Author: Marko Miladinović

Photo: Dragana Pešić – Lević

– Maybe because of my professional orientation, maybe because of the fact that I attended such a big event for the first time, my impression is this year – the Web Summit, which was held in Lisbon in November. One of the largest technology conferences in the world was visited by more than 70,000 people from 150 countries. Apart from the fact that a large number of lectures were devoted (as expected) to artificial intelligence, it was the first time that the conference had a virtual personality (created by AI) who announced the conference during the promotion phase. At the opening, the executive director of the conference stated that the mission of this event is to connect people and ideas that change the world, and that is exactly what happened.

Visitors had the incredible opportunity to easily connect with all the participants, be they the founders of global companies like Wikipedia, the mayor of Lisbon, the conference director or anyone else – via the app or live, by taking a picture of the QR code on the participant’s bedge. If the person you contact accepts your invitation to connect, you have the option to schedule a meeting and exchange all contact information. Best of all, everyone is actually very willing to connect, exchange ideas, and – you never know – maybe change the world.

– There are many among us who I could mention, who do great things and on whom all eyes (and cameras) are focused, but there are also many ordinary people who fight for true values, do not give up their roots, traditions and families, which do not attract so much attention, although they should be our role models.

You may know the story of the actor Branko Janković, who became famous for his roles in the series “Military Academy” and “Tate”, who, in addition to his acting duties, also performs family duties on a daily basis – looks after goats, makes goat’s milk products (which have become a very successful brand) , is a husband, father of three children and proud heir to the estate and family line. If all of us were more dedicated to our roots, to the maintenance of our ancestors’ property and to local development (whatever is possible to develop in that native region), I believe that the Serbian countryside would experience a revival.

– I consider the opening of the congress and buisniss center Sava to be very significant because Belgrade is getting a unique conference complex with the capacities that this city needed, which will enable it to compete for holding international conferences of a larger scale, for which there were no conditions until now. After the opening of all capacities this year, Sava Center will become the largest congress, business and cultural center in Southeast Europe, and in terms of infrastructure, it has a large number of benefits: 15 minutes from Nikola Tesla Airport, accommodation capacity of almost 5,000 people in hotels within a radius of five kilometers, more of 40 conference halls with a capacity of 50 to 1,200 people, exhibition space of 8,000 m2, the main congress hall with a capacity of up to 3,800 people.

I believe that the facility has a great potential to return the invested money to the investor in a relatively short period and putting Belgrade on the map of world congress venues will stimulate tourism and the economy.

– Basketball player Nikola Jokić is often the target of conflicting opinions and the division of the public into those who support him and those who criticize him, because with his reckless behavior and decisions, he encourages the public to change their opinion about him. Public figures, especially athletes, have a responsibility to behave more morally responsible than others, since they have a huge influence on the youth generations. If he continues to make disastrous decisions such as wrong choice of sponsors and political engagements, I would say that he has a great chance to cast a shadow on his brilliant professional career.

– The previous couple of difficult years lead us to enter this year with caution and anxiety. I would like to be more positive, but the current situation of ever more pronounced stratification of society into the poor and the ultra-rich, world economies standing still, industry that is not progressing, money flows that are alive only in non-productive categories, the strengthening of the media and the manipulation of information globally, the strengthening of conflicts and the cult of nationalism, general apathy… all this reminds me of the period before the start of the World War Two.