On September 15-16, the annual StrategEast State and IT Eurasian Forum will be held in the Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel Tbilisi. The Forum, organized by the US-based StrategEast center, annually gathers those interested in the development of the IT industry in Eurasia in one of the capitals of the region. The previous year the Forum was held in Kyiv, Ukraine, and this time it is the turn of the capital of Georgia to host this international event.
The Forum will bring together leaders of the global and Georgian IT industry, high-rank US, EU, and Eurasian countries’ officials, international financial institutions, think tanks and civil society leaders, regional and global tech entrepreneurs.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, the Forum will be held in an unusual online-offline format. Some of the participants will speak from the conference hall of the Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel Tbilisi, the others, not present in Georgia, will join the discussions via online conference format. The Live Broadcasting of the event will make the Forum available for everyone interested in the topic via SatretgEast’s social media: Facebook and YouTube.
The Forum is co-partnered by the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia; the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Georgia; the Ministry of Finance of Georgia; Georgia’s Innovation and Technology Agency; Microsoft; The World Bank; American Chamber of Commerce in Georgia; Axios Holding; BigWallet; Business and Technology University (Georgia); European Business Association (Georgia); EPAM Systems; Silknet JSC; StrategEast IT HUB (Georgia).
The key speaker of the Forum will be Professor Beata Javorcik, Chief Economist, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Among the confirmed distinguished speakers of the Forum:
Arkady Dobkin, President of EPAM Systems (USA);
Dr. Kaush Arha, Senior Adviser for Strategic Engagement to USAID Administrator;
Dr. Gregory Asmolov, King’s College London (UK);
Sebastian Molineus, Regional Director for the South Caucasus at the World Bank (USA);
Alexander Bornyakov, Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation (Ukraine);
Vitalie Tarlev, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure (Moldova);
Rashad Azizov, Head of Innovations and Digital Development Department, Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies (Azerbaijan);
Pavel Koktyshev, Deputy Chairman of the Board, Zerde National Infocommunication Holding (Kazakhstan);
Irakli Nadareishvili, Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development (Georgia);
Nikoloz Gagua, Deputy Minister of Finance (Georgia);
Tamar Kitiashvili, Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport (Georgia);
Avtandil Kasradze, Chairman, Georgia’s Innovation and Technology Agency.
The 2nd StrategEast State and IT Eurasian Forum will discuss the following topics within the plenary and breakout sessions:
- The future of the tech labor market;
- Digital transformation of public services;
- Digital resilience;
- Tech education;
- Digitalization of small and middle enterprises;
- Artificial intelligence;
- IT industry in Georgia;
- Start-Ups;
- Central Asia as a new IT hub;
- The role of global development agencies in the IT industry.
This year “Technology as a remedy” was chosen as the leading topic of the Forum – participants will discuss the IT industry not as a set of new technologies, but as an important tool for resolving global crises like the one caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Forum Schedule:
Opening Ceremony – September 15th, at 18:00.
Plenary Day – September 16th, between 9:30 and 18:30.
Learn more about the Forum agenda and participants: https://Forum.strategeast.org/Forum-2020/
