Great skills, a fertile business environment and a rising level of competitiveness have brought Romania on the innovation and business radar landscape. To complete this finely developed scenario, a programme that can propel the right business ideas into success has also joined the party — meet BCR-InnovX, the business accelerator you need to keep an eye on if you want to take your ideas to the next level.

Fostering the power of knowledge and innovation altogether, BCR’s dedicated programme has gathered elite resources and opportunities to offer their candidates, from carefully-detailed educational materials to global display and European funding. We had a chat with Ana Cretu, Head of Social Banking, to find out more about their plans and history:

When has BCR-InnovX been initiated and what are the best accomplishments of this programme so far?

BCR-InnovX accelerator officially started in February 2019 and we are proud to see that it’s grown and developed to be one of the most reliable and professional business accelerators on the market. The proof for this is the growing number of candidates applying for each phase and, moreover, the quality of the solutions and ideas they present. We are proud to say we have had over 70 start-ups and scale-ups participating in the incubation and acceleration phases so far. And the most important accomplishment is the fact that after finishing the program, almost all of them have had a great course, either by receiving funding (EU-Horizon 2020 grant, Norway grants), being part of international programs (Startup Grind Europe — Asia Connect, Tech Crunch), partnering with strong companies (BCR, Microsoft, UiPath), winning important awards (The Seal of Excellence from the European Commission) and becoming well known in their field of expertise.

By supporting and having a deep understanding of tech-startups, you have had a valuable impact on our entrepreneurial ecosystem. Can you tell us more about what the trends observed within the Romanian businesses and where are they headed?

Since the start of the program we have indeed had the opportunity to get familiarized with the entrepreneurial ecosystem and not just train and teach, but in turn, learn about the trends of the ecosystem and the needs of entrepreneurs. We are happy to say that there are many opportunities ahead and the fact that more and more funds, particularly from angel investors and crowdfunding are becoming available. The accelerator program is preparing entrepreneurs to scale-up globally and to have the mindset and knowledge to do that.

In the pandemic context, some tech start-ups had the chance to come up with solutions to the new way of working and doing business, proving very adaptable and resilient. They have transformed potential threats into opportunities. On the other hand, the associated economic crisis took its toll on some enterprises, so it will be very important for accelerators and educational programs like BCR-InnnovX to continue their work and support young businesses.

BCR-InnovX includes unique opportunities for all business development stages. Please give us some examples of what it has to offer and which are the most sought-after.

One of the biggest advantages of the program is that it brings the startups that are just taking off face to face with experienced entrepreneurs, active in important companies that can offer them first-hand advice and mentoring about how to grow a business. The power of example, as we know, is very important and seasoned practitioners, both clients and investors, have many stories of both success and failure to share.

Moreover, we prepare young companies for funding opportunities that are very important in the early phases. When you have a big investor backing you up it not only proves you have financial support but also endorsement and recognition for your business. And last but not least, we pride ourselves with our MIT curricula that is constantly tested and improved according to feedback and results reached so far.

…

BCR-InnovX is one of the official partners of Techsylvania 2020. Discover more about them at: https://www.bcr.ro/ro/business

The post Accelerating the Romanian Business Ecosystem — in an Interview with Ana Cretu, Head of Social Banking at BCR appeared first on Techsylvania.

An exciting internal kick off meeting agenda including an overview of 2020, a panel comprising board leaders discussing their vision for 2021, representatives delivering their product strategy or explaining how to beat the competition, diving deep into solution selling, reviewing B2B lead gen and much much more.

9 breakouts to choose from, with a heavy emphasis on successful case studies.

Data Axle — Accelerate 2021 was about coming together to collaborate, learn, share successes and highlight the best solutions during 2 exciting days of content and interactivity.

It was also about having fun, as this year they’ve experienced a new and very interesting team activity called GoRemote.

Let’s take a look at how the entire event unfolded and how was the client’s experience

Data Axle builds and manages marketing, prospect, and analytic database solutions for some of the world’s leading brands. Their in-house database experts combine decades of expertise and hands-on experience with the best technology on the market to fit the current and future needs of each client.

At the end of 2020, they were looking for an event management company with real experience in using virtual events platforms — managing speakers and attendees based in multiple locations — in order to organise their kick off meeting for 2021.

“Due to an already known relationship between Rohan Chandran, our Chief Product Officer, with Techsylvania, (he was one of the top speakers in 2020, as well as in 4 other previous editions) working with Techsylvania’s Project Management team came as a natural decision”, stated Andrew Bloom, Chief Commercial Officer at Data Axle.

Project challenges and risk management

It is common knowledge that people are afraid of everything new and unknown to their experience. Therefore, there was no big surprise that they were very concerned about the technology used in a virtual event organization process. Would it work? Would the speakers understand it? Will they manage any sensitive situation?

“Techsylvania team created a number of practice opportunities and set out a great timetable for practice, which allowed everyone to rehearse. The more they did it the more comfortable they became.”, said Andrew Bloom.

Regular communication was the key to success for the event: weekly team calls and a published project timeline that was excellent for all parties. This kept everyone on track. At the end of the day, even though the two teams were on different time zones, it all worked out great.

What was outstanding about this project

Teachsylvania team’s understanding of the Hopin platform was superb. Even though there were so many first time users of a virtual events platform, we found a lot of great ways to support everybody to integrate the basics — calmness and being prepared for all eventualities were the first of them.

“Team’s demeanor and professionalism (particularly on the actual event days) were fantastic and the clients felt as safe as being invited to their own event.” also stated Andrew.

The project plan was really good too and they really liked all of the documentation that was created for them.

Testimonial

“In 2020 our sales kick off, called Accelerate 2020, was in Omaha. 150 colleagues came together. We learned, we made new connections — it was a roaring success and surpassed our expectations.

This year the pandemic forced us to go virtual and I was scared. The need to level up and learn and feel connected was overwhelming — Accelerate 2021 had to deliver but how could we create a worthy experience?

After interviewing a number of event project management teams with virtual event experience, we selected the Techsylvania team. Their experience converting one of the largest European tech events into a successful virtual event gave us tremendous comfort that we were in safe hands. The team has exceptional understanding of how to get the best out of Hoppin’s virtual event platform. With close to 400 participants and 30 different speakers we needed their strong project management skills, technical understanding and all round great attitude to help us deliver an amazing 2 day event. In the run up to the event we had weekly meetings and in the run up to the event and the day off they provided us with a team of project managers and technical support experts to ensure that everything ran smoothly.

The event could not have gone better and surpassed everyone’s expectations. I would highly recommend the Techsylvania team for your event.” said Andrew Bloom — Chief Commercial Officer, Data Axle

The post Techsylvania — New beginnings in B2B virtual event management appeared first on Techsylvania.

Future isn’t shaped only by passionate tech people. Visionary entrepreneurs and business people have their own contribution in making tomorrow a better place. We do understand that being an entrepreneur isn’t an easy job and it can get overwhelming sometimes, especially in these weird times.

Becoming and being an entrepreneur takes a lot of time, passion, knowledge and expertise and, where experience can’t help, professional help is always welcomed. Since our community has a strong foundation of business people, Digital Roundtable 3 with Ryan Begelman came naturally.

Also known as the man who bought a mountain, Ryan built and sold three solid companies, bootstrapped one of them from $1M to $20M, acquired America’s largest ski resort and confounded Summit, named by Forbes “The Davos of Generation Y”.

Ryan Begelman is currently an investor and a coach. He helps leaders achieve their goals, perform at higher levels and find greater well being. He works closely with entrepreneurs on everything from decision making, to positioning their company to exit, or feeling less anxious.

“I’ve spent the last 25 years really trying to understand how to feel well, how to have this experience of well being and I’ve taken it a really long way. I’ve spent thousands of hours studying and obsessing over this idea of well being.”

The three free choices in trying to obtain well being

Wealth is not just a financial idea, wealth can be defined more broadly, like a sense of equanimity, peace, ease, kind of like an effortlessness for life. In trying to obtain well being, we have three free choices.

One in which we can alter our external environment — where we can collect money, get raises, achieve status, change our appearance, get others around us to act in certain ways in keeping with our sense of happiness, but this often takes too much energy and we will, eventually, get bored.

Our second option is to change our internal environment — change our beliefs and perspectives; change our mind in order to be able to change our experience. Of course, this is not an easy path, but practicing will help us get better in time.

The third option is to do a little bit of both — this will take us to self compassion, self understanding, self love. Sure, we wouldn’t be able to change literally anything in our lives, but these little changes will make us become better and help us in doing our best.

The journey to a wealthy life is paved with self awareness

Becoming aware of our emotions, asking ourselves why we feel a certain way, what do we really want, that’s what learning to become wealthy is all about.

“I think we can approach it more like a scientist. We can essentially observe the way we feel, our thoughts, our emotions, we can begin to notice and pay attention to our energy level, our enthusiasm. Are we feeling energized, or de energized by any given moment, any given interaction? And through that exploration, through that noticing, through that study we can come to notice patterns which will begin to tell us more about what is really true, what is really occurring, who we really are, what we really want — what we don’t want. Through this experimentation we can come to a better understanding of what would bring us true well being and we can start to maintain well being a greater percentage of the day or of the week.”

“ I’m still learning, there is so much i still don’t understand […]”

The opportunities are at the intersection of the things we are really good at and the things the market really needs. There is where we can unlock our full potential.

To truly understand what we are good at, Ryan gives us an exercise of writing down the highlights and the lowlights of a month: moments, meetings, activities, to dos working on, when we felt energized and enthusiastic, expansive, growing, connection, belonging, creativity, love and what it is what we really love to do, what we’re curious about.

To fully understand ourselves, we have to go beyond the notions and the ideas of those who respect us and rely on us, those who encouraged us, those who invested in us if we could be more of our own. In the interest of being seen and approved, we made some parts of ourselves invisible. We have to courageously take the opportunity, learn and study ourselves and notice what makes us be more of ourselves: “more of your real self expression, more of your laughter, of your joyfulness, more of your creativity, more of the weirdness that is you. Imagine filling this kind of globe around yourself with more of yourself.”

These are our main takeaways from the talk, but every topic debated was valuable food for thought. For the entire talk, please visit:

The post Digital Roundtable 3 with Ryan Begelman — How to become wealthy and enjoy the journey appeared first on Techsylvania.

In the past few months, the technology industry proved itself to be one of the most stable ecosystems out there. Tech kept evolving and developing itself despite the new unforeseen challenges. Today, more than ever, we can undoubtedly affirm that technology has become as crucial as other “essential” parts of our life. Along with healthcare, infrastructure, education, technology has morphed from an accessory and “cool” segment to an indispensable industry, one without which we can no longer live comfortably, work or survive financially.

This year, we continue to bring together communities that are actively involved in building up the Future. The same as last year, in 2021 we’ll be meeting each other again in an exclusively virtual setup that will offer a safe and comfortable environment.

On September 22 and 23, 2021, we’ll meet again for the 8th time at the most leading technology event in Eastern Europe. We’ll overcome barriers, we’ll reinvent the Future, we’ll embrace new realities.

Grab your Early Bird tickets here and enjoy the journey

2020 was not just another year. It was a “double dose of web 2.0 version”

Last year was a true challenge for everybody. On all levels. The uncertainty and the lack of safety have both constantly messed up every big tech players’ plans. Only those who quickly figure it out that we’re facing an opportunity instead of a problem thrived in thriving. Funny enough, the year 2020 had an alternate meaning — twice 2.0, double the “web,” a version of digital “dose” that we’ve never experienced before.

Despite the weird situation, we did not give up and, in a few months, we had succeeded in moving the most prominent tech event from Easter Europe from a physical location to a virtual one. It was not an easy task, but we made it, and, most importantly, it prepared us for this year’s edition. Thus, the Techsylvania 2021 event will take place online as we’ve succeeded in embracing a borderless audience’s new reality.

Of course, we miss shaking hands and hugging people, but we’re also grateful for the extended freedom that a virtual setup offers. Because of this, we’ll be more and merrier. We’ll be powerful and meaningful in imagining the Tech Future. We’ll “bathe” in lines of code, we’ll find out about new digital trends, we’ll make up new services and invent new products, and we’ll conquer brand new Worlds by informing, educating ourselves, and finding out new ways of financing these Journeys.

2020 was the year that marked for the first time in the history of Techsylvania participants from 65 countries from almost the entire World. It was amazing! We’ve expanded our reach beyond Eastern Europe, and it felt great. It felt more impactful than ever. Each of the three main pillars of our event (Code, Product, F(o)unding) had the privilege of hosting speakers who are well-known players in the tech innovation area.

These personalities have contributed to evolving the World of business, science, and technology. They honored us by being part of the Techsylvania experience as a whole. The content quality provided by these World-renowned people made our event an actual practical highlight of 2020 and of the entire tech community. And the 2021 edition will match last year’s performance. We’re sure of it.

Yesterday’s success fuels our motivation for today

The previous year’s speakers reminded us of essential lessons about technology, life, management, Future, and team interaction. Those talks and panels helped us draw out precise trajectories of how next years are going to look like. Unfortunately, the Pandemic almost killed our drive to imagine or plan because of the fear of the unknown. And this is one of the bad things we must overcome: never stop thinking about the Future.

We know now we have a lot of work to invest in adapting ourselves to new realities if we are to keep evolving as humans. And the technology hides most of the answers and solutions. For the first time in history, technology dependency went beyond the entertainment stigma. Instead, it clarified itself as a human right. At the same time, huge groups of people became dependent on technology to get basic needs satisfied — work, family interaction… living life. Humans kept their humanity because of technology. 2020 accelerated what others predicted would happen much later in this century.

Technology is the epicenter of innovation, and it will become the “air” all other industries and domains will “breathe.” Agrotech, proptech, marktech, fintech, lifetech. Until the moment Elon (or whomever) will accomplish interplanetary space missions, we’re all now inhabitants of a new Earth, The Earthtech.

In the following years, our shared goals should be:

• analyzing and becoming truly aware of the technological present that we’re living in — a short mindfulness moment that should enlighten us of the mistakes we did in our recent history (learn from mistakes quickly).
• identifying all opportunities that would leverage current society, as it is.
• start working on those technologies that promptly solve the most problems.

Most of the economical and social areas have suffered during these last couple of years, but at the same time, we all had to wake up and start building back what we’ve lost. So there are more winners while there are so few that gave up.

The pressure, we have to admit, pushed us to do great things. It always has, in the curse of human history. And as Daniel Dines (UiPath) said last year:

“This is nothing compared to when you are in survival mode, you feel that your career is ruined and you don’t have any idea of what you are going to do next then you have to just survive and you don’t have a Golden Parachute.”

Add optimism to the mix and we have the perfect fuel for moving forward altogether. Techsylvania 2020 has gone through the entire creative, emotional, human, and technological journey of identifying its Future as an opportunity for evolution. That Future has become a synonym with the need to change the way we live profoundly. This mindset will bring a new Technological Revolution that historians will write hundreds of pages of history about.

And one of those pages will also tell the story of Techsylvania 2021

We now live in a World defined by the fact the hardware won’t work anymore without the software (in any given way) or vice versa, or, as Tony Fadell, the founder of Nest, the inventor of the iPod and the co-inventor of the iPhone, said at the last edition of Techsylvania:

„We are seeing a ton of hardware happening now. We’ve heard from Marc Andreessen many times that software eats the world. Well, for me, the only way software can eat the world is when there’s a new hardware and software paradigm. A whole new platform that comes out. And the iPhone was one of them, iPod was another one, that when you have this new alignment a full vertical stack of new hardware with software you can then create something totally different and then once you’ve nailed it, then software eats the rest of that world to take it all into all the other segments around it. So, it’s really interesting to see how much hardware is being created. That means we’re at the cusp of some new thing that software we can fully integrate that’s going to create some new things we’ve never seen before. It’s only when we have software and hardware disruptive innovation at the same time then you see new markets and new industries spawn.”

Get ready for the 2021 virtual Techsylvania trip of wisdom

Please make yourself comfortable in the privacy of your home/office, get your PJs or dress-up like the old times, and get ready for two days of:

• life-changing talks
• fierce competitions that will define the Future of all of us part of the tech universe
• workshops
• satellite events
• funding programs for start-ups.

We built our event on three content pillars > Code, Product, and F(o)unding. In 2021 Techsylvania dreams of surpassing all the stats from previous editions. We’ll make that dream come true by inviting personalities and stars from the IT industry, marketing, management, investment, and finance.

We expect that our 8th edition will accomplish gathering:

• Over 5000 participants
• 60+ speakers
• 300 + startups

We’ve already managed to bring key people from companies such as Facebook, Google, BBC, Ubuntu, Adobe to the Techsylvania stages for the first time. We’ll do that again with our 2021 event. We’ll break down any barrier simply because we’ve already done it together with you in 2020, when we kept learning, discovering, and celebrating technology, despite the global context. Creative, innovative minds and new technologies are the ones that inspire us to move on. Techsylvania will keep sharing knowledge and inspiration with entrepreneurs, employees, managers, consultants, or students who want to embrace the fascinating World of Tomorrow’s Technology.

In the two days of events, we’ll keep the classic structure of Techsylvania, which gives us the strength to discover, learn, celebrate and rebuild the Future. Together.

Event Structure:

• Conference, September, 22–23

Each year, world-renowned leaders in technology and related industries take the Techsylvania stage to share the lessons they’ve learned in their professional careers through innovation. In these conferences, success and failure stories are shown off as guides to help us evolve and reach the next technological level of our existence.

• Startup Avalanche, September, 22–23

The well-established pitching competition gathers hundreds of start-ups with one goal in mind: to win the Future. In this setup, any ambitious idea can be the one to convince international investors looking for potential innovations to partner up. And although every year hundreds of young people with unique ideas give it a try in the Startup Avalanche, only the best will survive the “snowstorm.” Those that win are mostly those that walk the talk, those with skin in the game, and, in general, start-ups that can demonstrate traction, scalability, market validation, value, regardless of the technology used.

• Technical Workshops, September, 22–23

This is the applied part of the event because, without practice, technology would be just another boring story. Experiments, demos, and exercises will all be possible in the interactive workshops hosted by technology experts. The brightest minds in the industry will demonstrate the latest theories and the passion that guides them.

• Satellite Events, September 20–26

Throughout the third week of September, our partners will host satellite events as a celebration of the innovation promoted by Techsylvania. Over the years, we were honored to witness dozens of such adjacent events organized by Bosch, Microsoft, Betfair, Wolfpack Digital, Salt and Pepper, or Fitbit. All of them were also excellent networking opportunities.

• Startup Alley, September, 22–23

Startup Alley wants to combine the talent and creativity of early-stage companies with the financial potential of investors and business partners that you could meet at Techsylvania. The program aims to propel innovative ideas that are still in their infancy by presenting them to business partners and media trusts. So, if you are a producer, researcher, innovator who feels and knows that will build great things, your place is at Startup Alley, the place where the most brilliant minds meet and shake hands for a common future closer to perfection. The event is dedicated to companies at the beginning of their journey, with a maximum of 10 employees and growth potential. Startups have the chance to present their ideas to the whole World. Startup Alley will include over 20 virtual exhibition stands packed with innovative products to be launched.

Diversity, community, networking, and… passion for technology

The difference between Techsylvania and the rest of the tech events in Europe is that we aim and succeed every year in bringing together a complete technological range of the industry representatives. Small, large, creative, technical, simple, complex, many, few, the form and structure of the companies that join us every year does not matter as much as the thing that unites us all: the passion for technology and the ability to imagine a Future. For two days, the big boys of the industry face the newcomers that have just entered the marketplace or those that want to join this fantastic universe that we consider to be the one that dictates our lives in the most intimate way possible.

Without technology, humanity, as we know it today, would not exist. Likewise, without technology, tomorrow’s society will not develop itself further. This is the common ground that brings us together every year. Not only passionate about the technical field but also curious about the brilliant minds that could answer today’s most burning questions.

The content announced in this event will answer the Future. All those participating will help us see the World more clearly, beyond present uncertainty. Today’s opportunities can be tomorrow’s catalyzers. The challenge consists in finding solutions with the help of all speakers invited to Techsylvania while offering step-by-step guidance, practical value, business opportunities, technological prosperity, networking, and inclusion.

For two days, the worldwide tech community, from big-shot CEOs to small entrepreneurs, will be together under the same virtual roof: Techsylvania. They will have the opportunity to get to know each other, discuss, share ideas, and find solutions for a more technological, more comfortable, more evolved tomorrow.

The opportunity is here. You just need the courage to accept it!

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We took further Techsylvania’s motivation to inspire people, find out the next in tech and learn from some of the brightest minds’ do’s & don’ts. From presenting ground-breaking ideas to debating some of the most pivotal problems that arise when business meets tech, our discussion with Dan Oros, the Head of Marketing at Google in Romania, took us to the core of the community movement.

Google for Startups presents their view of the Romanian startup ecosystem in recent years, as well as their recent plans to bridge the existing fundraising gap for Black Startup founders in this fast-growing technology landscape. And this is getting even more exciting when talking about the technologies and innovations they envision becoming a part of our lives in the near future.

The Romanian startup ecosystem in recent years, through the lens of Google for Startups

The Romanian startup ecosystem has been booming in the last few years and it looks like the trend will continue and there are several factors that accelerate this growth:

1) more startups: there is a higher number of entrepreneurs launching new companies, which also leads to a stronger pipeline of high-growth startups;

2) more capital: from new VCs, to a stronger community of angel investors and crowdfunding platforms, we’ve seen an increase in available funds to fuel the local startup ecosystem;

3) more resources and know-how: the success of companies like UiPath or Bitdefender are not only an inspiration for the new generation of founders, but also a source of talent with scaling expertise coming back into the ecosystem.

“Google has always been one of the closest partners of these startups, supporting them from early stages, both on the product and development side (Google Cloud), but also on the business and growth side. As a consequence, we’ve seen first hand this acceleration of the Romanian startup ecosystem and we look forward to continuing supporting local startups.” says Dan Oros, Head of Marketing at Google for Startups.

Trying to bridge the existing fundraising gap for Black Startup founders in this fast-growing technology landscape is one of the main objectives of Google’s business strategy.

Supporting innovative startups is a part of Google’s DNA, and their mission is to bring the best of Google products, people, and programs to help build and scale tech startups, by:

1. Helping founders build better products and services, through our tools and resources (e.g. Google Cloud credits, mentorship programs, etc.);

2. Supporting startups to accelerate growth and expand globally, by providing them access to marketing channels and know-how required to reach their customers (e.g. Google Play, Google Ads, YouTube);

3. Contributing to the development of a sustainable and inclusive local startup ecosystem, working closely with partners, and focusing on diversity and inclusion through initiatives such as Black Founders Fund, Google for Startups Accelerator: Women Founders, and others.

Dan Oros also states that “Google for Startups plans to continue supporting startups across all stages of their development (Start, Build, Grow), and to work closely with local stakeholders (e.g. accelerators, VCs, tech communities, events) to provide the best possible resources to the local startups.”

Technologies and innovations envisioned to become a part of our lives in the near future

Google for Startups gets excited about the role of technology in improving our lives, and about partnering with startups that are solving interesting problems in healthcare, education, energy, and other key sectors. Innovations in these areas will lead to an increase in life quality and economic growth.

“We also believe AI will make it easier for people to do things every day, from searching for photos of loved ones, solving math problems with Google Lens, and getting safer routes on Maps, to talking to someone in another language using Assistant’s interpreter or using smart reply to answer emails. Advances in AI also provide new ways of solving current problems, from rethinking healthcare to advancing scientific discovery and driving more innovation.” says Dan.

Another interesting area enabled by technology is reimagining the future of work. The last year has significantly transformed how we think about work flexibility, and collaboration tools are more critical than ever to help businesses succeed and be productive on a daily basis.

“Both through our products and services, and also through those of the startups that we are supporting, we want to be as helpful as possible to everyone and to use technology to make our lives easier and better.” also added.

Google for Startups is Techsylvania: Beyond Borders’ official partner.

Learn more about them at https://startup.google.com/

The post Supporting innovative startups is a part of their DNA — in an interview with Dan Oros, Head of Marketing at Google appeared first on Techsylvania.

Techsylvania delivers all the techies a unique opportunity to learn from some of the brightest minds’ do’s & don’ts. From presenting ground-breaking ideas to debating some of the most pivotal problems that arise when business meets tech, the event has a time-tested ability to represent the core of the community movement.

Each year, renowned professionals have stepped on the main stage of Techsylvania to spark ideas and passions among our tech community, by using their most fierce weapons: their knowledge and expertise.

In 2021, Techsylvania brings it all to the next level, focusing on exploring today — how to spot and create opportunities in a not-so-favorable environment, in order to innovate tomorrow. Let’s see how the software industry made it through the last year and how big the technology and investments plans are for the future, through the lens of Valentin Filip, Managing Director Product Investments at Fortech.

Innovations and suitable technology solutions for the software industry in 2021

Innovation is required in all domains of activity, including in software services.

“We pride ourselves on our ability to adapt to the changing environment and the new context created by Covid, both internally and in the relationship with our customers. Even before going public with our investment efforts, we’ve started investing in tools and processes that digitize and optimize our workflow, thus creating a flexible approach in everything we do. A few examples are office management tools, business management suite, client management tools, etc. We’re looking forward to supporting start-ups that help businesses like ours perform better, and possibly becoming customers of theirs ourselves.” states Valentin Filip — Managing Director Product Investments.

Investments plans. A bolder approach to broaden the suite of tailored services developed under the Fortech Group

Having a solid business to rely on, Fortech, through its newly-established division Fortech Investments can reinvest its gains in new directions, creating more value in the market. This year marks the official commitment to growing new areas of interest, such as niche technologies product investments, and capability expansion through M&A. “We envision expanding the range of partnerships by leveraging these directions and also by combining the lessons and learnings from all of them.” added Valentin Filip.

Fortech Investments comes in to provide entrepreneurs and start-ups with the right resources, at the right time

Innovation spurs from technological advances and personal or business needs. Fortech Investments supports start-ups that seize the 3 most important market forces that create opportunity: Economical forces, Social forces, Technological forces.

“We see a great confluence of positive forces in different domains, such as Healthcare, Finance, Education, Transportation, Manufacturing, and are expecting to see a lot of start-ups for which the right moment is now.” (Valentin Filip — Managing Director Product Investments)

Investing in Telios, becoming the lead and largest investor to date, with a €400000 ticket

Valentin says that “while being focused on the directions we want to invest, we also leave some flexibility in our approach.”

This has enabled investments in the B2C sector with RacketPal, a UK startup, and Licenseware in the software asset management for companies.

“Our latest contribution is to Telios, becoming the lead and largest investor to date, with a €400000 ticket. We are eager to support both local and foreign start-ups, with the aim to bridge the gap between different levels of sophistication and market maturity,” he concluded.

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Now, after 15 years in the business, and a vast experience in the mobile app industry, they have valuable insights to share, both from a local and global point of view. In an attempt to gain a better understanding of their journey, we had a chat with the company’s CEO — Botond Szekely, who took us to the roots of it all:

Can you tell us more about your company’s history and how your Romanian team developed over the years?

The post At the forefront of the mobile app industry — in an interview with Botond Szekely, CEO Halcyon Mobile appeared first on Techsylvania.

Digital technologies have evolved so much through the years that users have grown to be very picky when choosing what to invest their attention in. From understanding the market need to applying the latest technology, and defining that UX to the core, digital companies have to upgrade their game in order to build something significant.

Among those who have taken up this challenge and also add some salt & pepper to this industry, we found a troop of spirited professionals that go beyond technology and add their own creative touch. Named no other than Salt & Pepper, they have an interesting history in delivering digital products that matter, and we wanted to dive more into it by having a chat with the company CEO — Cristin Iosif.

There’s no secret that you want to add the salt & pepper to the digital world, but that must come with some challenges, too. Can you tell us more about your organizational backbone and what are the main principles that keep you creative and efficient at the same time?

Starting as a company with its roots in my co-founder’s kitchen, you can imagine that our current organizational structure differs a lot from back then :). Now on a more serious note, what I want to say is that our organizational structure evolved organically over the years as the team grew and had to respond to different challenges.

Thanks to our previous experience working in different NGOs from Cluj we had a pretty good idea of what type of organization we wanted to build and we’ve always had the next step in mind, trying to put together a company structure and way of working that can respond to tomorrow’s challenges, not today’s. Looking back I think this was a key point that helped us grow as a company.

Even if the company structure evolved and will continue to change as we grow, there are a few things that will always be true and guide us in everything we do: our values and principles. When you’re building a business that wants to have an impact, you involuntarily think about how to differentiate yourself and let’s be honest, this is not an easy thing to do, especially in Cluj. This is something that I gave a lot of thought over the years but recently someone that worked with a lot of tech companies from Cluj confirmed what I already knew: there aren’t 2 companies exactly the same because there aren’t 2 people (founders) exactly the same. They are the ones who set a business’s foundation through their values and principles from day one.

We consider ourselves to be a new generation company, a mix between the world of big organizations and the startup ecosystem. This gives us the required mix of professionalism and agility in getting challenging projects done.

We can describe ourselves as a multi-skilled, curious, passionate, and always on the lookout for a challenge to solve. One of our guiding principles is Get $#!τ Done and for this, we apply the principles of openness, trust, automation, and of course continuous improvement in relation to our clients.

And to keep the creative juices flowing, we like to also have fun together, for
example, last year we did S&P Yacht Week for our 3rd anniversary and sailed
together from one Greek island to another for 7 days.

As we can see, building digital products that matter is what drives you. Let’s go back to where it all started and maybe you can describe some of the products that launched this mission.

Yes, that’s what drives us. Our aim from the start was to build products. But back then, we didn’t have a clear view of what that product could be or what product should get all our time. To top it up, we started with little money, which was also a big set back. That’s when we decided to build products for our clients, learn by doing, invest our time and energy to get better every day and then create our own. ​Now, fast forward​ 4 and a half years later, we don’t have our own product (yet), but we have a great team alongside we can build whatever we set our mind to.

You can imagine that in the early days of the company we weren’t in a position to turn down business opportunities, so we started building applications in a lot of fields. Initially, we were only developing native mobile applications, as I was an Android developer back then, but slowly we’ve also started doing web development, especially after falling in love with the JavaScript stack.

One of the first applications we’ve built starting from the founder’s idea, to UI/UX work and development was StreetPro, an app for football players where they can train like the professionals. ❝Street Pro is the first soccer app specifically designed for soccer players by soccer professionals — with exercises that you can easily do anywhere, anytime. All you need is a ball, a court, and a goal.❞

Moving forward to where we are now, a full-service software development company providing a complete range of services required for building great
products: consulting services, business analysis, UI/UX design, web and mobile development, quality assurance, and maintenance.

We work with startups and enterprise clients mostly from the UK and North
America, and we started focusing mostly on the fintech sector with secondary
projects in healthcare, education, and entertainment.

Clutch named you top developers in Romania last year (congrats!). What are the projects that landed you on this position?

Thanks, that has been a team effort.

I have some great projects in mind but you know how it is with NDAs :). Jokes
aside, the first client that offered us a review on Clutch was Nick (hi Nick!), who had a dream of building a fitness application that reflected his knowledge and experience as a personal trainer.

On this project we’ve started only from Nick’s idea, we’ve learned as much as
possible about his business needs and we’ve also advised him around his product strategy. From here we moved as almost everyone knows, to building wireframes and UI/UX designs, followed by the development and testing process done in the S&P Agile way. I like to say “S&P Agile way” because I think everyone does agile but everyone does it in their own way. At Salt&Pepper we adopt a modified Agile/Scrum methodology in our approach to client projects while respecting the Agile values.

Virtual Nick is an app that uses a rules engine (some might say is AI-powered ) to create personalized workouts based on the user’s schedule, available equipment and progress inside the application. As you work through each exercise, your workouts will collect feedback to make each movement bespoke and will adjust to your own needs and progression.

Another project that helped us get our position is Tiroll. Tiroll.ro is one of the newest and most innovative events ticketing platforms from Romania, offering event organizers the possibility of quickly publishing for sale their events through an easy to use web platform. On the other hand, event fans have the possibility of quickly buying tickets to their favourite events. Services used here range from business analysis, product development, project management, UI/UX design, frontend & backend development and finally, QA testing. You can read everything about the challenges we faced in this project and how we overcame them in our study case ​here​.

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Investing in a better future requires a deep understanding of new technologies and their importance, a clear view of the way they impact our lives — both in a positive or a negative way. In order to take care of this world, a sustainable development and innovation mindset is a must. Among the pioneer companies in this respect, you can find Bosch Romania, a company with great interest in sustainable future technologies.

Bosch is continuously investing in cutting-edge technology and gathering valuable information from thought leaders to foresee the next big thing. From home appliances that can immensely make our lives easier to mobility solutions that already take us closer to the future, they invest in a smarter living. Curious to find out more about what lies ahead in their agenda, we had an interesting discussion with Frank Wolf, Head of Bosch Engineering Center Cluj.

Bosch is well-known for providing solutions that make life easier in many different areas. Can you tell us more about the company’s plans in terms of adopting new technologies and developing new innovative solutions?

On a global level, the Bosch Group operates in four major business sectors: Mobility Solutions, Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods, and Energy & Building Technology. In all areas, Bosch is a leading IoT provider, which means, that we offer innovative solutions for automated & connected mobility, smart homes and Industry 4.0.

In terms of future plans, I would highlight that Bosch aims to facilitate connected living with products and solutions that have been developed or manufactured with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Moreover, these innovative products and services are designed and developed with the ultimate goal to improve the quality of life worldwide.

How do we actually develop innovations that make people’s lives easier? First, we defined specific areas of innovation such as self-aware or self-developing systems, connected or fully autonomous systems, electric mobility — just to mention a few examples. Second, we rely on our experts’ know-how, carefully selected resources and apply an interdisciplinary & global approach. At the same time, we always choose sustainable solutions that help us protect the environment.

We’ve noticed your focus on sustainable mobility solutions, and the wide-spread presence of Bosch electric charging stations across countries like Germany not only for cars but also electric bike and motorcycles. Are there any similar plans for Romania in the near future?

Bosch is accelerating electrification for cars, trucks, two-wheelers, and even for baby strollers. In the area of electromobility, Bosch offers a wide range of solutions: from electric powertrain systems, hybrid and purely electric battery-powered drives to fuel cell technology.

A complex and easy-to-use charging infrastructure is decisive for the overall success of electromobility. To ensure this, Bosch develops intelligent solutions like charging apps and internet-connected charging stations which enable fast and easy interactions and convenient payment methods. More than 40,000 charging points are already in place in eight European countries as part of the Bosch charging network.

“We work flexibly, focused and connected on the latest mobility technology projects” Frank Wolf

Whether Romania will be part of this network in the future? This actually depends on the country. If Romania will want to change its current mobility trends, then for sure, Bosch will be happy to be a partner and connect the country to its existing electric charging network. But this is mainly a matter of national mobility development strategies.

Bosch Engineering Center Cluj is a young organization, which provides software, hardware and reliability engineering solutions for the mobility sector. You can pride yourselves on great innovative solutions that are locally developed here in Cluj, and significant growth in the number of projects and employees as well. Can you reveal more of the company’s values and future plans for the Engineering Center Cluj?

Here in Cluj, we have two great players: Bosch Engineering Center and Bosch Cluj Plant. Moreover, there is a unique synergy between these two entities: development and production go hand-in-hand due to the close collaboration and shared facilities between different engineering and production teams. This type of collaboration is unique on the company level. Thanks to this special set-up and to the expertise of our colleagues, great innovative solutions can be born on a local level too. Moreover, all our facilities, including the laboratories and offices, are designed in a modern, creative way. They provide inspiring working conditions to our colleagues, thus they are excellent enablers of working flexibly, focused and connected on the latest mobility technology projects. In short, these are the key ingredients of our current success, and most importantly, the great team behind our projects.

Nothing shows better the strengths of a team than behaving supportively in critical, challenging situations such as the current Covid-19 crisis. The pandemic was completely unexpected, and we needed to act and react in a previously unknown manner. From one day to the other, we had to get used to working from home or to keeping the rules of social distancing at the workplace and still deliver our tasks. And we did it: during the last five months, we have managed to run our business activities with great performance despite the changed conditions. As we have trusted each other, acted responsibly and gave support to each other, we succeeded to adapt quickly and worked efficiently.

On the short term, we are planning to run the business as we currently do it — by keeping the right balance between our safety and fulfilling our responsibilities whether from home or the office. At the same time, despite the good results of working from home, we all miss socializing and face-to-face interactions with our colleagues. Therefore, we would like to gradually come back to the office in a safe, controlled way. This is our plan, but of course, we shall adjust to the most recent national regulations and guidelines to reduce the risk of infections and stay safe.

As for the future, we plan to continue Bosch Engineering Center Cluj’ success story by focusing mainly on two pillars. First, we wish to increase our competitiveness, broaden our areas of expertise and increase the level of our responsibility for several projects. Therefore, we wish to continue building strong alliances with our partners worldwide, welcome new partners on board and keep on investing in innovation and education on the local level. Second, we wish to continue focusing on our team and strengthening our team spirit. We believe that one positive lesson from the current health crisis is that if we stand together and act responsibly then we can overcome any kind of challenges. Therefore, enhancing cooperation and open communication inside and across teams; raising awareness around the importance of living and acting by the Bosch values and constantly learning from each other are our focal points to further improve this great team.

Learn more about Bosch Engineering Center Cluj: https://youtu.be/POAyBYOdXzg

Bosch Romania is the official partner of this edition of Techsylvania: Beyond Borders. Learn more about them at https://www.bosch.ro/

The post A glimpse at the future of connected living — an interview with Frank Wolf, Head of Bosch Engineering Center Cluj appeared first on Techsylvania.

As we’re continuously digitally evolving, so does the whole process of payments and money transfer in general. This is an area that every industry has to deal with and the need for seamless and real-time transactions is felt stronger with each millisecond of our attention span decreasing.

Fortunately, the future of the digital economy looks bright due to professionals that persistently invest in innovation and seek the best technology solutions to upgrade our experiences. With this in mind, the company we’re about to present needs no further introduction, as it’s the actual leader in global digital payment solutions and technology — Mastercard. The recent global circumstances have accelerated the process of adopting new technologies even more, and we wanted to dig deeper into the behind-the-scenes of this successful representative. Therefore, we had a discussion with Cosmin Vladimirescu, Country Manager at Mastercard Romania, who told us more about their recent plans, the Romanian business ecosystem and a bit about a culture of collaboration:

Mastercard has always been one step ahead, by bringing the latest technologies and innovations to the market. Can you tell us more about your latest additions in terms of technology features and benefits?

Consumers and companies are now looking for newer technologies that can positively impact their lives and activity and we are working every day to challenge the notion of “that’s how we are used to doing it” to lead to transformational “can’t live without” products and services that can enhance daily experiences. We are using data and insights to connect our customers globally and create simpler and more secure ways to transact. We are powering growth not only for our banking partners but for everyone, everywhere. Together, we are innovating at a rapid pace today to shape a better future. Innovation is at the heart of everything we do.

For example, several years ago, we couldn’t have imagined other ways to pay for a bus or subway trip than by using proprietary cards or tickets. But today, thanks to our partnership with Masabi and UniCredit Bank, people in Bucharest can pay for their trip via BPay mobile app, and through our partnership with Metrorex and BCR, Romanians and tourists can tap their way onto the metro.

Also, this year we introduced along with phos an innovative mobile solution that enables micro, small and medium-sized merchants across Romania, Bulgaria, Germany and United Kingdom to accept contactless payments on Android mobile devices without the need for any additional hardware. It is a great alternative solution for MSME’s that traditionally accepted cash only, which is a disadvantageous and insecure type of payment due to hidden costs and security issues.

Two months ago, along with BRD — Groupe Société Générale we implemented locally the Octet platform, which helps SMEs to expand their business globally while ensuring payment security and managing cash flows. This solution encompasses Octet Europe’s state-of-the-art, cloud-based B2B trade platform, which thoroughly reviews each company in its network. Specifically, all members transacting on the Octet platform are extensively verified via industry-leading Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Know Your Customer (KYC), Counter-Terrorism Financing (CTF) and Economic Trade Sanctions (ETS) processes to reduce the risk for all parties in the network. This provides peace of mind for SMEs who want to find new business partners abroad and access foreign markets.

Furthermore, in 2019 we contributed to a paradigm shift in mobile payments by launching Apple Pay together with our partners — BCR, Banca Transilvania, Credit Europe Bank, Edenred, Monese, OTP Bank, Raiffeisen Bank, Revolut, UniCredit Bank and Sodexo. This service directly reinforces the simplification and security of mobile payments.

Over the past ten years, we have been closely working with local authorities to contribute to the launch, and then, to the development of ghiseul.ro, the online solution that has been enabling citizens for all over Romania to pay their taxes easily, safely and rapidly, regardless of their location. Thus, earlier this year, we reached an important milestone, which will help people benefit from a simplified procedure for filling in the income tax declaration on ghiseul.ro, as ANAF will now calculate the payment obligations and provide updated information regarding people’s taxes. This outcome is a result of consolidated work on behalf of ANAF, ADR and APERO.

These are just a few of the examples of how we are connecting the dots, thinking creatively, enhancing transactions and creating frictionless user experiences that never compromise on security and simplicity.

How do you perceive the Romanian business ecosystem in recent years, through the lens of your company?

I was glad to see a positive evolution of the Romanian business environment, through the development of more and more companies in the technology area, which have innovation embedded in their DNA. These businesses have created tech solutions, for which I have a professional, as well as a personal affinity, that completely changed the game rules. Let’s take UiPath as an example, which was founded in Bucharest and which, over the course of recent years, has registered a spectacular evolution, becoming the world’s leading RPA software company. Such companies are putting Romania on the global map of innovation and outstanding achievements.

For Mastercard, these past years were governed by successful partnerships, product and service launches, along with growth in the card sector, a growth that is closely related to the strong upward trend recorded by Mastercard. We maintained our leading position on the Romanian market — which is constantly developing — in terms of cards number, and we have seen spectacular increases in several segments, such as meal vouchers, credit cards, premium cards and contactless cards.

We noticed that your tagline A world beyond cash drives actionable plans along with it. Can you reveal some of your social projects that support this?

There are still many people that don’t have access to a bank account or any other reliable way to store and access their money. As such, they are reliant on cash and all the insecurities that come with handling it — cash is hard to trace, so you can’t get it back if it is lost, it facilitates crime associated with the shadow economy and it can be used only for proximity payments. And our vision of a world beyond cash comes with the idea that everyone deserves the tools to rely on safety at any given hour and participate in a growing economy. And we are working with local authorities, as well as NGOs and other businesses, to leverage technology that can drive financial inclusion and education.

In 2018, we teamed up with IOM, the UN Migration Agency, to provide financial education for vulnerable groups and to develop tailor-made financial products for migrants and refugees, such as the delivery of non-reimbursable financial support and incentives through pre-paid cards.

We supported the introduction of financial education in schools, as well as the organization of the Little Bankers Olympics, along with the Association for Promoting Educational Performance.

Last year, we succeeded in bringing contactless payments in several markets in Romania, giving small entrepreneurs the opportunity to stay relevant in an increasingly dynamic environment, and even grow their businesses.

We also launched, together with UniCredit Bank, the first debit card on the local market that can be used by children under 14, fueling further the financial education in Romania.

Last, but not least, we salute the initiatives of the Romanian Government to provide meals for vulnerable communities through electronic vouchers, as well as to support students by providing educational support through pre-paid cards.

However, continuous efforts are still needed for expanding the territorial infrastructure in order to allow access to financial services anywhere in Romania and to contribute to the advancement of financial inclusion and thus, to close the gap between rural and urban areas.

Mastercard is the official partner of Techsylvania: Beyond Borders. Learn more about them at www.mastercard.ro

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