DataFest Tbilisi to mark region’s first data, communications event

Data engineers, marketers, reporters and communication experts will converge at the maiden DataFest Tbilisi festival starting in Georgia’s capital on Wednesday.

Three days of talks, workshops and hackathons will mark what the organisers promote as the "first event of the kind” in the Caucasus, Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

With nearly 40 speakers and 400 participants from 20 countries, the festival will aim to discuss ways of connecting communities and benefiting from technological opportunities.

Speakers from 17 different countries will gather in #Tbilisi to share experience @ #DataFestTbilisi! more info @ https://t.co/KyWiICI4Wgpic.twitter.com/zVVpBfBYrM

— DataFest Tbilisi (@DataFestTbilisi) October 11, 2017

The event will cover subjects including data science and innovation, open data and good governance and data-driven journalism.

Startup initiatives specialising in data, artificial intelligence and data security are also on the agenda in the program presented by the hosts.

Speakers invited for the festival include data scientists, security experts, software engineers and other professionals from Europe, the Middle East and Georgia.

They will represent companies, outlets and organisations including Facebook, CNN and Transparency International.

Held at the Kakha Bendukidze University Campus of Free University of Tbilisi, the launch day of the event will host brief talks before more detailed events take place on the second day.

Run by a team of young Georgian professionals, the 2017 edition of the festival will be held from October 15-17.