the University of Economics - Varna

  Professor Evgeni Stanimirov is the rector of the University of Economics - Varna and business consultant with rich experience. He has more than 60 successfully completed projects. As a marketing specialist, he has been involved in over 40 projects funded by the EU and the World Bank. In the period 2011-2019 he was heading the Marketing Department at the University of Economics-Varna and administered 7 training projects (including a joint programme with Nottingham Trent University - UK). He coordinates on behalf of the UE-Varna the UIF programme on entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation at Stanford University, California (USA). Evgeni Stanimirov is a deputy chairman of the management board of The Union of Еconomists in Bulgaria. He is a member of the management board of the Association of the Specialists in Corporate Social Responsibility and Varna Digital Innovation Hub. He is a member of the control commision of the Bulgarian Association for Management and Entrepreneurship Development and the chairman of the control board in the Council of the Rectors of the High institutes in Bulgaria.

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  Dr. Stanislav Ivanov

  Vice-Rector (Research) at Varna University of Management

  Dr. Stanislav Ivanov is currently Professor and Vice-Rector (Research) at Varna University of Management, Bulgaria (http://www.vum.bg), Director of Zangador Research Institute (https://www.zangador.institute/en/), and CEO of the consulting company Zangador Ltd. (http://www.zangador.eu). Prof. Ivanov is the Founder and Editor-in-chief of two academic journals: European Journal of Tourism Research (http://ejtr.vumk.eu) and ROBONOMICS: The Journal of the Automated Economy (https://journal.robonomics.science). His research interests include robonomics, robots in tourism/hospitality, the economics of technology, revenue management, etc. His book co-edited "Robots, Artificial Intelligence and Service Automation in Travel, Tourism, and Hospitality" was published by Emerald Publishing in 2019. For more information about Prof. Ivanov please visit his personal website: http://www.stanislavivanov.com

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  Ph. D. Valentin Vasilev

  Associate professor at Faculty of Navigation in Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy

  His scientific and research work is related with contemporary problems of the High education in aspects of safety of navigation and security of The Maritime Transport System.

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  Ventsislava Nedyalkova

  Coordinator at VarnaSpaces and ActivateSpaces

  Ventsislava Nedyalkova is working as an architect in Munich, Germany. She has experience ranging from architecture, urban renewal and development at the city administration, citizens` participation and educating students. She is dedicated to the improvement of urban environment and the revitalization of cultural heritage in Varna, Bulgaria. Mrs. Nedyalkova and her team are inspired by the idea of making urban spaces more active, social and walkable.

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  Ilin Dimitrov

  Chairman of Varna Tourist Chamber

  Ilin Dimitrov is working in tourism since he was 14 years old. He is Chairman of Varna Tourist Chamber; Director of CCPM (Career Center, Entrepreneurship and Marketing) University of Economics - Varna and Lecturer at Tourism College -Varna. Owner of one of the biggest companies in Bulgaria for student and laborforce exchange.

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  Pavlin Kosev

  General Manager of AQUA HOTELS

  Павлин Косев е завършил Магистър по Мениджмънт към Икономически Университет - Варна. Специализирал е „Управление на персонала“ в Мюнхен, Германия и е сертифициран тренер по Мениджмънт към WIFI Академия за Туризъм - Виена. Повече от 25 години той работи на мениджърски позиции, от които: Ресторант Мениджър в Макдоналдс България; Национален Оперативен Мениджър във верига ресторанти „Хепи“ България, а от 19 години е Генерален Мениджър на хотел Аква Варна. С награда „Мениджър на верига хотели за 2013 г.“,”Мениджър на балканите за 2018” и Председател на Варненската Асоциация на Ресторантьорите и Хотелиерите, която организира традиционното туристическото изложение и конференция „ТУРИЗЪМ ЕКСПО Дестинация Варна“.

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  Galina Momcheva, PhD

  Head of Computer Science Department, Varna Free University

  Assoc. Prof. Galina Momcheva, PhD is the Head of Computer Science Department at Varna Free UniversityScientific supervisor of M.Sc. Data Science and M.Sc. Interaction DesignResearch interests in Algorithm Design, Neural Networks Design, BioMedical Image Analyses, Automated ML, Computer Vision, and CS Education.She is the Co-founder/Co-manager of the Research and Entrepreneurship Ecosystem BioMed-Varna working in interdisciplinary and inter-university (VFU and MedUni-Varna) educational and research practices in Computer Science and Medicine.Dr Momcheva is the Head of ICT Cluster-Varna (2016-2021)

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  Isabel Pascual Villamor

  Innovation Strategy Officer- StartupCity Malaga

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  Professor Todor Ganchevr

  Vice-Rector of Research at the Technical University of Varnа

  Prof. Todor Ganchev, PhD, is the founding Head of the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and the Applied Signal Processing Laboratory at TU-Varna. He is the Titular Professor on Artificial Intelligence at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. He has authored/co-authored 200 research publications, among which over 50 journal articles and two books. Collectively these received over 2500 citations (Google Scholar h-index=27, i10-index=62). He has been involved in over 30 national and international projects funded under the FP5, FP6, FP7, H2020 and other sources, serving as the project manager, project coordinator, work-package leader, or researcher. His research interests are in signal processing, machine learning, and their Biometrics, Bioacoustics, and Human-Machine Interaction applications. He is a Senior Member of IEEE and currently serves as the Treasurer of the IEEE Bulgarian Section.