6.2.2020
The blend of technology, science, and art was the central theme of this year's largest regional gathering of geeks, this year held in an even larger space and the most visited ever
For the seventh consecutive year, over 3 thousand technology enthusiasts gathered in Zagreb at the largest Bug Future Show to date. For the first time in a new location, in the cinema theater of the Zagreb Student Center, the largest technology show in the region was held under the motto “The Art of Science”, and the keynotes were, accordingly, Croatian scientists.
Robert Kopal, Assistant professor, data scientist, and problem solver, Dean of the Effectus College, spoke about the multidisciplinary skill of data analysis and problem-solving through these skills. Teams made up of individuals working in different fields will nowadays solve a problem sooner than a team made up of data analysts only. In addition to mathematics, data science today includes those who pursue philosophy, the arts, psychology, and various other fields of science.
A renowned meteorologist from RTL Television, mag. Phys. Dunja Mazzocco Drvar, gave a lecture on the extremely topical topic of climate change. She warned that as a civilization, it is very likely that we will urgently need to change our eating habits, switch to renewable energy sources and sustainable transport, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions. As a motivation for these changes, we can also take into account the fact that if we fail to implement them, we will soon find ourselves in a world without coffee, chocolate and tangerines.
Five panel discussions talked about digital art, Croatian startup Iron Bull's appearance at the world's largest tech event, CES in Las Vegas, as well as technology in finance. For the fourth year in a row, the nation's most creative and deserving educators have been awarded “teacher-hero” status.
The panel dealing with the very current topic of 5G technologies and the future filled with a 5G signal was attended by legends of the Croatian ICT sector, Boris Sakač, Predrag Pale, Ivana Šoljan and Mladen Pejković. Boris Drilo, Member of the Management Board and Chief Technology Officer and Chief Information Officer of Hrvatski Telekom moderated the panel. The people who brought the internet to Croatia, the first mobile internet, and also computerized the Olympics, spoke of the rapid expansion of technology and its impact on our lives. They also touched on the use of technology in sports, which aims to allow fairer competition and more accurate measurement of results, but also to provide more people with better and timely information, as well as enjoyment in sporting events. At past Olympics, about 90% of sports event visitors used cell phones, so it is evident that there is a need for ever-faster “immersion” in sports through 5G technology.
Three of the most successful startups from last year's Idea Knockout competition were presented in SC today. With the mentioned Iron Bull, which has achieved notable success in Las Vegas, the audience was introduced to Crickey, a startup that manufactures insect protein, which could be the future of nutrition for billions of people around the world. Visitors could also learn more about the OrganoBox project, which aims to make cannabis easy to grow in a home environment (where legal).
Bug Future Show 2020 was under the general auspices of Hrvatski Telekom, and the sponsors were Algebra, Infobip, Nissan, Sniffer, Span, Trikoder, and Zagrebačka banka.