IMPORTANT: The event will be held in English. We will aim to provide simultaneous interpretation where possible. Please note that during the matchmaking sessions, you may be paired with representatives from companies or municipalities who speak either English or Bulgarian only. If communication in English may be a concern for you, please indicate this in the open-ended question in the registration form.

[09:30 - 10:00] Registration & Coffee 

[10:00 - 10:30] Opening & Strategic Framing

• Anna Naydenova, Executive Director of ICT Cluster Bulgaria

• Hristo Nikolov, TV Host/Journalist at Bloomberg TV Bulgaria

• Sofia Municipality

[10:30 - 11:30] Panel 1: Digital Municipality – Vision to Implementation

Moderated by: Hristo Nikolov, TV Host/Journalist at Bloomberg TV Bulgaria

1. “What is Digital Municipality and Why is Municipal Digitalisation Urgent Now” by Prof Georgi Todorov and Assoc. Prof. Agata Manolova, Technical University Sofia

2. "The Future of Urban Governance: Digital Twins and Intelligent Public Services" by Ivan Draganov, Project Manager at GATE Institute and Petya Dimitrova, Chief Expert at the Urban Data Management Unit of Sofia Municipality

3. "Digital Transformation of Municipalities: Examples, Best Practices and a Pilot Project from MetaCities and Burgas Municipality" by Stoyan Nikolov, Burgas Municipality and MetaCities

4. “Engineering Cyber Resilience for Municipalities” by Mircho Mirchev, Senior Engineer, at Smartcom

[11:30 - 11:50] Coffee Break

[11:50- 13:20] Panel 2: Lightning Talks

Moderated by: Kamen Slavov, Co-Founder at SCION

1. "GIS-Based Solutions - Open Data From the Toll Systems for the Benefit of People" by Prof. Oleg Asenov, Director of the National Toll Administration at the Road Infrastructure Agency and Nikolay Naydenov, Minister of the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works, Bulgaria

2. "How Queue Management Transforms Citizen Experience" by Todor Dobrev, CEO & Founder of Tempus 2000, Bulgaria

3. "Smart Processing of Citizen Reports", by Kalina Yordanova, System Development Coordinator and Stiliyan Markov, Product Developer at Smart Signals

4. "Immersive and Intelligent Digital Twins for Smarter Urban Planning" by Krasimir Nikolov, CEO & Co-founder at QuarkXR, Bulgaria

5. "Enhancing Human Performance by Extended Reality" by Marek Bureš, Director of the XR Institute, Czech Republic

6. "Computer Vision for Smart Municipalities" by Nadia Kaloyanova, Senior Manager at Technology Valley, Bulgaria

7. "TopMobility: Shared е-Bikes as a Mobility Solution for Smart Cities" by Hristo Hristov, Commercial Manager at TopMobility, Bulgaria

[13:20 - 14:10] Lunch & Coffee

[14:10 - 15:40]  Panel 3: Lightning Talks

Moderated by: Christina Todorova, Technical Program Manager at ICT Cluster Bulgaria

1. “Theoremus PAYT: Digital Transformation of Municipal Waste Collection" by Ivaylo Tsakov, Co-Founder and CCO of THEOREMUS, Bulgaria

2. "Digital Wallets and Smart Cities: The Netherlands Use Case" by Petar Chardakov, Strategic Business Development Manager at ubiqu

3. "Cloud Solutions and Cybersecurity for the Public Administration" by Angel Dobrinov, Technical Solutions Manager at Advanced Vision IT, Bulgaria

4. "Building a Sustainable Environment through Waste Management, Route Optimization and Emission Reduction" by Danail Penev, Managing Partner & CEO at Tracking Bulgaria

5. "Smart Cities and the Bulgarian AI Factory" by Prof Simeon Stoyanov, Manager of the Bulgarian AI Factory BRAIN++, Bulgaria

6. "B2Green Hub and Gateways to Sustainable Digital Transformation for Municipalities" by Maja Sušec, Head of Project Development at Pomurje Technology Park and CI Hub, Slovenia

7. “Opportunities for Financing Municipalities” by Andreea Lodoabă-Cordon, Event coordinator at Cluj IT Cluster and the CITADEL Project

[15:40 - 16:00] Coffee Break

[16:00 - 17:00] Matchmaking Session

Moderated by: 

• Krasimira Shindarova, Coordinator of the InnovationAmp EDIH

• Mihail Iliev, CEO of the Research & Development & Innovation Consortium, Sofia Tech Park JSC 

• Ivan Draganov, Project Manager at GATE Institute

• [17:00 - 17:15] Closing: From Dialogue to Action and Summary of Key Insights

• [17:15 - 19:00] Networking Cocktail