BCI 2025 Keynote Speakers
Prof. dr Dragan S. Janković – short CV
Keynote: Role of Medical Information Systems, Medical Informatics, and Artificial Intelligence in the Improvement of Healthcare – Practical Aspects
One of the most significant and financially demanding systems in any country is its healthcare system. According to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2023, healthcare expenditure in the United States reached 17.6% of GDP, amounting to approximately $4,866.5 billion. In comparison, healthcare expenditure in Serbia in 2021 was 10.01%, in Germany 12.93%, in France 12.31%, and in the United Kingdom 12.36%. These figures clearly illustrate that even relatively small percentage reductions in healthcare spending can translate into substantial financial savings—provided that the quality of care is maintained or, ideally, improved.
A key driver of efficiency and innovation in modern healthcare is the integration of information and communication technologies (ICT) into clinical practice. Particularly important roles are played by medical information systems (MIS), medical informatics, and more recently, artificial intelligence (AI), which is increasingly shaping the future of digital health.
This presentation will focus on practical aspects of the development and implementation of medical information systems, medical informatics, and AI in healthcare, with a case study based on the healthcare system of the Republic of Serbia. The central example is the MEDIS.NET system—developed by the Laboratory for Medical Informatics at the Faculty of Electronic Engineering, University of Niš. Certified by the Ministry of Health, MEDIS.NET has been in continuous use for over 15 years in more than 25 healthcare institutions across Serbia. The system is used daily by hundreds of healthcare professionals and supports the treatment of over 700,000 patients.
Over the years, the system has generated a vast repository of real-world healthcare data, which has been used for numerous scientific studies, technical innovations, master’s theses, and doctoral dissertations. The COVID-19 pandemic posed a particularly challenging period for the healthcare sector, and MEDIS.NET had to be rapidly adapted to meet the evolving needs of that time. One of the key outcomes of the pandemic was the accelerated integration and interoperability of healthcare information systems, both within healthcare institutions and across other national IT infrastructures.
Looking forward, significant opportunities for further advancement lie in deeper integration of AI-driven technologies, such as predictive analytics, clinical decision support systems, and intelligent triage. Additionally, the alignment of healthcare information systems with the broader ecosystem of smart city infrastructure opens up new dimensions for proactive, connected, and personalized healthcare services.
Prof. dr Mira Mezini, Technical University of Darmstadt – short CV
Keynote: AI-assisted Programming: From Intelligent Code Completion to Foundation Models. A Twenty-Year Journey
From pioneering work on intelligent code completion to large language models, AI has have significant impact on software engineering over the past two decades. This keynote presentation traces the evolution of AI-assisted programming, highlighting advancements and outlining future directions. The talk is structured in three parts. First, we’ll journey back to 2000-2010, exploring pioneering applications of machine learning methods to coding tasks, in particular, the groundbreaking work from my lab on intelligent code completion, which was honored with the ACM SIGSOFT Impact Paper Award in 2024, showcasing the software engineering community’s early contributions. The second part examines the current landscape dominated by modern large language models (LLMs) in coding. While primarily driven by the ML community, these tools are being rapidly adapted by the software engineers for various tasks. This part of the talk will highlight the pressing need for designing more reliable and specialized foundation models for software engineering tasks. Subsequently, I’ll present some ongoing work from our lab focused on developing robust foundation models for coding with the specific needs of software engineering in mind. This retrospective not only celebrates past achievements but also critically examines the present landscape, emphasizing the vital role of software engineering expertise in shaping the future of AI-assisted programming.
dr Orges Cico – short CV
Keynote: Formalizing AI with Creativity and Agility in Education
As artificial intelligence becomes deeply integrated into software development, I believe it’s time to rethink how we educate the next generation. The challenge is not simply teaching students how to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, it is about guiding them to use these tools creatively, ethically, and in a way that enhances their cognitive and collaborative abilities.
In my presentation, I draw from my recent research, including the IEEE-published AI-Assisted Software Engineering: A Tertiary Study, which maps how AI has transformed the software development lifecycle — from code generation and testing to design exploration and feedback loops. In earlier research I have revealed the persistent gap between academic curricula and the rapid evolution of industry practices like agile, and intelligent automation.
I will share how agile principles — iteration, feedback, continuous improvement — provide the best scaffolding for integrating AI tools into education. When paired with creativity and ethical inquiry, AI can enhance not just what students build, but how they think and grow.
In a world moving quickly toward human-AI co-creation, we need more than technically competent graduates. We need cognitively agile thinkers — learners who can engage with AI critically, co-design with intelligence, and innovate with both empathy and rigor. This presentation provides a roadmap for educators to understand how AI can augment human intelligence and address increasingly complex challenges in a more agile fashion.
I propose a framework for formalizing AI in education, not as automation that replaces human effort but as a creative partner within agile learning environments. AI needs to be a collaborator, that challenges students to think differently, test alternatives, refine ideas, and reflect more deeply on their process and outcomes.
Prof. dr Panagiotis Sarigiannidis, director of ITHACA lab – short CV
Keynote: Cybersecurity Innovations for Next-Generation IoT
The Internet of Things (IoT) facilitates the interconnection of various devices and systems by leveraging wireless communication technologies. It enables seamless collection, transmission, and analysis of data across various platforms and environments to support decision-making processes, enhance automation and increase operational efficiency. The evolution into Next-Generation IoT (NG-IoT), driven by emerging technologies like Beyond 5G (B5G) and 6G networks, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and edge computing has significantly expanded its capabilities across these sectors. However, the distributed and autonomous nature of NG-IoT devices makes them prime targets for a wide range of cyber threats. These threats are also becoming more sophisticated as adversaries leverage AI to automate, personalize and adapt cyberattacks, making them more targeted, evasive and difficult to mitigate. The compromise of critical NG-IoT applications by cyber threats can have severe consequences. In critical infrastructure domains, such as energy and transportation, cyberattacks can lead to widespread service disruptions, financial paralysis, and even physical damage, impacting public safety and national security. For instance, cyberattacks on energy systems can cause blackouts, while those aiming at transportation systems can compromise public health and safety. This keynote talk aims to present innovative technologies and frameworks that address these emerging NG-IoT-oriented cybersecurity challenges, leveraging the insights and lessons learned from EU-funded research projects in the fields of cybersecurity and telecommunications.