Presentation of the project financed from EU in Tirana

On Friday, on 16.05.2016, “Harnessing innovation & entrepreneurship in cross-border region of Kosovo (KS) and Montenegro (MNE)” project was presented.

Staff of STIKK, Mr. Bardh Kadiu and Mr. Lorik Mullaademi were part of the Innovation Week conference in Tirana, where they had the opportunity to talk about the Ecosystem of the Regional Information and Communication Technology, and Innovation Ecosystem.

Furthermore, the project financed by EU, “Harnessing innovation & entrepreneurship in cross-border region of Kosovo (KS) and Montenegro (MNE)” was presented. Project’s objectives, beneficiaries of the long term, and relevant activities were explained. As such, it is expected for the project to reach promising results in developing Kosovo’s society in technology, and economic condition in general.

CBC Tirana Presentation: https://stikk.org/fileadmin/user_upload/CBC_Tirana_conference_16052016.pdf

KosICT eSports Championship – Professional eSports initiative

Electronic sports, generally known as eSports are a new form of sport in computer games, which in recent years got recognition across the world. The young gamers are developing for-profit career, where investments in this sport have exceeded millions.

Most often, eSports take the form of a competition organized as video game, especially among professional players. The most common genre of video games associated with eSports are: 1. “Real Time Strategy” and “First Person Shooter”.

eSports is one of the most popular sport around the world and international tournaments have gained special respect and support of many institutions, companies and organizations. Various international competitions now livestream from famous media broadcasts as ESPN, Daily Dot, Yahoo etc.

This electronic sports scene has very little support in Kosovo and so far has been in the hands of self-initiatives of these sports enthusiasts. While eSports still has a long way to go before it becomes famous as basketball or football, SuperData Research, a company based in New York who follows the sector, said that the global market of eSports will grow from $748m for $1.9bn at the end of 2018. In 2015 about 188 million people have watched the games being played online and on TV, from 71.5 million in 2013.

Kosovo Association of Information and Communication Technology (STIKK, www.stikk.org) has found it reasonable to intervene and be the first professional organization to offer its support by working toward this direction.

STIKK within the International Conference KosICT will organize tournament in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), an event which will be followed with great attention during the conference where they will eventually declared the winner of the first place with 1,000 €. The official date of the event is the beginning of October, while the main event will take place on 27 October 2016. KosICT eSports Championship event already is on facebook (facebook.com/kosictchamp), where you can follow the open calls for teams applying and other information regarding the championship.

Launch of CBC Innovation Hub in Berane

On Friday, 06.05.2016, CBC Innovation Hub in Berane was launched.

Part of the launch event of CBC Innovation Hub in Berane were STIKK’s staff as well, Mr. Bardh Kadiu and Mr.Lorik Mullaademi, together with the partner from Eye of Vision, Mr. Dukagjin Nishiqi, and the recent employed administrator Mrs. Majlinda Kelmendi.

During the launch event of CBC Innovation Hub in Berane, ongoing activities were mentioned, together with the future planned activities that will occur in Montenegro. In addition, partners had the opportunity to talk to each-other, to listen to questions of one-another, and begin future potential collaborations.

On the other hand, STIKK and SiV are preparing for the CBC Innovation Hub in Istog, which is expected to be opened on June.

CBC Innovation Hub in Istog is expected to serve the youth and tourism businesses of the Dukagjin area, in order to be informed with latest upgrades of technology and apply it in their businesses as an additional value.

CBC Innovation Hub in Istog and Berane are realized from “Harnessing innovation & entrepreneurship in cross-border region of KS and MNE” project, financed from EU.

Breakfast with members and the Minister of Economic Development, Mr. Blerand Stavileci

On May 4th 2016, STIKK organized the first edition of Breakfast with Members, where the invited guest was the Minister of Economic Development, Mr. Blerand Stavileci and present were executive directors and managers of ICT companies.

This event was sponsored by the ICT services company LinkPlus IT (www.linkplus-it.com).
This non-formal meeting raised various topics in conversation with the Minister, where the topics on focus were the ones on the Innovation Fund, the National Strategy of ICT and sustainable development policies.

Minister Stavileci emphasized two main ideas which STIKK and member companies can contribute to the promotion of the sector; 1. firstly stated was the need for more frequent meetings on a weekly basis which can include media and local portals; 2. technological programs to be more focused on developments in the country.

Our members raised the issue of pale aid of the Government in support of ICT companies in representation in regional and international events such as Cebit, Appsworld, Webit etc., which have the potential to bring investment into the country’s economy; Proper cooperation between the Ministry of Economic Development, Diaspora, Foreign Affairs and others; A better link between local companies, diaspora and people involved in the ICT industry in developed countries.

Also they discussed topics of formal education as well as incentives from the Government for monthly scholarships to train young candidates in the company.

Breakfast with members will continue with the next editions with guests from different backgrounds.

We welcome you!

This breakfast was sponsored by LinkPlus members (www.linkplus-it.com).

Printing Materials for the EU funded project

Request for offers: Printing materials for the CBC Innovation Hub of the European Union funded project “Harnessing innovation & entrepreneurship in cross-border region of Kosovo (KS) and Montenegro (MNE)”.

Kosovo Association for Information and Communication Technology (STIKK) is seeking to hire a company for printing materials for the EU funded project “Harnessing innovation & entrepreneurship in cross-border region of KS and MNE project”.

Therefore, attached please find the detailed Terms of References for the scope of work.

The application is send via e-mail to [email protected] no later than 10/05/2016.

If you have questions or comments, please contact us via e-mail.
This project is financed by the European Union, managed by the European Union Office in Kosovo.

CBC 25 – ToR of Printing Materials: https://stikk.org/fileadmin/user_upload/CBC_25_-_ToR_of_Printing_Materials.pdf