Assist. Prof., ANKICA KOVAČ, Ph.D., MEng. AE.

University of Zagreb, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture
Department of Energy, Power, and Environmental Engineering

Ankica Kovač is Head of Power Engineering Laboratory, in Department of Energy, Power, and Environmental Engineering at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture in Croatia. Her scientific research includes renewable energy sources and hydrogen economy, i.e. hydrogen technologies including hydrogen production, storage, distribution, and utilization in fuel cells. She authored and co-authored numbers of scientific papers. Ankica is a Guest editor of international scientific journal titled International Journal of Hydrogen Energy. Ankica designed first Croatian hydrogen powered bicycle and first Croatian hydrogen refuelling station. Because of its original and innovative design, hydrogen refuelling station is protected as intellectual property on national (trademark) and international level (design). She also organized Croatia Mirai Challenge on the route from Zagreb to Brussels, a project which objective was to raise awareness of importance of hydrogen based mobility. It was the first time that hydrogen powered vehicle was driving on Croatian roads.

Ankica is a Member of Executive Committee of The Technology Collaboration Programme on Advanced Fuel Cells (AFC TCP), as main representative of Republic of Croatia. She was awarded with Croatian Woman of Influence Award in a category of Leadership and Innovation.

CEO/Founder, HUBBIG

Experienced in the logistics and freight forwarding industry with strong sales professional but focused on gamechanging in the freight forwarding industry. Building the largest marketplace where logistics providers will meet their new clients.

RPA Architect/CoFounder, Robotiq AI

„Darko works in Robotiq.ai as RPA Architect and is one of the company co-founders. His primary focus is on creating Robotic Process Automation (RPA) platform that is based on application of artificial intelligence. During his 15 year career in IT he held various positions ranging from software development to enterprise presales and marketing. As a partner in InfoCumulus he led the Microsoft Dynamics CRM implementation practice. InfoCumulus was recognized as one of the fastest growing IT companies in Central Europe and was consequently sold to Croatian system integrator. Before InfoCumulus he worked in Microsoft Croatia as enterprise presales engineer and was part of Microsoft Academy for College Hires (MACH), an educational program for aspiring young employees. Darko holds master's degree in computer science from Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, University of Split.“

Chief Product Officer/Founder, AMODO

Gorjan Agačević is a digital expert with a successful 15 years track record in the fields of Digital Marketing, Software development, Customer Engagement and Insuretech.

Over the years, Gorjan has worked as a digital consultant for Volvo Car Corporation and a digital strategist for several international consumer brands (Nike, Molson Coors, etc.).

As the Chief Product Officer and founder of Amodo, he provides strategic direction for product development and Innovation Management of their main product Driver Copilot (a digital platform that enables stakeholders in the connected insurance sector to create and distribute new products and services). The platform is currently used by some of the largest insurers and car distributors in the world (AIG, BNP Paribas, Baloise, Porsche Bank, etc.).

Gorjan is an experienced speaker, often speaking at international Insurtech and digital marketing conferences. He is also the organizer of Internet Things Croatia, a bi-monthly Meetup group with over 1.000 members, and an active member of the croatian startup community, usually in the role of a mentor or a lecturer on the topics of customer engagement, product-market fit, presenting and pitching.

Dr. sc. Bojan Jerbić, Professor

Dr. Bojan Jerbić is a professor at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, University of Zagreb, Department for Robotics and Automation of Manufacturing Systems. He teaches courses in the fields of industrial automation and intelligent robotics.

His scientific research is focused on the area of artificial intelligence, particularly on development of intelligent control models for multi-agent robotic systems, medical robotics, human-robot interaction and roboethics.

Thanks to the numerous interdisciplinary research projects in the field of industrial and medical robotics, he developed one of the most advanced laboratory for applied robotics and autonomous systems in Europe. Today, his work is most recognizable for the project RONNA – neurosurgical robotic system, which has been operating regularly at Clinical Hospital Dubrava for three years.

Managing Director, Abilito Capital SRL

Mihai Sfintescu is a startup enthusiast with 25 years of successful track-record in venture capital, private equity & investment banking (M&A).

Currently, Mihai supports the European start-up ecosystem as Jury Member of the European Innovation Council and mentor in several start-up & scale-up programs. Mihai also acts as advisor on mergers & acquisitions and private equity / venture capital portfolio management.

Until end 2015, Mihai led 3TS Catalyst Romania, a venture capital fund dedicated to Romania which made 10 successful investments. Between 2007 and 2015, Mihai Sfintescu was a Partner at 3TS Capital Partners, a leading private equity and venture capital firm that has made investments such as 2checkout (then Avangate), a global challenger in IT sector, and Regina Maria (then Unirea Medical Centers), a local leader in healthcare.

Prior to 2007, Mihai was an investment banker specialized in M&A, at his own firm Abilito Capital and as Director of CA IB Romania (now part of UniCredit Group).

Mihai Sfintescu has an Executive MBA from the University of Washington (USA) and ASEBUSS Bucharest, and MS from the University Politechnica of Bucharest.

CoFounder, Beyond Seen Screen

Highly motivated professional with wide-ranging skills. Currently on position of COO of Beyond Seen Screen. On previous job worked at position "ROW Support Team Lead" in the company which business is creation of software for broadcast. With management skills and creative way drives business, demonstrates concern for the growth and development of the healthy support process.

On previous positions showed management skills in running cinema operations as deputy cinema manager. Oversaw not just employees, but took care of various additional and financial tasks. Trained radio presenter and technician, worked as a radio journalist, television presenter, manager of a video store with retail.

On creative side wrote and published (prose and poetry) in the magazines, worldwide published a collection of poetry, also takes part in various competitions, both literal and multimedia.

www.linkedin.com/in/miroslavzaric

Mladen Vukmir, mr.sc.

Mladen Vukmir was born on September 15, 1960 in Zagreb. After completing the law education at Zagreb University Law School, he obtained Master of Intellectual property degree at Franklin Pierce Law center in Concord, NH, USA. He spent two years as a trainee and one year as an associate at Hanzekovic & Radakovic Law Offices in Zagreb. He was a visiting lawyer at: Fenwick & West Law Offices in Palo Alto, USA; Monahan & Duhot Law Offices in Paris, France and Pavia, Ansaldo & Verusio Law Offices in Milan, Italy. In 1991 he founded VUKMIR & ASSOCIATES law firm. In 1992 he acted as an expert advisor to the Croatian State Intellectual Property Office (CSIPO) Zagreb, Croatia, at the time of its founding. Subsequently he was appointed a patent and trademark agent, admitted to practice before the CSIPO, Zagreb, Croatia. He advised on preparations for the Manual on Technology Transfer at UNIDO, United Nations Industrial Development Organization Vienna, Austria in 1993 and provided liaison to Licensing Executives Society (LES) ad hoc Committee for the Manual on Technology Transfer.

VUKMIR & ASSOCIATES is a partnership specialized in commercial corporate and intellectual property law. In intellectual property VUKMIR & ASSOCIATES cover broad area of specializations including trade marks, copyright, media, entertainment, computer and software and general IT law, domain names, patent drafting and litigation, technology transfer law, unfair competition, IP mediation and arbitration. Within this field, the firm acts as a patent and trademark agent and works on developing IP strategies and marketing identities for local clients. The firm has important expertise in the fields of competition law, advertising law and consumer protection law as well. Moreover, the firm litigates IP infringement cases and is strong in anti-counterfeiting and anti-piracy practice. Work in the commercial law field related to intellectual property includes the drafting and reviewing of licensing and distribution contracts, securing the monetary transactions via IP liens etc.

Mladen Vukmir is a member and a national secretary of the Croatian Branch of the Association International pour la Protection de la Propriété Intellectuelle (AIPPI); International Bar Association, (IBA), (Committees L, R, S X); Computer Law Association (CLA); Global Advertising Law Alliance (GALA); International Trademark Association (INTA), (ADR Committee, International Panel of Neutrals, Law Firms Outreach Subcommittee Chairperson); Licensing Executives Society (LES) and Union Internationalle des Avocats (UIA). VUKMIR & ASSOCIATES is a member to additional international organizations.

Mladen Vukmir wrote numerous articles and lectured on various topics on Intellectual property also as an adjunct lecturer at the University of Zagreb Faculty of Law postgraduate courses. His present position is a founder and partner of VUKMIR & ASSOCIATES, arbitrator on the Panel of Arbitrators in domestic disputes under the Permanent Arbitration Court at the Croatian Chamber of Economy, panelist on the WIPO UDRP Domain Name Panel under the World Intellectual Property Organization Arbitration and Mediation Center, neutral on the INTA-CPR International Panel of Neutrals under the International Trademark Association and CPR Institute for Dispute Resolution and the Honorary Royal Danish Consul General in Zagreb. Mladen Vukmir also served as a consultant to various domestic and international organizations such as the Croatian Government (Ministry of Science and Technology), the World Bank and the European Commission (CARDS 2002 programme).

Vice Dean for Research, University of Zagreb, FER

Nikola Mišković is a Full Professor at University of Zagreb, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing where he is currently Vice Dean for Research.

His research activities are conducted within the Laboratory for Underwater Systems and Technologies (LABUST, https://labust.fer.hr/). He participated in 14 European projects (H2020, FP7, DG-ECHO, INTERREG) out of which he coordinated FP7 CADDY, focussing on the development of the first underwater robot for interaction with divers; H2020 aPad, devoted to commercialization of an autonomous surface vehicles developed in LABUST, and H2020 EXCELLABUST devoted to increasing LABUST excellence in marine robotics. He also participated in 4 Office of Naval Research Global (ONR-G) projects (coordinated 3), 2 NATO projects, and 7 national projects (coordinated 3). He published more than 70 papers in journals and conference proceedings in the area of navigation, guidance and control, as well as cooperative control in marine robotics.