The biggest competition in technology in Albanian-speaking areas, Albanian ICT Awards, closed on Friday, June 11, 2021, the 9th edition with the announcement of the winners. A decade of technology translated into contribution over the years by contestants, finalists and winners of the ICT Awards.
Touching almost every aspect of the lives of Albanians everywhere in Albanian-speaking areas, from the Covid-19 fight to online insecurity, this race has never known a loser but only a winner.
In this ceremony honored with their participation the Mayor of Tirana Mr. Erion Veliaj, Minister of State for Entrepreneurship Protection Mr.. Eduard Shalsi, Deputy Minister of Education, Youth and Sports Mrs. Bora Muzhaqi, Ambassador of the Republic of Kosovo in Albania, Mr. Nait Hasani, experts, professionals, enthusiasts, leaders and rising stars of the technology and information community.
“I remember ICTSmedia taking the first steps by bringing together two generations of beautiful minds and heroes of modern times as rising stars, entrepreneurs, executives, professionals and IT leaders. ” said the co-founder of ICT Awards Mr. Kushtrim Shala. “It remains the most exciting project we have achieved as ICTSmedia. ”
“9 years of patience to raise a baby that today has become an icon of this city. When I took office I made a promise to myself, Tirana a digital capital and we are very close to this goal. I believe that next year, when the ICT Awards celebrate the 10th edition, we will succeed, ”The Mayor of Tirana, Mr. Erion Veliaj. He stressed that with the ICT Awards we all enjoy the fruits of a common challenge.
The chairwoman of the jury, Mrs. Edlira Martiri said that “what distinguishes ICT Awards from other events is that the feeds are from different sectors. Everything that comes out of our hands must serve society and humanity.”
His participation in the Gala evening The Ambassador of the Republic of Kosovo in Albania, Mr. Nait Hasani expressed in words: “The ICT Awards is our nation’s greatest advancement through technology. Those who enter this scene today are the best example of our youth. ”
The competition of this edition took place around 6 categories: Innovation of the Year, Startup of the Year, Diploma of the Year, Rising Star, Cyber Security AND Covid-19 Response.
The coronation ceremony started with the category Innovation of the Year where Donart Zeqiri competed with the HrBee project, Genti Xibri with the Cari Heart project and Ylli Qarkaxhiu with the IBAS project. The winner was announced IBAS and through this application citizens have the opportunity to perform all services in one place and with great flexibility.
In the category Startup of the Year competed Dean Çelaj with the project Akademi.al, Kadri Manaj with the project Fomobot.ai and Visorjan Koja with the project Scan & Go. The Akademi.al platform was announced the winner, an interactive online learning platform for students, teachers, schools and universities recognized by the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth to provide online learning during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Diploma of the Year confronted Doriela Grabocka with the project Evaluating Algorithms for Classifying the Severity of Breast Cancer Diagnosis, Edona Haziraj with the project Rectify and Leand Thaçi with the NoPhish project. An add-on for Chrome browser equipped with artificial intelligence and that can identify phishing websites, NoPhish was the winning project.
Daniel Doçi and his VDRS2 project was declared the winner in the category Rising Star. He competed with Daniel Dani on the Clean City project; My Friend and ChatBot and Venis Morina with the Atomos project. VRDS 2 is a project that stimulates the driving of different vehicles in the sense of sight, hearing and touch created in order for patent trainees to be trained virtually without having the risk and fear of physical collision.
PRICE Cyber Security went for Albion Bikliqi. The company he runs has developed a platform for preventing cyber attacks called the Tego Guardian. He competed against Kleiton Kurti with the Zerobyte project.
Jusuf Rrustja with his project SPAC snatched the award Covid-19 Response. He has developed a disinfectant robot which is built to disinfect large premises autonomously. Jusufi competed with Elbion Redenica with the project Kqyr e Dil and Ester Subashi with the project Covid-19 Tracer.
The Gala evening had reserved some gratitude for the outstanding contribution given by Albanians, young men and women, professionals, academics and technology enthusiasts such as: Amar Iseni, ArtUnity Group from Macedonia, Prof. Dr. Shkëlzen Cakaj.
Acknowledgments went to the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Bonevet Center handed over to you Prof. Dr. Blerim Rexha, and Lekë Zherka respectively. Gratitude for Hedije Gjoni for the serious commitment in the capacity of the Director of the Electrical and Technical School Gjergj Canco and for the tendency of the advanced in technology of the students of this school.
The ICT Awards officially announced the race on March 26, and for the first time a completely virtual event was organized, a completely different opening from previous years due to the situation created by the Covid-19 pandemic. Applications in this competition remain open until April 30 where 78 projects arrived.
ICT Awards has the support of general and Diamond sponsors such as Raiffeisen Bank, Dritan Hoxha Foundation, Albvision Platinum sponsors such as Dev.al and Albsoft. Huawei, Baboon, AUK, Metropolitan University as sponsors Gold and 3i Solution, Soft & Solution, Ritech and Facilization as sponsors Silver.
Municipality of Tirana, Municipality of Prishtina, SEEU TechPark and KujuStudio are partners of this initiative. Since its inception, the ICT Awards have evaluated over 1,000 projects in various fields and categories and 100 of them have been awarded.
wINNERS
- ICT Innovation of the Year: Ylli Qarkaxhija with the IBAS project
- ICT Startup of the Year: Dean Çelaj with the project Akademi.al
- ICT Diploma of the Year: Leand Thaçi with the NoPhish project
- ICT Rising Star: Daniel Doçi with the VRDS2 project
- Cyber Security: Albion Bikliqi with the Tego Guardian project
- Covid-19 Response: Jusuf Rrustaj with the SPAC project
gratitude
Acknowledgment for the outstanding contribution given by Albanians, young people, professionals, academics and technology enthusiasts such as:
- Amar Iseni
- ArtUnity Group from Macedonia
- Dr. Shkëlzen Cakaj
- Hedije Gjoni / Electrical Technical School “Gjergj Canco”
- Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Prishtina
- Bonevet Center
About ICTSmedia
ICTSmedia is the leading publishing house in the region in the field of technology and information. Founder of the nationwide competition in technology Albanian ICT Awards, the regional accelerator of startups Uplift Albania and supporter of similar activities in this sector in Albania. The ICTSlab multi-functional laboratory with some of the most advanced international curricula comes as a result of the ICTSmedia experience. The publishing house is the publisher of some of the most followed online media in technology such as PCWorld Albanian.