SFK 2025 Speakers
David Cuartielles
Arduino Co-Founder
David Cuartielles
Arduino Co-FounderDavid, co-founder of Arduino, has been involved in hardware, software, and documentation design. Over the past 25 years, he has dedicated himself to experimenting with various educational models while working as an educator at Malmö University. His projects have had a global impact, reaching millions of students at universities and schools worldwide. Currently, he leads the Interaction Design Masters program, focused on creating interactive artifacts and platforms.
Jo Hinchliffe
Engineer, Tech Writer & Open Source Hardware Builder
Jo Hinchliffe
Engineer, Tech Writer & Open Source Hardware BuilderJo is a Freelance Maker and technical writer with a focus on Opensource technologies. He has written huge amounts of tutorial content across a range of platforms and his books “FreeCAD for Makers” and “Design an RP2040 board with KiCad” upskill readers in two of the most powerful opensource tools for developing opensource hardware. His clients include Raspberry Pi, Tindie, The FreeCAD Project Association, RS Electronics, Toms Hardware and more. Jo has visited SFK back in 2019 speaking about his work with the Libre Space Foundation and their development of satellites and networked ground stations. He is passionate about lots of areas, promoting opensource communities across a variety of sectors. He has numerous opensource hardware designs out in the wild. These include StoRPer, an opensource robotics platform, and HEXA, a hexagonal small rocket which is the first rocket to achieve Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA) certification.
Julian Caro Linares
Robotics and Electronics Industrial Engineer
Julian Caro Linares
Robotics and Electronics Industrial EngineerJulián Caro Linares is a Robotics and Electronics Industrial Engineer born and raised in Madrid and actually working and living in Turin as a Tech Evangelist for Arduino. Maker by heart he loves Open Source Movements, the right to repair, the digital fabrication and nice dinners discussing about what is the best soldering iron to buy. When he is not creating something, he loves to read. play basketball and videogames and make sure the people he loves is happy.
Lukas Klingsbo
Flutter & Dart GDE Blue Fire open source collective
Lukas Klingsbo
Flutter & Dart GDE Blue Fire open source collectiveLukas is a Flutter & Dart GDE and a member of the Blue Fire open source collective, which are most known for the Flutter packages Flame and Audioplayers. On his free time Lukas enjoys building keyboards, climbing and of course; developing Flame.
Philippe Saadé
AI/ML Project Manager at Wikimedia Deutschland
Philippe Saadé
AI/ML Project Manager at Wikimedia DeutschlandPhilippe Saadé is the AI/ML Project Manager at Wikimedia Deutschland, where he's developing a Vector Database on Wikidata's data to enable semantic search and support the open-source AI community in building projects with Wikidata's open data. He studied computer science at the Lebanese American University in Lebanon and completed a Master’s in Informatics at the Technical University of Munich in Germany, specializing in Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing.
Mennan Selimi
Professor at SEEU Senior Researcher at MVDSI
Mennan Selimi
Professor at SEEU Senior Researcher at MVDSIMennan Selimi is a Full Professor at South East European University (SEEU) and Senior Researcher at the Max van der Stoel Institute, where he leads the Distributed Systems and Data Science Research Group. His research focuses on decentralized cloud infrastructures and the integration of machine learning and AI into intelligent systems, with applications in areas such as environmental monitoring and healthcare. He earned his PhD with Distinction and Honours at UPC BarcelonaTech and the University of Lisbon (IST), and has held research positions at the University of Cambridge (postdoctoral studies), the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems, and Saarland University. His work spans federated machine learning, scalable ML algorithms, and solutions for resource-constrained platforms, with a strong emphasis on translating academic innovations into real-world impact. Web: https://mvdsi.seeu.edu.mk/mselimi/
Edison Jakurti
Lecturer in Economics at Abilene Christian University
Edison Jakurti
Lecturer in Economics at Abilene Christian UniversityEdison Jakurti is a Lecturer in Economics at Abilene Christian University. He completed his PhD in Economics at Leipzig University, his Master of International Development Policy at Duke University, and his Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in Economics and Statistics, at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
Silva Bashllari
Data Scientist & Researcher
Silva Bashllari
Data Scientist & ResearcherSilva Bashllari is a data scientist, junior researcher, and proactive tech community organizer with a strong focus on bridging technical expertise and socio-economic impact, operating in Albania and Italy. She has curated and led numerous events and conferences in Albania, such as but not limited to: Women in STEM edit-a-thons, introductory datathons on data science, the AI panel at the Tirana International Film Festival 2024, and the youth conference LeapIN 2025 focused on AI and Global Political Shifts.With a strong passion for research and interdisciplinarity, she was a panelist at the Anna Lindh Foundation Forum in June 2025 on the panel Tech for Good, co-authored the first study on the youth tech community in Tirana (May 2025) with C4Communities, was selected to present at the interdisciplinary Forum Ferdinando Rossi in 2022 on Augmenting Humans, received a CleanScore Student Research Award from AADF in 2021, etc.
Hakan Shehu
Founder at Colanode | Senior Software Engineer
Hakan Shehu
Founder at Colanode | Senior Software EngineerHakan is the founder of Colanode, an open-source & local-first collaboration workspace. Previously he was VP of Engineering at Gjirafa, Inc, where he led multiple teams working on large-scale apps for content management, data analytics and advertising.
Flakërim Ismani
Founder of {basecode}, creator of base.al
Flakërim Ismani
Founder of {basecode}, creator of base.alFlakerim Ismani is a software engineer and systems architect passionate about open source, scalable infrastructure, and developer tools. He focuses on building sustainable, transparent, and inclusive technologies that solve real-world problems and strengthen community collaboration.
Fitim Adili
Sofware Engineer | Book Author | Community Builder
Fitim Adili
Sofware Engineer | Book Author | Community BuilderFitim Adili is a software engineer, business consultant, and author of the book “Një Bukë për Biznis (Bread for Business)”. He comes from Tërnoci i Madh and currently lives and works in Hamburg. He has over 9 years of experience in ICT, both as a software developer and as a business consultant, mainly working with startups. He is the co-founder: - Shqip++ community in Hamburg - Online community #fitimadiliandfriends - where IT professionals and students support each other in employment and career development - Digital writers’ club “Përtej Shkrimeve (Beyond Writings)”
Albert Kunushevci
Founder of Arcenox Creator of TickerQ
Albert Kunushevci
Founder of Arcenox Creator of TickerQAlbert Kunushevci is Senior .NET Engineer, founder of Arcenox and creator of TickerQ, one of the fastest growing open-source scheduling libraries in .NET ecosystem.
Jasper Duizendstra
A Google Developer Expert, Cloud Architect, and Data Engineer
Jasper Duizendstra
A Google Developer Expert, Cloud Architect, and Data EngineerA Google Developer Expert, Cloud Architect, and Data Engineer, Jasper Duizendstra builds practical, data-driven solutions to eliminate friction in daily workflows. He uses AI-assisted development and extends Google Workspace with modern backends to turn everyday productivity tools into powerful, intelligent business systems.
Doren Çalliku
Disaster Risk Management Specialist
Doren Çalliku
Disaster Risk Management SpecialistDoren works in Germany on open-source projects focusing on Disaster Risk Management. He studied Computer Engineering and then did a masters in Neuroscience, with a thesis on explainable machine learning for Dementia diagnosis. He cares about open data and open-source, and their role in good decision-making in sensitive contexts.
Rrezearta Thaqi
Senior DevOps Engineer, Teaching Assistant at FIEK UP
Rrezearta Thaqi
Senior DevOps Engineer, Teaching Assistant at FIEK UPRrezearta Thaqi has a Bachelor and Master degree in Computer Engineering from the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Prishtina. Currently she is doing her PhD studies in the same faculty in the cybersecurity field. She began her professional journey as a Backend Developer to continue as a DevOps Engineer. Additionally, she joined the University of Prishtina as a Teaching Assistant at the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering in October 2023. Her technical expertise spans a range of technologies, including AWS, Docker, Kubernetes and so on. Rrezearta's dedication to her field is further highlighted by her numerous certifications and trainings in cybersecurity and DevOps field. Recognized for her academic excellence, she has received multiple scholarships and awards, including the prestigious “Diploma of the Year” award at the Albanian ICT Awards and also The cyber security women GAME CHANGER award from Albanian Cyber Association in the CYBER ZERO conference. Rrezearta has authored significant papers in scientific journals, including topics on machine learning for cybersecurity and cloud-based cyber attack detection.
Eroll Gorçi
Java Tech Lead at Valtech
Eroll Gorçi
Java Tech Lead at ValtechEroll Gorçi is a Java Tech Lead at Valtech and founder of several startups, including Flowsmark, an AI-powered content generation tool. He combines deep backend expertise with a passion for applied AI.
Edis Hasaj
AI Developer, Software Engineer
Edis Hasaj
AI Developer, Software EngineerEdis is an AI Developer and Software Engineer with a background in R&D and software development. He holds a Master's degree in Computer Science with a specialisation in Artificial Intelligence from Eötvös Loránd University. His experience spans developing retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) systems and training handwritten text recognition models for Hungarian, building data pipelines, and creating open-source models and libraries.
Gjergj Çuni
Computer Science Student
Gjergj Çuni
Computer Science StudentI am Gjergji, a Computer Science student at FSHMN, with a focus on backend development and creating practical solutions for real life world problems. I am also the Co-Founder of the creative team behind the web application RuajMençur, where I contribute to building innovative and scalable solutions. My passion lies in combining technical knowledge with creativity to deliver real value to users.
Lerdi Salihi
Computer Science Student
Lerdi Salihi
Computer Science StudentLerdi Salihi, student at the University of Prishtina and former exchange student in the Netherlands. Currently an Apprentice DevOps Engineer, combining studies with practical experience in technology.
Lerdi Salihi
Computer Science Student
Lerdi Salihi
Computer Science StudentLerdi Salihi, student at the University of Prishtina and former exchange student in the Netherlands. Currently an Apprentice DevOps Engineer, combining studies with practical experience in technology.
Lerdi Salihi
Computer Science Student
Lerdi Salihi
Computer Science StudentLerdi Salihi, student at the University of Prishtina and former exchange student in the Netherlands. Currently an Apprentice DevOps Engineer, combining studies with practical experience in technology.
SFK 2025 Panelists
Kristian Kabashi
Entrepreneur, Co-Founder and CEO of Cybee.ai
Kristian Kabashi
Entrepreneur, Co-Founder and CEO of Cybee.aiKristian Kabashi is the Co-Founder and CEO of Cybee.ai, a Kosovar-Swiss cybersecurity startup that empowers SMEs with AI-driven security and compliance solutions. Previously, he served as COO of Radicant Holding AG and Co-Founder & CXO of Numarics AG. With over 15 years of international leadership experience in technology, fintech, and digital transformation – including roles at Dentsu International and Havas Group – he is recognized as a thought leader in bridging the gap between people and technology. He is a member of the Forbes Business Council, recipient of the “Most Successful Albanian Entrepreneur in Switzerland” award, and actively contributes to the development of the fintech and tech ecosystem as a board member of OEGJK and STIKK.
Avni Rexhepi
Professor at the University of Prishtina, Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Avni Rexhepi
Professor at the University of Prishtina, Faculty of Electrical and Computer EngineeringAvni Rexhepi is a Professor at the University of Prishtina, Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Head of “Computer and Software Engineering” department. His field of interest encompasses Programming, Data Structures and Algorithms, and Artificial Intelligence
Ermir Rogova
Associate Professor at RIT Kosovo
Ermir Rogova
Associate Professor at RIT KosovoDr. Ermir Rogova is an accomplished academic with over two decades of experience in higher education in the field of Computer Science. His educational background includes BSc, MSc and Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Westminster in London as well as a Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE) from the University of Cambridge. Prior to returning to Kosovo, Dr. Rogova spent seven years as a lecturer at the University of Westminster, while in Kosovo he has held teaching positions at University of Prishtina, University of Prizren, ABB college, and Iliria College. Dr. Rogova's research interests lie in the field of Knowledge Discovery utilizing Databases, Data Warehouses, Online Analytical Processing, Online Transactional Processing, and Data mining. He has published numerous scientific papers in international journals and conferences and has co-authored books with notable researchers in his field. Beyond academia, Dr. Rogova has held various leadership positions, including roles as dean and vice-rector at University of Prizren, AAB College, and Iliria College. He currently serves as an Associate Professor at RIT Kosovo – a branch of Rochester Institute of Technology, NY – and is the deputy-head of the Science Council at the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation.
Eliot Bytyçi
Professor Assistant within the Department of Mathematics at the Faculty of Mathematical and Natural Sciences
Eliot Bytyçi
Professor Assistant within the Department of Mathematics at the Faculty of Mathematical and Natural SciencesDr. Eliot Bytyçi, a Computer Science scholar, holds a PhD from the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Prishtina in Kosovo. Simultaneously, he serves as a Professor Assistant within the Department of Mathematics at the Faculty of Mathematical and Natural Sciences, also at the University of Prishtina. Dr. Bytyçi’s primary research focus lies in the field of Data Mining. In this capacity, he leverages various algorithms in conjunction with the Semantic Web to extract novel insights. Through ontology engineering and contextual analysis, he uncovers intriguing patterns and formulates rules that contribute valuable knowledge to domain experts. Beyond academia, Dr. Bytyçi actively participates in Kosovo’s research community, engaging in both national and international projects related to Computer Science, such as COST, Erasmus+ and Horizon Europe.
Gjergj Çuni
Computer Science Student
Gjergj Çuni
Computer Science StudentI am Gjergji, a Computer Science student at FSHMN, with a focus on backend development and creating practical solutions for real life world problems. I am also the Co-Founder of the creative team behind the web application RuajMençur, where I contribute to building innovative and scalable solutions. My passion lies in combining technical knowledge with creativity to deliver real value to users.
Lerdi Salihi
Computer Science Student
Lerdi Salihi
Computer Science StudentLerdi Salihi, student at the University of Prishtina and former exchange student in the Netherlands. Currently an Apprentice DevOps Engineer, combining studies with practical experience in technology.
Çelik Nimani
Entrepreneur, Tech Leader
Çelik Nimani
Entrepreneur, Tech LeaderÇelik is an entrepreneur and technical leader with more than 18 years of experience building companies and leading growth across Europe and the US. He has founded, scaled, and successfully exited multiple ventures, always with a focus on solving complex problems and staying ahead of the competition. His expertise lies in architecting lean growth engines, professionalizing organizations for scale, and cultivating high-performance, culture-driven teams.