The opening ceremony of the 16th International Symposium SymOrg 2018 was held today in Ratko Mitrovic Congress Center. The central theme of the Symposium is “Doing Business in the Digital Age: Challenges, Approaches and Solutions”, with more than 200 participants, professors and students from our country and abroad. More than 200 participants, professors and students from our country and abroad participate in this year’s Symposium.
Ana Langović, the State Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, wished the participants a successful conference.
Professor Milija Suknović, PhD, the Dean of the Faculty of Organizational Sciences (FOS), addressed the audience by saying that that “this is the 16th time that professors and students gather to share their experiences, good practices, knowledge and establish contacts, which implies that the Symposium proved its significance.”
Professor Ivanka Popovic, PhD, the Vice-Rector of the University of Belgrade, said that FOS is one of the 31 faculties of the University of Belgrade, that the conference is a valuable opportunity for creating good labor market professionals, and for learning how to create ideal working environment with the use of digital technology.
“New time is looking for new educational models and new ways of communication. The Internet and social networks are rapidly progressing and it is a fact that some services have become truly addictive. This represents a major challenge both from the psychological and social point of view. These phenomena and changes are looking for new approaches and new solutions “- said Professor Nevenka Žarkić Joksimović, PhD, the President of the SymOrg 2018 Program Committee.
Professor Sanja Marinković, PhD, the Vice-Dean for international cooperation and the President of Symorg 2018 Organizing Committee, believes that the conference is very useful for doing future business and for this reason it puts students in focus.
This is the first time that Symorg is hosting a students’ case study competition SymOrg Case Study Hackathon the support of the Serbian Government, the Swiss Office for Development and Cooperation, National Alliance for Local Development NALED and the Tax Administration. In 30 hours, six teams will try to propose and program the best solution for flat-rate taxation system and the improvement of user interface for connecting tax administration and taxpayers.
The program continued with the following keynote speakers:
Branislav Vujović, the President of the New Frontier Group, Austria, said that we need to know how to create new values, because this is the basic issue of digitization. Business in the digital era is changing rapidly and we need to know how to share information in such a way to keep the client in the spotlight.
TAN, So Jiuan, Nus Business School Singapore, represented Singapore as a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country and reminded of the importance of developing IT skills for both an individual and a company.
Katri Kerem, Estonia Business School, Estonia, spoke about digitization in Estonia, with a special focus on Estonian digitized health-care system and the application of digitization in the field of genetics. Estonia has a strategy for Internet use that encompasses all age groups. She also reminded the audience about the high scores that Estonian pupils earn on PISA tests (1st in Europe).
This year’s Symosium will host four round tables with both participants from both business and research sector.
The International Symposium SymOrg of the Faculty of Organizational Sciences was founded in 1989. Since then, the Faculty of Organizational Sciences traditionally organizes it biannually with the aim of improving the theory and the practice of management and related disciplines. The Symposium brings together members of national and international academic and research community public, representatives of corporate, public and non-governmental sector, and undergraduate, graduate and PhD students who participate in the discussion and analysis of relevant issues in the field of management by presenting their current results, knowledge and experiences.
