WEBIT.FESTIVAL Europe
13-15 May 2019, NDK, Sofia
The Innovate! & Plenary Sessions of Webit.Festival Europe 2018 was chaired by EU Commissioner for Digital Agenda and Society Mariya Gabriel.
The stage of the Innovate! & Plenary Sessions shall welcome some of the worlds global leaders who shape the future now and who will be part of the discussions on how to re:Invent Europe's Future.
Highlights
Harmony
The First Companion Robot with advanced AI
Realbotix, CTO
eBee
The Professional's Mapping Drone
senseFly, MD
Pocket Sky
Natural light energizer that helps with winter blues, jet lag and shift work.
Pocket sky, Co-Founder
Hoverbike
Revolutionizing Unmanned Airborne Logistics and Manned Flight
Malloy Aeronautics, CEO
FragaX
Reliable and productive unmanned aerial vehicles with electric and gasoline propulsion.
FragaX, CEO & Founder
Black Swan
Fully & semi autonomous satellite connected cargo drone.
Dronamics, Co-Founder
GET
Wireless Power Network that enables battery-powered drones to recharge while still in flight.
GET, CEO & President
FlytCycle
Hoverbike that can traverse any terrain just a couple of feet off the ground.
Flyt Aerospace, Founder
Cybershoes
The only shoes for walking in VR that won’t let you bounce into a wall.
Cybershoes, CEO
About
The plenary session will be organized
around six major building blocks:
-
The big picture:
What vision for a human-centred digital Europe in 2030-2050? -
Building a democratic digital society:
What place for values and culture in the Digital Age? -
Investing in people:
What priorities for digital skills and education? -
Building the Gigabit society:
What priorities for Infrastructure 4.0? -
Protecting people and business:
How to meet domestic and external challenges on Cybersecurity? -
Empowering Women in Business and Politics:
How digital can help to break the glass ceiling?
Other topics include
Innovation Brand Strategies Marketing Automation Digital/Tech Innovations Disruptive Tech Convergence Transforming the Economy Applications of (VR/AR)AUDIENCE
-
43%
Enterprise executives:
CMOs, CTOs, CIOs; -
20%
Ad / Media /
Digital Agencies -
17%
Tech Solution
Providers -
11%
Entrepreneurs /
Start-ups - 09% Scientists
- 84% Europe
- 9% USA
- 7% MENA
- 5% Asia
- 1% Rest of the World
First announced speakers include
Why exhibit?
- Direct access to top level marketers, digital transformation experts, entrepreneurs, founders, innovators, members of the academia and enterprise executives from Europe and all over the world
- Access to business leaders from different industries, who need to advertise their products in the best way possible
- Media Coverage
- 1:1 meetings between some of the best marketers, digital transformation experts and AI/VR experts in the world and the business
Attending Companies
Agenda
14th May
Opening
09:30 - 10:00 Opening Show
10:00 - 10:15 Opening Keynote
Dr. Plamen Russev
Webit Foundation / Executive Chairman and Founder
10:16 - 10:31 Opening Keynote
Mariya Gabriel
European Commission / European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth
10:32 - 10:37 Opening Keynote by Visa
Bill Gajda
VISA Inc. / Global Head, Strategic Partnerships and Innovation
10:38 - 10:53 Welcome Address
Yordanka Fandakova
Mayor of Sofia
10:54 - 11:04 Welcome Address
Rumen Radev
President of Bulgaria
11:05 - 11:20 Keynote: How digital transformation will change the aero space industry
Dirk Hoke
Airbus Defence and Space / Chief Executive Officer
11:21 - 11:36 Keynote by Visa
Bill Gajda
VISA Inc. / Global Head, Strategic Partnerships and Innovation
11:53 - 12:08 Keynote: Restoring Trust in a Digital World
Dan Johnson
Mastercard / Vice President
12:09 - 12:44 Panel discussion: Vision for Europe 2030 and protecting the people and the businesses
Dr. Plamen Russev
Webit Foundation / Executive Chairman and Founder
Thomas Arnoldner
A1 Group / CЕО
Dirk Hoke
Airbus Defence and Space / Chief Executive Officer
Natalia Oropeza
Siemens / Chief Cybersecurity Officer
Eric Rasmussen
Infinitum Humanitarian Systems (IHS) / Chief Executive Officer
12:45 - 13:05 Keynote: PMI’s vision for a smoke free future
Andre Calantzopoulos
Philip Morris International / Chief Executive Officer
14:20 - 14:30 Demo: Cybershoes
Michael Bieglmayer
Cybershoes / CEO
15:02 - 15:39 Panel discussion: The Gigabit Society based on values and diversity
Rosen Plevneliev
Republic of Bulgaria / President of (2012 – 2017)
Randall Lane
Forbes / Editor and Chief Content Officer
Berna Ülman
VISA / Executive Director, South Eastern Europe
Sabine Everaet
Coca-Cola Company / CIO of EMEA
Sarah Bernuit
IBM iX / Digital Strategy & iX Growth Platform Leader for Europe
15:55 - 16:05 Demo: Augmented Reality
Prof. Shafi Ahmed
Medical Realities / Chief Medical Officer
Future of work
11:37 - 11:52 Keynote: Digital Darwinism and the world of Designed Empathy
Jesus Mantas
IBM Global Business Services / Managing Partner
13:06 - 13:21 Keynote: Future of Work
Paul Willmott
McKinsey & Co / Senior Partner & Founder of Digital McKinsey
13:33 - 13:48 Keynote: How Europe can prepare for the Fourth Industrial Revolution’s impact on the workforce (inclusive of re-training and education reform). How automation and AI effects the future of work
Guido Jouret
ABB Group / Chief Digital Officer
13:49 - 14:20 Panel discussion: Future of work and Innovation for Education
Yonov Frederick Agah
World Trade Organisation / Deputy Director-General
Mariya Gabriel
European Commission / European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth
Joanna Riley
Censia / Co-Founder & CEO
Guido Jouret
ABB Group / Chief Digital Officer
Guido van Nispen
Publisher, Independent Advisor, Governance Executive
Jerry Yang
Hardware Club / General Partner
Mmantsetsa Marope
UNESCO’s International Bureau of Education / Director
Zornitsa Roussinova
Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, Bulgaria / Deputy Minister
Digital world
13:22 - 13:32 Demo: Companion Robot
Guile Lindroth
Realbotix / Associate and AI Director
14:31 - 14:45 Keynote: Intelligent interconnectivity for People, Things, and Enterprises.
Sethu M
SAP Digital Interconnect / President
14:46 - 15:01 Keynote: Innovation at Amazon
Paul Misener
Amazon / Vice President
15:40 - 15:54 Keynote: Safeguarding our future society
Raj Samani
McAfee / Chief Scientist
16:06 - 16:29 Keynote + Demo: The future of healthcare
Stefan Vilsmeier
Brainlab / CEO
16:30 - 16:55 Panel discussion: Blockchain improving the state of well being
Ethan Pierse
CryptoAssets Institute | BorderlessVentures / Director | Founding Partner
Kohei Kurihara
Tokyo Chapter Governent Blockchain Association, President | CollaboGate, Chief Marketing Officer
Marc Taverner
Bitfury / Global Ambassador & Market Development
Armand Arton
Global Citizen Forum / Founder
16:56 - 17:07 Demo: Flying vehicle
Ansel Misfeldt
Flyt Aerospace / Founder
14:10 - 14:20 Demo: Cybershoes
Michael Bieglmayer
Cybershoes / CEO
Social Agenda
19:30 - 22:00 Webit Night Urban Summit (open to all Webit pass holders)
20:00 - 23:00 Black Tie Dinner (5 stage menu and finest Bulgarian wines) including Webit.Awards (only for Platinum Pass holders)
23:30 + The Famous Webit.Party (open to all Webit pass holders)
15th May
Digital Transformation
10:24 - 10:39 Fireside Chat: The Evolution and Challenges Of The On-Demand Economy
Ralph Simon
Mobilium / Innovator, Founder
Oisin Hanrahan
Handy / Founder & Chief Executive Officer
10:56 - 11:06 Keynote: Digital Journey of Turkish Airlines
Mehmet Gurkaynak
Turkish Airlines / General Manager Bulgaria
11:07 - 11:22 Keynote: Innovate or die! – The future of retail.
Martin Wild
MediaMarktSaturn / Chief Innovation Officer
11:23 - 11:38 Keynote: Introduction to Quantum Computing
Bo Ewald
D-Wave Systems / President
11:39 - 11:54 Demo: How Drones disrupted the traditional geospatial (land management, mapping) as well as agriculture businesses by automation data collection and making a very manual task fully automated.
Jean-Thomas Célette
senseFly / Managing Director
AI
11:55 - 12:10 Keynote: Introducing companies to this new art of the possible - AI, the math at an enormous scale.
Keith Strier
EY / Senior Partner
12:11 - 12:36 Fireside chat: Why and How Governments Are Taking Unprecedented Steps To Shape the Private Sector Adoption and Use of AI
Keith Strier
EY / Senior Partner
Wayne Grixti
Malta Digital Innovation Authority | MALTA.AI Taskforce / CTO, Chairman
13:07 - 13:32 Panel discussion: AI - the good, the bad and the ugly
Dr. Ben Goertzel
SingularityNET / CEO & Founder
Jesus Mantas
IBM Global Business Services / Managing Partner
Leah Hunter
Author
Digital Transformation
13:33 - 13:48 Keynote: Brand safety in the era of programmatic: mission impossible?
Hristo Hristov
Netinfo / CEO
14:21 - 14:36 Keynote: Future of TV
Hristo Tuchev
H-Tech / Founder
Marketing
10:40 - 10:55 Keynote: Build a successful data driven media organization in the current era
Karthic Bala
Condé Nast / Chief Data Officer
13:49 - 14:09 Keynote: how AI and Machine learning can help with brand safety.
John Montgomery
GroupM / EVP, Global Brand Safety
15:04 - 15:19 Keynote: Making brands famous in the world
Chuck Porter
Crispin Porter + Bogusky / Chairman/Partner
15:36 - 15:51 Demo: In-flight wireless drone charging
Leonid Plekhanov
Global Energy Transmission Co. / Chief Executive Officer & President
15:52 - 16:07 Keynote
Prof. Rob Wolcott
Kellogg School of Management / Clinical Professor of Innovation
Space
14:37 - 14:52 Keynote: Saving the Earth from Space
Rick Tumlinson
SpaceFund Inc. | EarthLight Foundation / Founder
14:53 - 15:03 Demo: Hoverbike
Oriol Badia Rafart
Malloy Aeronautics / CEO
16:24 - 16:39 Keynote: The search for Life in the Universe
Dr. Simon Worden
Breakthrough Prize Foundation / Chairman
Investors
16:51 - 17:21 Panel discussion: Investors point of view
Sriram Prakash
Deloitte / Global Lead, Innovation M&A and Venturing Services
Ralph Simon
Mobilium / Innovator, Founder
Gilad Novik
Lakestar / Partner
Hristo Stoykov
EIB / Head of Division for Growth Capital and Innovation Finance
Founder Games
17:30 - 18:30 Founders Games Finals & Awards Ceremony - Selecting the Winner of 200 000 EUR Cheque and the title of the best of the top 200 EU Startups
Social Agenda
19:30 - 22:00 Webit Night Urban Summit (open to all Webit pass holders)
The best about Webit.Festival is the dynamism. Everyone here is an entrepreneur, even the smallest, but also large companies here have entrepreneurial spirit. It is being shared and it’s contagious.
Paul Misener
VP, Global Innovation Policy and Communications, Amazon
The best about Webit.Festival is the diversity of different perspectives on offer. Quite often conferences focus very much on business and marketing while this is bringing the whole ecosystem together - educational thinkers, policy thinkers, startups, and I think this is very commendable.
Chris Clarke
Chief Marketing Officer at Digitas LBi
People from so many countries. What you may learn from them and share is wonderful.
Safdar Mustafa
Head of Product Management at Al Jazeera
It’s great. I see so much energy here and it really resonates with me. These are the kind of digital experts that can really make a difference. I feel really at home here.
Dennis Van Heezik
Global Head of E-Commerce, Philips Lighting
This is an amazing conference. Two years ago I predicted that Webit will be one of the largest in Europe and I’m so happy this is happening. I love to absorb the vision of other speakers but also the energy, the networking, the people.
Igor Beuker
Professional Speaker, Serial Entrepreneur, New Breed Trendwatcher
It is my first time here and I learned a lot today about what is going to happen in the next 5 years. It has been really interesting to speak with a lot of people, to network, find out what they do and how we can work together in the future. There is a lot that I can take back to the Wall Street Journal.
David Lennon
Global Creative Director, WSJ. Custom Studios
It is a truly a global initiative to make great high-level international connections. Reach brands, audiences, publishers with impact in spontaneous fashion.
Ben Barokas
Ex-General Manager, Marketplace Development at Google
It is fantastic to be here and one of the reasons is that I can meet enormous amount of people, learn from them and share something back. A lot of the innovative stuff and cutting-edge tech are presented here.
Ward Van Duffel
VP, Direct to Consumer, LEGO
Webit is a lovely event and a very good organization. It has a lot of verticals and slices in terms of what you can hear and what you can say. So I think it is great and it was worth coming in here.
Andrey Khemmelis
Deputy GM, Emerging Technology, Iponweb
The best about Webit is that it is a really a big buzzling conference. So you run into other people, you get ideas, you cross so many new things and it is really a splendid experience to actually find the things you never thought about before.
Michael Paustian
Creative Director and Head of Strategic Product Development, Axel Springer
I’m honoured to be here. Some of the guests are amazing and you’ve got such a wide variety of guests from policy makers, world leaders and CEO’s to startups and young people.
Graham McDonnell
Creative Director, T Brand Studio International - The New York Times
I feel amazing at the Webit.Festival. This is an event organized with the unique purpose to actually drive the future, so I feel fantastic here.
Martin Wezowski
Chief Designer, SAP
I had no idea that in Bulgaria I can be at such professional festival that brings together so many diverse people.
Roby Stancel
Partner for Europe and Innovation at VCI
It is an amazing Congress, it is an amazing audience you have here - incredibly large amount off people - very engaged. I am very excited to see opportunity for new businesses - to have a platform like this!
Nic Jones
Ex-Senior Vice President, International at VEVO
It is fantastic to meet so many different, successful people from so many companies and countries. It is basically a few conferences within a Congress which is unique and you get a chance to get a lot of point of views. You've got the telcos, you've got the web, the developers, the startups and again over a hundred nationalities - that says it all.
Yuval Dvir
Ex-Director Business Transformation at Skype
Being here is very inspiring because you have an incredible variety of talent and incredible variety of perspectives that you don’t typically see in other areas. I love the fact that there is a combination of technologists, policy makers and marketers, all talking about very similar streams, but with very specific personalization elements.
Nasser Sahlool
VP, Digital Strategy, DAC Group
I think the best about Webit.Festival is the combination of professionalism organizing the event and also maybe the cultural element of Eastern Europe. I guess I see much more enthusiasm and people are much more flexible to listening to ideas.
Cristian Citu
Senior Director, Group Digital Strategy, DHL Global Headquarters
Amazing! you see people from all over the world. You see people who normally meet at separate events and now they are all here.
Enon Landenberg
President & CEO at Infinity Augmented Reality
First it is good to network. The people that are here are breaking barriers in their sectors. We come from different verticals and we are sharing a lot of information and knowledge. More networking events like this is required.
Mark Val
Founder & CEO, ARX
Partners
Innovate! Summit Gold Partners
