General Director of the Innovation Center of the Košice region

 

Passionate innovation manager with over 9 years of experience in strategic and managerial positions in international companies. He is an innovative and strategic consultant, founder and head of four innovative departments. Peter is an expert in product design and development with strong analytical and innovative skills, specializing in UX and UI. He has over 4 years of experience as the manager of the RIS Hub institution of the European Commission's EIT-Health.

The Head of the Offensive Security Testing Department at Siemens Healthineers Slovakia,

responsible for relationships and the ecosystem within Siemens Healthineers in Slovakia.

 

With over 25 years of experience in software development, he specializes in the convergence of technology and healthcare. His leadership roles have equipped him with skills in global team management, with a focus on engineering requirements and solution architecture. He takes pride in fostering collaboration with Siemens Healthineers in Slovakia and establishing partnerships across clusters, universities, hospitals, and governmental institutions.

Head of Plant Communication & Public Affairs, Volvo Car Košice

 

Martin Seman has been Head of Communications and Public Affairs at Volvo Car in Kosice since January 2024. The company, which is set to be established soon, has entrusted him with this role. Previously, he was District Office Chief in Kosice, overseeing 300 subordinate employees. He is also a member of the City Council of Kosice and the Regional Council of the Kosice Self-Governing Region. In the previous term, he served as a board member of Kosice IT Valley. He gained his

experience during seven years in the United States and later in Slovakia at AT&T.

Therefore, he is deeply familiar with the field of IT and emerging trends.

Senior AI & Data Analytics Consultant

 

Adam Kňaze is a Senior AI & Data Analytics Consultant in PwC's Advanced Technology Solutions team. His work focuses on topics such as computer vision, e.g. satellite imagery processing, or more recently, generative artificial intelligence. Adam is responsible for AI implementation from initial design through development to deployment in production.

Director of University Science Park

TECHNICOM 

 

Miroslav Michalko is a member of the Strategic Advisory Group within the National Cyber Security Coordination Centre NCC-SK and Chairman of the Cyber Security and Digitalization Section of SOPK. He is also an Associate Professor of Computer Science at the Department of Computers and Informatics, where he leads Computer Networking Laboratory. He is also General Manager of EDIH Cassovium consortium. For more than 15 years he has been actively involved in the education of young people to IT, has been part of several national and international projects aimed at improving the qualification of teachers, creating methodological materials. He loves innovation and cheers all creative and active teachers in their efforts to motivate young people to think. He is passionate about innovative approaches in teaching IT in schools, digitalization and raising awareness about threats in cyberspace. 

Director Transatlantic Affairs and Security Policy (former Minister of Defence)

 

Martin Sklenár is an expert in security policy and international relations. He studied international relations and diplomacy at Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica, then completed his studies at George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Germany. Since 2003 he has worked at the Ministry of Defence. From 2006 to 2009, he was Defence Adviser to the Permanent Delegation of the Slovak Republic to NATO and the EU, and in 2010 he spent five months at the UN Mission in Kosovo as Political Affairs Officer. From 2011 to 2020, he worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, first as Director of the Department of Security Policy and then as Director of the Political Section at the Slovak Embassy in Washington. In 2020, he became Director General of the Defense Policy Section of the Slovak Ministry of Defense, and finally, on May 15, 2023, he was appointed Minister of Defense in the caretaker government led by Prime Minister Ludovít Ódor.

Digital Security Advisor

 

At 16, he developed his first security software. Completed a special cyber-security program at MIT in Boston and training with the legendary Hak5 Group in Washington.

 

He takes care of the privacy and security of companies and public figures. He belongs to the Selecos.cz team of experts that improves the efficiency and security of companies. He holds a NATO security clearance and is a forensic expert in cybersecurity.

Process Manager Digital Studio Europe

 

Ľubomír Račko has been working at U. S. Steel Košice for several years on the application of digitalization projects, mainly in the manufacturing sector. Currently, he works as a process manager of Digital Studio Europe and is responsible for leading a team of developers working on various AI solutions within the factory with a focus on increasing the efficiency of production and administrative activities. During many years of experience in the company, he has moved through various roles in the IT department ranging from production systems programmer, several department manager positions for several production and sales information systems, relationship manager, portfolio manager and information architect.

General Manager for Strategy, U. S. Steel Košice

 

In U. S. Steel Košice Juraj Sabol deals with themes of decarbonisation and expansion of digital technologies and AI in the steel industry, with the aim of increasing the sustainability of steel production in Košice. Before his return to Košice he worked in consulting company McKinsey & Company where he dealt with development of strategies and transformations in industry, power engineering, as well as in telecommunications, banking and e-commerce.

Innovation Manager

 

Henrieta works as Innovation Manager at the Technical University of Košice, specifically at University Science Park TECHNICOM. After years of working in the UK, she returned to Košice where she focused on supporting SMEs and implementing innovation programs at national and international level. She was the founder and manager of a business incubator focused on supporting space technology startups, including connecting them with corporations, the academic and scientific community, as well as with the public and private financial resources needed for their growth and development.

Director of Slovak Space Office - Industry Branch

Slovak delegate to ESA Council & IAF Vice President

 

Michal Brichta is Director of the Implementation Branch of the Slovak Space Office operating within the SARIO Agency. In 2019, he initiated a new comprehensive approach to building the national space ecosystem and today, together with his team, he is building on these activities and continuing to build the Slovak space sector and its internationalisation. He also serves as the Slovak delegate to ESA and Vice President of the oldest and largest global association for the space sector - the International Astronautical Federation.

Lead of Innovlab

Startup Center of Deutsche Telekom IT Solutions Slovakia

 

Milan Varga has more than 12 years of management experience in the IT sector, mainly in R&D projects and providing software engineering services to UK, US clients, startups and young entrepreneurs. At Innovlab Startup Centre Deutsche Telekom IT Solutions we focus on the latest technologies and trends in Telecom and E-Health and Space, enabling the creation of forward-thinking and meaningful innovations for business.

This also facilitates connecting startups with B2B partners to collaborate in creating innovative solutions and business opportunities, which is also facilitated by the initiative and creation of the Eastern Slovak Space Cluster.

Researcher

Institute of Experimental Physics of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Košice

 

Ján Baláž, is a scientist at the Slovak Academy of Sciences, designer of scientific instrumentation for space probes and satellites. Since 1986 he has been working at the Department of Space Physics, Institute of Experimental Physics of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Košice. His work has directly contributed to the preparation of seventeen scientific space missions of several space agencies, including the most prestigious missions of the European Space Agency ESA: the Rosetta mission to comet 67/P Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the BepiColombo mission to the planet Mercury and the JUICE mission to Jupiter's moons Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. He is the recipient of a number of domestic and international awards; he is the 2005 SR Technologist of the Year in the Scientist of the Year Awards, a finalist for the 2014 Crystal Wing Award, and the recipient of three awards from the European Space Agency ESA and the Chinese Space Agency CNSA for outstanding contributions to their space missions. In 2022, the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) elected him as its full member-academician.

Plant Manager

Siemens Healthineers

 

Since 2006, after completing her engineering studies at TUKE FBERG - Quality Management, she started working in the field of quality in the production area as a quality planner at Molex.

Later in 2008 she started working at Valeo as a quality engineer and 

after a year she became a manufacturing quality leader where she was responsible for manufacturing quality, supplier and customer quality within her department / specific customers and products. Since 2017, she has been involved in project quality and management from a quality perspective in the manufacturing area.
In 2022, she joined Siemens Healhineers, where they started to build
a manufacturing plant for ultrasound production in September 2022, where she built a quality system as a quality manager. From February 1, 2024, she started as Plant Manager, where she is currently working and leading the Siemens Healthineers manufacturing plant in Košice.

Head of Marketing

Relationship Manager

Košice IT Valley

 

Thanks to her many years of experience in the IT sphere, Lívia has been accompanying audiences at technology events as well as events in other sectors for several years.

Her portfolio includes moderating events for the global IT brand Deutsche Telekom, the National Cluster Conference, Profesia days, as well as events for state associations, ministries, smaller communities, meetups, gala evenings, panel discussions, podcasts and talkshows.
She moderates in both Slovak and English. As part of her moderating role, she has welcomed a number of speakers on stage from different areas or countries. She has experience in moderating live events, online or offline, and enjoys "confessing" people and interacting with the audience.

Head of FED a.s. representation in the Slovak Republic

Co-founder of the SPIRIT research centre based on SJF TUKE and FED a.s.

 

The main activity of our company in Slovakia is the development, research, testing and production of parts and systems for the aerospace industry. 

My main task is to create a full-fledged research and production centre for the development and mass production of ion-plasma engines (HET) and propulsion systems (HET propulsion system) in eastern Slovakia.  

Managing Director, Executive Director and Co-owner of Resonate

 

Patrik has 13 years of experience in IT sector. Experienced in implementing complex telecommunications solutions and helping to transform existing solutions into modern ones by leveraging the Microsoft platform and other applications. After a few years abroad (Prague, Munich and Frankfurt), in 2017 he decided to return to Košice and together with his partners build a company that will be a strong partner for customers and come up with innovative solutions, especially in the telecommunications sector.

His vision is to use his experience and help build a strong company for a strong region, which will not only be attractive for larger companies, but will also be attractive for young people who will want to build their own companies and thus not only prevent the talent drain, but on the contrary attract new talents.