In an era where digital technologies shape every facet of our lives, this panel will explore the critical role of digital growth in driving societal progress and industrial innovation. As industries and societies increasingly rely on digital platforms, the growth of these technologies promises enhanced efficiency, connectivity, and economic expansion. From smart cities to AI-driven solutions, digital growth fosters innovation, revolutionizes industries, and bridges communities.

However, this rapid expansion also brings significant challenges, including cybersecurity risks, data privacy concerns, and potential digital divides that can exacerbate inequalities. Addressing these issues is vital for ensuring that digital growth benefits all of society in a secure and inclusive way.

The panel features carefully selected experts, each bringing unique insights into the opportunities and risks associated with digital transformation. Through in-depth discussions, they will address key questions around policy, security, innovation, and sustainability, offering a comprehensive view of the future of digital growth and its profound impact on both industry and society.

Patrizia Poščić

Patrizia Poščić has been working in higher education since 1995 and is currently a full professor at the Faculty of Informatics and Digital Technologies. She currently serves as Dean of the Faculty and has many years of experience in management and administration at various levels.

She teaches several courses in the areas of databases, digital transformation and business communication in various study programs. As part of her academic work, she has participated in numerous national and international scientific and professional projects and is a member of several program committees for international conferences. She is also a reviewer for a large number of scientific papers for journals and conferences. Her research interests include databases, data warehousing and business intelligence.
 

Željka Idžan

Željka Idžan is a Specialist in the Investment Department within the Strategy Division of the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (HBOR). She has 16 years of experience in the banking industry, from financing SMEs to the development of financial instruments for equity and quasi-equity financing. Over the last 9 years in HBOR, Željka has been working on the initiatives intended to develop the Croatian equity and quasi-equity financing market. She was a member of the team that developed an initiative for the establishment of the technology transfer fund aimed at fostering commercialization of research in Croatia and Slovenia from its very beginning, as well as other initiatives that enabled the establishment of another four venture capital and private equity funds. 

Slavko Vidović

Slavko Vidović has begun his academic career at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing in Zagreb, and continued at the Faculty of Organization and Informatics in Varaždin, along with the Faculty of Economics in Zagreb. Public, scientific and business person all-in-one, Slavko is probably the best living example of Quintuple Helix concept, for which he plead passionately. Following the new managerial and technological trends and based on many years of experience in public administration and economy, currently he is most concerned with the development of "Smart" concepts and the development of the Smart X systems (Smart City, Smart County, Smart Government, Smart Enterprise). Starting from the strategic concepts and smart strategy through new business models to design Smart Platform (complex solutions) and Smart applications, in order to solve the problem of the overall identification and diagnosis to the design and implementation of solutions. Director and founder of the InfoDom Group with companies in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and United Kingdom. Professional expertise dealing with consulting work as business process management, development of information systems, development and implementation of ERP, Billing system, and design of the expert systems. Areas of application in business as telecommunications, power, public administration and public finances. In international institutions, he is a member of: TeleManagement Forum, BPM Institute and PMI. He is a member of the National Council for Electronic Business of Government of Republic of Croatia and the National Council for Competitiveness. He has proven his commitment for knowledge and innovation by becoming a program director of business ILBA Academy. Within the Croatian Employers' Association and the IT community, he initiates and actively supports the promotion of the following initiatives: 1. ICT in the function of modern administration; 2. Control in the IT projects; 3. The transformation of the public sector; 4. The transformation of state enterprises. Actively participates in EU initiatives and projects: 1. European Interoperability Framework 2.0 EIF; 2. E-Procurement & PEPPOL project (Pan-European Public Procurement Online); 3. E-Invoice (European Electronic Invoice).

Srđan Čapkun

Srdjan Capkun (Srđan Čapkun) is a full professor in the Department of Computer Science, ETH Zurich and Chair of the Zurich Information Security and Privacy Center (ZISC). Originally from Split, Croatia, he received his Dipl. Ing. Degree in Electrical Engineering / Computer Science from the University of Split in 1998, and his Ph.D. degree in Communication Systems from EPFL in 2004. His research interests are in system and network security. His focus areas are wireless security (in particular secure positioning), and system security where he focuses on trusted computing and blockchain technologies. He is a co-​founder of 3db Access (acquired by Infineon in 2023), which focused on secure distance measurement and proximity-​based access control, and of Futurae, a company focusing on usable on-​line authentication. In 2016 he received an ERC Consolidator Grant for a project dedicated to securing positioning in wireless networks. He is a fellow of the ACM and of the IEEE.