- In Campus news , Clubs
- 17/11/2025 15:17
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On Wednesday, November 12, The HUB AUBG club hosted their annual conference - HubConf - in the Carl Djerassi Theatre. Speakers from the world of innovation and tech came to share insights from their respective fields.
The conference was divided into three stages, including on-stage demos, a live podcast, and a panel discussing the future of AI and addressing questions from the audience.
According to The HUB’s President, Liana Georgieva, the goal for the conference was to “learn, innovate, and inspire,” which is also the motto of the club.
Stage One - Live Demos
During this stage, there were two speakers that presented.
The first speaker, Zlatina Zlateva, is a Managing Director at Sirvis Bulgaria. She described her journey of 18 years in finance. How she climbed the corporate ladder and faced all possible challenges. Following her dreams and doing what made her happy led her to leave finance and move to sales. Zlateva then accomplished her next dream at SIRVIS.
Daniel Shopov, the Business Development Director of Barin Sports, similarly shared his story, which began at AUBG. His belief in the power of sports to unite people led him to success. His use of AI now takes athletes into the future with the ability to track real-time analysis that prevents injuries, pinpoints areas of improvement in training, and much more.
Together, both speakers share the belief that curiosity and the desire to help people is what made them successful.
Stage Two - Live Podcast
The next section of the conference featured the first live podcast held at AUBG, hosted by Tsvetan Karakanov. He is the founder of the Next Generation Podcast and the creator of AI tools that help podcasters market their episodes. His tools write descriptions, create short clips, and have improved the company's efficiency greatly.
Karakanov first interviewed Tihomir Petkov, co-founder and CTO of TaxiME. Petkov focused on the tech side of startups.
Petkov also began his journey at AUBG as a computer science major. When creating his startup, he said the process required much dedication, “tunnel vision,” and resilience, as the company experienced multiple near-death experiences. Though his advice was to remain humble throughout the process.
“Do not think you know how things are. It requires understanding deeply the area you are working in and discovering new and better ways of doing things. Stay young, stay foolish,” he says.
The second guest was Nevin Hasanova, the Chief Product Officer of Paypercut. Her job bridges the gap between consumers and the company. She explained that learning how to help serve people often involves a lot of trial and error, but innovation is essential for growth.
Hasanova says, “You will be wrong, you will make mistakes, but every mistake gets you closer to a better future.”
She emphasized the importance of working with a team that shares your values and helps make young visionaries limitless.
The Break:
During a brief intermission, freshman student Konstantina Georgiadou, said she really enjoyed the event so far. She said she came to the event to hear more about the future of AI as it is a growing industry. “I found the guy talking about sports really interesting, and observed how much technology and AI in the future will make a big difference.” She also said hearing from experienced people about entrepreneurship was interesting.
First year student and marketing member of The Hub, Bobby Ivanov, said he was very proud to be a part of the club and that the event's success was an amazing feeling.
Stage Three - AI Panel Discussion
The last stage was the panel discussing the future of AI featuring speakers Krasimir Stoev, Teodor Mironov, Dimitar Dimitrov, and Kuzo Donchev.
The speakers discussed a variety of topics, but most agreed that AI is a tool for increasing efficiency within their fields. While AI has the potential to take away the need for some jobs, they agreed that, like the internet, it will also create a universe for new jobs.
Though the speakers disagreed on certain privacy and security policies, they agreed the better approach is to learn how to use these tools. They said that in the next five years, as society and AI advance, people will need to become managers of increasingly intelligent tools, and cannot fear the innovative change.
The event concluded with a generous giveaway of various prizes. The Hub was most proud to giveaway, “a lunch with the boss,” where all nine speakers offered a one-on-one lunch to discuss ideas and answer questions to lucky aspiring students.
The HUB
The Vice President of The HUB, Maria Kirilova, expressed that, to her, the event's importance is to motivate the improvement of the AI world. The hope was these C-level executives would inspire innovators at AUBG.
Kirilova said that although the event required lots of preparation and the logistical planning was the most challenging, the experience was incredibly rewarding.
Kirilova explained the process of choosing the speakers depended on their PR team. “I was searching for people that have the same motivation as us - to inspire and develop new products. To create something motivational and beneficial for the people, not just develop profitable businesses,” she said.
Kirilova said this event greatly differed from ones the Hub has previously hosted. Especially with the implementation of the live podcast and demo. The networking capabilities the event were also notable; The Hub made it clear that inspiring students and helping them start pursuing their dreams is a reality. The speakers offered valuable insight, and a platform to discuss internships and post-graduate job opportunities.
Kirilova says, “Chase your dreams and do not let anyone interfere with them.”
Finally, the Hub President Liana Georgiva, said that this event was incredibly important to her,
“It means everything because it is like a dream that we have had with some of the current members and also with some that are not part of the university anymore, alumni now,” she said.
President Georgieva said they had envisioned the lights, the podium, and the ability to put together something of this scale. Finally seeing the finished product fulfilled the promise of the club's core values and motto.
Editors: Kaloyan Ivanov and Vasil Paskov.