“DIGITAL 2024” conference was held – Advertiser Serbia

The regional conference on trends in telecommunications and media – DIGITAL 2024 was held on September 26, 2024 in the large hall of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce in Belgrade.

This year’s conference #Digital2024 is the 10th anniversary. The first one was organized in September 2014. On the tenth birthday of the “Digital” conference, the second awards ceremony was organized. „Digital Awards“.

He opened the conference Robert Cobandirector of Color Press Group, who announced the program and participants.

He then addressed the participants of the conference in front of the host of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce Predrag Nikolićadvisor to the president of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and director of the Center for Digital Transformation. He pointed out that technology is one of the foundations of transformation. In the past decade, we have seen a huge leap in the development of artificial intelligence and blockchain technology. Each of these innovations changes the way we work and also our everyday communication. Digital transformation is something that will not only shorten that business process, but will also lead to the creation of new ideas, but also to changing the entire business model.

Dejan RisticMinister for Information and Telecommunications in the Government of the Republic of Serbia, officially declared the conference open.

“As the Minister of Information and Telecommunications, I express great satisfaction that the authorities in Serbia have managed to significantly modernize the domestic economy in the last few years by introducing the latest technologies.” Minister Ristic pointed out that Serbia has achieved exceptional results in the field of IT industry and that as a country it has surprised not only its neighbors in the region but also itself. “Just in the first seven months of this year, over 20 percent growth was achieved in this sector, which participates with 6.8 percent in the Serbian economy and achieves an export surplus of 3.45 billion euros. In this area, we continue to grow and to additionally create an even more favorable environment that will enable us to progress further”, the minister boasted of the great results.

Mihailo Jovanovicdirector of the office for IT and eGovernment, in his opening address, pointed to the exceptional results that Serbia has achieved in the transformation of electronic administration. We have over 240 million electronic documents exchanged between different government bodies. This is the best proof that the Office for eGovernment has achieved its goal and is at the service of the citizens of Serbia. “Our task is to make eGovernment services as simple as possible in the coming period”. It is very important, he pointed out, that the Government formed the Council for Artificial Intelligence, which works on the tasks of applying this technology in everyday life. The goal of this advice is to encourage the use and application of artificial intelligence in all spheres of our life.

Jovan Milićspecial advisor to the minister in the Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation, spoke about the digital transformation stating that it is “the initiator of changes in the way we live, work and communicate”. Milić said that “technology is the most powerful lever for the improvement of every industry and society”.

Borka Jeremichead of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) office for Serbia, spoke about UNFPA’s Bodyright campaign on security in the digital space. “The human body in the digital space does not enjoy nearly the same protection as e.g. music. Our Bodyright campaign started in cooperation with the office of the Commissioner for Equality Protection under the message “Your body is yours – both online and in the real world”.

In the first panel called: “10 YEARS LATER – Traditional panel of telecommunication leaders of the region” general managers of all telecommunications operators in our country participated. The panel moderated Dejan LjustinaCEO and Managing Partner Vision Partners.

Vladimir LucicCEO of Telekom Serbia, praised Telekom’s operations in the countries of the region, where a significant increase in revenue was achieved, which has now reached 8% of the group’s total revenue and shows a tendency to double in two years. It is important for us to be the main regional leader in content creation.

Mike Michelgeneral manager of Yettel Serbia, pointed out that the Serbian market is very strong. At Yettel, they look at the market from the user’s perspective. As user habits change due to digitization, so does Yettel.

Judith Albersgeneral manager of A1 Serbia, believes that the market in Serbia is very competitive. Speaking about the priorities of A1 in Serbia, she stated that they started developing a new digital platform whose goal will be to respond to the demands of domestic companies dealing with digital trade.

Slobodan Djinovicgeneral manager of Orion Telekom, who says that his company has more and more competition, but that they managed to build a good part of the optical network and to find their market share, not only in the B2C segment but also in the B2B segment, which is very interesting for them.

In the “1 on 1” panel, Robert Cobanthe director of Color Press Group spoke with Jelena Trivandirector of MTel, who spoke about the development and expansion of Telekom Srbija in the region. “Telekom Srbija is the largest operator in the Western Balkans region and has the largest profit in the region,” she said. Serbia chose not to sell but to buy operators, Trivan said, adding that Telekom Srbija bought operators in as many as eight countries – apart from the region, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and even the USA.

The second panel at the conference entitled “AI ALICE IN AN ANALOGUE BALKANS WONDERLAND – Who (should) be afraid of artificial intelligence” it’s dedicated to the artificial intelligence they’ve been talking about Predrag Nikolićadvisor to the president of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and director of the Center for Digital Transformation, Ema Petrovićconsultant on digital transformation and artificial intelligence and Eleonora Segijevićco-founder and CEO of Mojo AI.

The third panel entitled “The 3 Big Cs: Content, Context & Concepts: What (and how) we will watch in 2025″ gathered representatives of the largest media houses in Serbia: Aleksandar Radoš (UNA TV), Manja Grčić (K1, Tanjug TV), Goran Karadžić (RTV), Aleksandra Martinović (Telekom Srbije) and Dejan Radosavljević (IPSOS).

Lovers of influence marketing in the fourth panel “Influence, how to acquire it and pay for it: The influencer scene in the era of AI-dominance” they found out what’s new happening on the influencer scene in Serbia in the era of artificial intelligence. It was attended by influencers: Lea Stanković (@lastankovic), Milica Kankarašco-owner and director of the Crux brand, Ivana PetrovićeCom Scale, (@ivana.neboderka), Maja Petrovićblogger, (@vitkigurman), Milan Nikolicactivist and TV presenter, (@nikolicmilan) and Sara Stankovicinfluenserka, (@saraastankovic).

Panel „Download Eurovision Song Contest Final: Cast & Crew Live on Stage” it was dedicated to one of the biggest European pop music festivals and was attended by: Olivera Kovačevićeditor and supervisor of the “Song for Eurovision” festival, Uroš Markovićhead of the Serbian delegation at Eurovision and editor of the “Song for Eurovision” festival, and Milenko ŠkarićCEO and founder of Sky Corporation.

After the conference part of the program, from 7:00 p.m., an award ceremony was organized DIGITAL AWARDS 2024awards to the best in the fields of media, telecommunications, marketing, PR, ICT industry and digital innovation.

Photo: Goran Zlatković