Part of the program of Weekend.19, the festival that will once again turn Rovinj into a meeting place for people from media, business, technology, healthcare, finance, investments, energy, education and human resources from September 24 to 27, was presented at the Bubbles bar of the Zonar hotel in Zagreb.
The largest edition of Weekend so far brings eight festival units, four days of conversations and dozens of domestic and international speakers. The program will once again be held under the patronage of Maistra and Mastercard.
This year’s program opens questions that directly affect the media, journalism and society. The panel Ništa mi neće ovi dan pokvarit! will address why Croatians increasingly avoid the news and whether they are truly among the world record holders in doing so. Psychologist Boris Šurija will give the lecture Ekonomija riječi: Zašto su riječi danas postale najvažnija valuta branda, while the panel DNOVINARI: Tko to želi uništiti novinarstvo? will open a discussion on the pressures faced by contemporary journalism.
One of the topics will also be the change in media habits, inspired by Andrej Plenković’s statement: “Today, no one buys newspapers, listens to the radio or watches television.” Among the new names coming to Rovinj are Ulrik Haagerup, a Danish journalist, founder of the Constructive Institute and one of Europe’s most prominent advocates of constructive journalism, Emil Tedeschi, president of the Management Board of Atlantic Grupa and one of the most influential business leaders in the region, and Miran Pavić, founder and CEO of Telegram Media Grupa and one of the key names in digital publishing in Croatia.
One of the biggest novelties of this year’s edition is the premiere Tech.Weekend powered by Telemach, which continues where last year’s AI.Weekend left off, but with a much broader view of the technology ecosystem. The new format brings together experts, entrepreneurs and decision-makers who are shaping the development of technology in the region.
At the program presentation, special attention was drawn by the humanoid robot of the Croatian technology company Abysalto, the official physical AI partner of Tech.Weekend powered by Telemach. The company develops advanced AI and Physical AI solutions, which also announces part of the topics that will take an important place in Rovinj this year.
Mate Rimac, founder and CEO of Rimac Grupa, is also coming to Rovinj. In an exclusive 1-on-1 conversation, he will speak about the development of the Croatian technology scene, global competitiveness, innovations and the future of one of the most successful domestic technology stories.
As Daniel Ackermann points out, artificial intelligence is no longer a topic of the future, but a change that is already strongly affecting business today. That is why Tech.Weekend will open questions of adapting to new technologies, robotics, automation and the possibilities brought by the AI revolution.
This year’s Investment.Weekend also brings a new strategic partnership with InterCapital, one of the leading investment companies in the region. The program will deal with capital, investment, the market, real estate and the growing connection between investments and artificial intelligence.
Among the participants are Marko Bogdan, Head of Sales for Genius by InterCapital and one of the best-known domestic financial educators, and Igor Čanadi, a software engineer and member of the technical team at OpenAI.
According to Matko Maravić, program director of the festival and executive director and partner at InterCapital, this year’s Investment.Weekend will bring investment topics closer to a wider audience, from the basics of investing and capital markets to concrete tools for making better-quality decisions.
The third edition of Finance.Weekend once again brings together finance directors, controllers, strategic planners and business leaders. Among the speakers are Stuart Mauchline, Senior Vice President of Finance at Virgin Music Group, Milena Radosavljević-Đorić, Country Finance Director at Al Dahra, and Lidija Bajić, Director of Finance and Operations at Novo Nordisk.
Igor Kranjčec, VP of Marketing at Farseer and program director of the festival, points out that artificial intelligence will be one of the important topics, but that Finance.Weekend will not remain focused only on technology. The program will deal with leadership in finance, the transformation of finance functions and the challenges financial professionals face in their everyday work.
Among the new formats is the premiere Health.Weekend, which positions health as one of the key topics of the future. The program features Dr. Jack Kreindler, a London-based physician, founder and CEO of WellFounded Health and one of Europe’s leading experts in healthtech, human performance and healthy longevity. Kreindler will deliver a keynote lecture dedicated to longevity.
The program will be further enriched by Goran Špaleta, Master of Kinesiology and director of Učilište Treneri za vas, and Ivana Andačić, CEO of Gyms4You. According to Krešimir Pihler, program director of the festival, Health.Weekend approaches health from a broader perspective, connecting medicine and the healthcare system with technology, artificial intelligence, investments, finance and innovation.
For the first time, Education.Weekend powered by Končar, a festival dedicated to the future of education and the development of competencies needed for a rapidly changing world, will be presented to the public.
The program was presented by Vlatka Kamenić Jagodić, Director of Marketing and Corporate Communications of Grupa KONČAR, who pointed out that education today is no longer only a matter of the education system, but also of economic competitiveness, technological development, innovation and the quality of the labor market.
The premiere edition of this format will open questions of the alignment of the education system with the needs of the labor market, as well as the impact of artificial intelligence on the way we learn, work and develop careers. Among the participants in the program will be Gregor Čavlović, an astrophysicist and science popularizer, winner of the international Webby award, whose work has attracted the attention of the global digital community in recent years.
The fourth edition of HR.Weekend will deal with salary transparency, employee development, organizational culture, the relationship between HR and communications, and the application of behavioral science in understanding human behavior and decision-making.
Coming to the HR stage are Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, one of the world’s leading experts in leadership, talent development and the relationship between people and artificial intelligence, Prof. Dr. Meri Tadinac, Head of the Department of Biological Psychology at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Zagreb, and Mojca Domiter, member of the Management Board and Vice President for People and Culture at Atlantic Grupa.
After last year’s edition, Energy.Weekend poweredUP by E.ON Hrvatska is returning, opening conversations about the energy transition, electrification, sustainability and the increasingly important role of energy in business decision-making.
Additional symbolism to this year’s program is given by the marking of the 170th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, whose ideas remain a starting point for conversations about the future of energy. Energy.Weekend will therefore show how the challenges of the energy transition can be turned into development opportunities for companies and society.
