Daniel Costea is a Senior AI Software Engineer with more than 20 years of experience in .NET technologies and artificial intelligence. He has been passionate about C# since its release in 2001 and has delivered over 1,200 hours of training in .NET to more than 700 students worldwide. His expertise in AI engineering is recognized through his Microsoft MVP awards in both AI and .NET since 2019.

As a frequent international speaker, Daniel has presented at major conferences across Europe and the United States for the past eight years. He is the author of *Building AI Agents in .NET: A code-first approach using Microsoft Agent Framework* (by Manning Publications) and a contributor of technical articles on .NET and AI.

Vlad Mihalcea is a Java Champion, creator of Hypersistence Optimizer and Hypersistence Utils Open-Source project.He is passionate about communities, technical leadership, system architecture, and database systems.

He wrote hundreds of articles about Java, JPA, Hibernate, and SQL on his blog, and he is the author of the High-Performance Java Persistence book and video course series.

Cornel Stefanache, AscentCore's CTO, is on a mission to help augment customer businesses using AI, cyber security, privacy and visualization through tailored technical solutions. His experience and deep knowledge allow him to be well aware of the trade-offs between reliability, flexibility, performance and ease of implementation, and easily identify potential growth that can be achieved with technical solutions. Within the company, he is also the Lead researcher of AC Labs, a research department that focuses on coming up with creative and innovative solutions to accommodate customer needs and giving back to the community through open-source principles.

Doru Șupeala is a marketing, management and business consultant, Head of Marketing at an IT company and Managing Director at SPOR (Școala Pentru Oameni Responsabili/The School for Responsible People). He is a PhD student at Babeș Bolyai University with a thesis on the management of creativity and innovation. He is currently undertaking one of the most in-depth international academic research initiatives aimed at assessing how well equipped IT organizations are in terms of fostering an environment prone to creativity and innovation.

In 2019, he completed an Executive MBA „with Distinction“ at Hull University Business School, in the UK. He also holds a BA and an MA degree in marketing, both graduated from Babeș Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca. In the '90s, he graduated from the Faculty of Letters (Romanian-French), Transylvania University Brașov, He held positions such as director of marketing, communication or procurement in several local and multinational companies like Selgros, IKEA, Betfair Romania, Onyx Beacon, Ramada Brașov or InNuts Fund. Between 1993 and 2000, he worked as journalist and media manager (press, radio and TV) at ProTV and the Mix Media Radio Brașov group.

As an IT consultant with more than 20 years of industry experience, Tudor is a Certified Ethical Hacker, a Microsoft Cloud and Datacenter Management MVP, and a regular speaker at local and regional community events.

His current areas of focus revolve around Cloud Strategy, Cybersecurity, GDPR, IT Governance & Risk Management, Data Protection, Systems & Network Administration, Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery, Business Process Optimization, and Digital Transformation.

Gabriel Ciuloaica is a Software Architect & Technical leader with 20+ years experience in delivering professional services to large global businesses in telecommunication and gambling industries.

He is currently CTO and co-founder of AppFactor. Previously, he worked with teams from companies like WowApp, Gemini Solutions, Adlogica,IQuate, CloudSphere, Metro Systems, Unicredit, Dream11 and Ziverge to reach their goals.

Before working as consultant he was working for large organisations like Softvision, Intellisync, Nokia and Betfair having different leadership roles.

Still writing his own code after two decades, Andrei Olar was drawn early on to the fundamentals that tend to outlast the moment: software architecture, design patterns, and eXtreme Programming — the kind of discipline that makes systems worth maintaining long after the initial excitement fades.

More recently, he made the leap from industry to academia, finding a different but equally rewarding set of challenges. He is currently a PhD candidate in Computer Science at Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, with a research focus on entity resolution under the HRIA umbrella. As an Assistant Researcher on Twin4Dem — a Horizon Europe project — he leads the architectural design of the system and implements its core simulation engine: an expert system that applies structured knowledge to real-world data to reason about what outcomes might have unfolded under different conditions.

Andreea is an AI researcher and community builder originally from Cluj, Romania, now based in Amsterdam. After moving to the Netherlands four years ago, she completed her bachelor’s and is currently pursuing a master’s in Artificial Intelligence at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her passion for AI began after winning a global AI hackathon, which inspired her to organize five international hackathons and to found TeensInAI Romania — a national initiative that introduces teenagers to AI through hackathons, mentoring, and workshops.

Andreea’s research focuses on hybrid intelligence: building cognitive agents that collaborate with humans and modeling behavior inspired by animal groups. She has also explored LLM-based labeling for unstructured data and conversational systems using the Google Dialogflow API.

I started my tech journey 12 years ago as a Java developer and learned the stack the hard way: keeping up with Java versions, adapting to new frameworks, and moving from solid monoliths to modern, distributed systems.

I’m hands-on, passionate about Java, Cloud and AI solutions and about finding new ways to integrate them into the development lifecycle, from design to delivery. I’m also deeply interested in DevOps practices and security. Beyond that, I enjoy exploring, writing about what I learn, and sharing practical notes and lessons from the field.

Catalin Golban joined Bosch 10 years ago and today is responsible for leading the video-based driver assistance and automated driving activities in Engineering Center Cluj. Together with a team of talented engineers, he develops state-of-the-art mobility technologies and transforms the latest research findings into innovative automotive products and intelligent mobility solutions, which are valuable goals for Bosch especially in this highly challenging field. Using the latest AI based computer vision methods and technologies, having these advanced research and development activities in Romania, and capitalizing on local expertise in creating AI based systems give him extra motivation, especially when the solutions are implemented on a large scale.

Denisa is a Senior Java Developer at .msg. Over the past 6+ years she has worked across fintech and cybersecurity, from multithreaded data processing to cloud-native microservices and Spring based apps, with a strong emphasis on clean code, TDD/BDD, and sustainable delivery. Her current interests include secure-by-design practices and applying Zero Trust principles in Java services—paired with pragmatic software architecture that keeps teams productive.

In a constant pursuit of balance between business outcomes, technological excellence, and human authenticity - even after more than 20 years spent in leadership roles within IT & software companies. I firmly believe that real progress emerges when technical expertise is aligned with clear goals and a healthy organizational culture.

Software engineering, software architecture, technical project management. We worked with companies of small and medium sizes to help them launch new software ideas or improve their existing infrastructure.

Voicu Oprean graduated Technical University of Cluj-Napoca (1994), EMBA at WU Wien (alumni 2008) and London Business School (2018).

Voicu is a three-time finisher of IronMan international competitions. His winning formula is [IQ + EQ + TQ + BQ] ^ CQ: learn at speed, emotional intelligence, people on top of technology, be quick, and creativity.

He has been supporting the business environment and the entrepreneurial community for more than 20 years, since 1998, when AROBS Transilvania Software was founded. He believes entrepreneurial spirit is one of the engines of community development and encourages young entrepreneurs to focus on gains and opportunities when they find something that works.

In its 20 years of existence, AROBS has reached more than 800 employees across Romania and international subsidiaries in Germany, Hungary, the Republic of Moldova, Indonesia, the Netherlands and Belgium. AROBS specializes in Automotive, Enterprise, Life Sciences, IoT and Travel software services, with products including TrackGPS and Optimall by AROBS.

Emil Petru is the CEO of BMW TechWorks Romania, the innovation and software hub launched in Cluj-Napoca in 2024 as a joint venture between BMW Group and NTT DATA Romania. With more than 20 years of experience in technology and leadership, Emil drives the hub’s mission to deliver cutting-edge digital solutions for the global BMW ecosystem.

Before joining BMW TechWorks, Emil built his career at NTT DATA Romania, where developed naturally from Software Developer to Head of Application Software Engineering and later to Chief Operating Officer (COO), leading large-scale operations in Cluj.

At BMW TechWorks, Emil leads a rapidly expanding team with a mid-term target to reach more than 1000 specialists based in Cluj, to build a culture of ownership and foster close collaboration with the local ecosystem.

Horea Avram is an art critic, media theorist and independent curator. He researches and writes about art and visual culture in relationship with media technology. PhD in Art History and Communication Studies at McGill University, Montreal. He is Associate Professor at the Department of Cinema and Media, Faculty of Theatre and Film, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

He has contributed to: Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, (Oxford University Press, 2014), Theorizing Visual Studies: Writing Through the Discipline (New York: Routledge, 2013), Encyclopedia of the imaginaries in Romania. (Iaşi: Polirom, 2020). He is the author of Negotiable perspective. Essays and Commentaries on Contemporary Artistic Practices. Bucharest: Eikon Press, 2021.

He was research fellow of the New Europe College Institute for advanced study in the humanities and social sciences, 2017-2018.

Member of various professional associations such as: NECS - European Network for Cinema and Media Studies, International Society for Intermedial Studies (ISIS), The Union of Visual Artists (UAP), Romania. Member and past president of the AFCN Council – Administration of the National Cultural Fund, Romania. President of the International Association of Art Critics - AICA Romania.

Independent curator since 1996. Curator for Romania at the Venice Biennale 1999.