DOKU.TECH 2022 brings global trends of Artificial Intelligence to Kosovo

After two online editions duo to the pandemic Covid-19, DOKU.TECH brought the magic back to the tech community in Kosovo by bringing its 9th edition in person at Prishtina’s urban space, Termokiss.

We brought to Kosovo’s capital, Prishtina, engaging speakers, creative masterclasses, interactive workshops, and an excellent environment for all ages to network and connect.

Frequented by the heads of top-tier local and international companies, the premiant event for technology in the Balkans was back on 11 to 12 of JUNE 2022 with the theme “My face is not a Barcode,” which explored opportunities and threats of Artificial Intelligence and Data.

DOKUTECH, as an annual event, once more showed that it is becoming one of the leading tech events in the Balkans; devoted to idea sharing, igniting discussions, women empowerment through tech, interactive workshops and DIY sessions, fun-filled days, and musical evenings.

This year we brought keynote speakers from around the world, such as Krenar Komoni – CEO & Founder of Tive Inc. We were super excited to have Krenar Komoni exclusively at DOKU.TECH to share his inspiring talk about TIVE’s success story. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re the lion or a gazelle-when the sun comes up, you’d better be running,” he said.

Our next keynote speaker at this edition was Diana Gehlhaus, a Research Fellow at Georgetown University Center for Security and Emerging Technology. She talked about the AI Workforce of the future. Her current research focuses on the U.S. artificial intelligence workforce and designing education and policies that ensure our crew remains globally competitive, cultivates diverse and sustainable pathways into AI jobs, and promotes equity in access and opportunity.

The next keynote speaker came from a worldwide-known company, Microsoft. Bruno Sánchez-Andrade Nuño, program director of the “AI for Earth” Program within this company. He talked more about Artificial intelligence and how we see the world. “The world’s first trillionaire will be a green-tech entrepreneur,” he quoted Kara Swisher from NYT during his talk.

During DOKU.TECH’s 9th edition, we discussed public budgeting as well. We had Maja Bosnic, public finance expert, who talked deeply about gender budgeting and gender perspective in the budget cycle. Her crucial message during her speech was that we should ask questions and not think that the situation is like this because it should be like it is. “Keep asking and collect the data,” she said.

Rudradeb Mitra, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Omdena Inc., came to DOKU.TECH to talk about how we can build the future with AI. He also started a new chapter with Artificial Intelligence Kosovo, with the support of the IPKO Foundation in advancing Artificial Intelligence in our region.

Our next keynote speaker, Henrik Chulu, writer and public speaker, focused on Algocracy: the Power of AI, ecological impacts of AI, Surveillance Capitalism and Privacy, Algorithmic discrimination, and where algorithms get their biases?

Our last but not least keynote speaker of this edition, Julia Hoxha, co-founder and CEO of Zana, joined us to talk about Zana’s conversational AI Platform and how AI is transforming the healthcare system. “Zana is committed to innovating and improving healthcare through Conversation and Voice AI technology,” she said.

This year DOKU.TECH also brought the Game Jam 48hrs Workshop, funded by the Western Balkans Fund and European Union, under the Call for Regional Project Proposals, “Support to the Promotion of Civil Society regional activities in the Western Balkans. Western Balkans Fund Regional Grant Scheme is co-funded by the European Union, IPA – Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance. Fifty [50] jammers from Kosovo, Albania, and North Macedonia presented their innovative games, created in the last 48 hrs with the theme “My Face is Not a Barcode.” This project addressed the needs of youth for game development education that links directly to opportunities in the job market. Also, it equipped youth with programming, game design, animation, and other skills to succeed in this emerging market. Special thanks to our hardworking mentors of this edition: Besa Istrefi, Lekë Sahatqija, Visar Spanca, and Bert Gorani, for their outstanding contribution to helping participants finish their games with impressive results.

This edition of DOKU.TECH, we held Workshop on Digital Marketing and Critical Thinking with youngsters from municipalities such as Klina and Vitia, supported by the Ministry of Culture, Youth, and Sports. On June 11, more than 35 youngsters from Vitia participated in Digital Marketing Workshop with Martin Berisha from Brandfluence Agency on topics such as Metaverse, Artificial Intelligence, and the future.

Meanwhile, around 35 participants from Klina Municipality held a Critical Thinking Workshop with Shkelzen Osmani, Founder of fact-checking outlet – hibrid.info. They learned why critical thinking is essential, especially in the era of fake news, contrasting data, and so much information to process daily. We can think in an organized and rational manner through critical thinking to understand connections between ideas and facts.

Thanks to the support of Enhancing Youth Employment- EYE Project we brought to DOKU.TECH Edis Galushi from Roma Community, an activist and English teacher at Loyola School in Prizren. During his inspiring speech, he motivated our participants to dream big and work hard to make their dreams a reality.

During DOKU.TECH, more than 60 youngsters, held a Workshop on Artificial Intelligence with the AI community in Kosovo and Mr. Rudradeb Mitra on the foundations and implementation of AI. The 30 first participants got a gift from Omdena Inc. on access to courses on AI.

DOKU.TECH would not be complete without the Do It Yourself (DIY) Fair, where more than 10+ organizations showcased their work. Everyone could participate, engage, and get inspired by organizations like BONEVET, J Coders, AI Community, Swinto, Shkolla Digjitale, Foundation 17, FLOSSK, Frakton, Unicef YLP, and more.

In cooperation with Dokufest, we screened at Termokiss, THE GIG IS UP, a very human tech doc that uncovers the real costs of the platform economy through the lives of people working for companies around the world, including Uber, Amazon and Deliveroo.

For the first time, DOKU.TECH brought informal Meetups with Speakers and Local Communities to discuss ideas and opportunities regarding the AI environment.

Maja Bosnic met with a group of Kosovo journalists to discuss budget reporting and how journalists can address better social norms and promote constructive narratives among youth, especially the more vulnerable youth groups.

On the other hand, Julia Hoxha met with Cikat n’STEM in Prishtina to discuss their initiative and dreams for the future. Julia had the opportunity to tell them more about the Zana conversational AI Platform and how AI is transforming the healthcare system.

Diana Gehlhaus held a meetup with the STEAM Community in Kosovo to discuss further the future of education and the role of Artificial Intelligence in this field. Everyone agreed to cooperate in future STEAM projects/programs to improve education opportunities in Kosovo.

Nonetheless, nothing would have been possible without the help of our sponsors who believe in the ideals that DOKU:TECH Promotes, and we would like to thank each and everyone of them dearly for making the 9th chapter of DOKU:TECH a reality, and leading the way into the 10th edition!

Here’s to our sponsors, to whom we send special thanks:

Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, Municipality of Prishtina, UNDP Kosovo, Scardian, Western Balkans Fund, Enhancing Youth Employment – EYE Project, Fondacioni “Une e Du Kosoven”, Dokufest, Termokiss, Swinto, Bonevet, Akademy JCoders, Artificial Intelligence Kosovo, Shkolla Digjitale, Foundation 17, FLOSSK, Frakton, Comodita Home, Devolli Group, Crust n’Crumb, Kallxo.com, Telegrafi.

We are beyond happy that DOKU.TECH brought the future closer to hundred of participants!