“Visit Village” Wins First Prize in Health Tourism Hackathon

The team “Visit Village” has won the main prize at the hackathon dedicated to rural and health tourism, held in collaboration with the Innovation Entrepreneurship Center Technopolis, the Innovation Fund of Montenegro, the Science and Technology Park, and ICT Cortex, organized by the Ministry of Health under the theme “Discovering the Potential of Health Tourism in Montenegro.” The University of Singidunum team secured second place, while third place was shared between the WellBeing and ZdravCom teams. Speaking about the significance of organizing this event for the Ministry of Health, which, for the first time in Montenegro, was held in this format with a focus on health tourism, Luka Đukanović, the General Director of the Directorate for Projects (IPA), Innovation, and Health Tourism at the Ministry of Health, emphasized that the hackathon provided an opportunity to hear and develop innovative ideas to improve the promotion of Montenegro as an attractive destination for the development of health tourism. “Montenegro truly abounds in natural potentials for the development of health tourism, which have not been fully utilized thus far. One of the key reasons for this is the insufficient collaboration between public administration, the economy, and the scientific research community. As we aim to develop high-level health tourism, we must strengthen this collaboration. The Ministry of Health will continue to work on developing ideas in the field of health tourism and creating a better business environment to motivate the economy to invest more in this area. Of course, the role of the scientific research community is essential for providing scientific confirmation of these potentials and creating innovative services in this field.“ LUKA ĐUKANOVIĆ Expressing the expectation that this event will encourage everyone to make greater efforts and effectively utilize what Montenegro has to offer, Đukanović thanked the Ministry of Health’s partners in organizing the hackathon: ICT Cortex, Technopolis, the UNDP Office in Podgorica, the Innovation Fund, and the Science and Technology Park. Mladen Kandić, HR Manager for Education, stated that the hackathon’s theme was to create innovative software solutions to improve the promotion of services in the field of health tourism, with the goal of positioning Montenegro as an attractive tourist destination in the field of health tourism by identifying organizations providing services in this area, as well as natural resources that can be utilized. He mentioned that 12 teams participated in the hackathon, and the pre-selection jury, based on predetermined criteria, selected five teams that entered the final phase of the competition for a prize fund of 10,000 euros, provided by the Ministry of Health through the project “Strengthening the Health System of Montenegro” in collaboration with UNDP.

What is KYC and why is it the main topic of CBCG Fintech Hackathon

The term KYC (Know Your Customer) denotes a series of procedures that the bank uses to confirm the identity of the client. You probably once had the opportunity to do a KYC check when opening an account on the site, whether it was done via video or photo verification. KYC verification is regulated by law and is a prerequisite for using the services of financial institutions. Why is KYC verification important? KYC check protects both the bank and the client. Namely, the client opens an account in his own name and submits data proving his identity. In the absence of this check, any other person could use someone else’s data, thereby jeopardizing the client’s security and opening the way to possible fraud. On the other hand, the bank is obliged to carry out checks in order to protect itself and the entire financial system. The bank checks the client’s documentation and identity before opening an account and allowing transactions, but in certain cases, it may ask for additional documentation during individual transactions. In these situations, KYC verification is carried out as a bank policy directed against money laundering and similar suspicious activities. KYC verification can be done at branches in person or through online verification services that are integrated into the client’s onboarding process. Application of KYC process KYC verification is a prerequisite for using numerous services, and some of the most important are: Opening bank accounts Confirmation of transactions Credit management Government eServices Insurance services Signing documents The first two examples are particularly important for banks as financial institutions whose operations are strictly regulated by law. Case study: CX360 KYC/AML Task Manager The KYC procedure is initiated by the Core Banking System or some other software on the bank’s IT infrastructure. Often the information is at a basic level and there is no way to track the employee in performing this task. In order to solve the problem of late, incomplete, or incomplete checks of the client’s documentation, the software company Logate has developed a special solution within its CX360 banking CRM – KYC/AML Task Manager. KYC/AML Task Manager creates tasks based on previously obtained data from the Core Banking System or some other bank software and assigns them to employees in the Compliance sector. The bank chooses whether the Task Manager will assign the task to one employee or to a group of employees. When performing the task, there may be a delay because the client renews personal documentation or is out of the country. All task statuses can be tracked through an intuitive interface, which ensures that the employee completes the check and that the bank has valid documents in accordance with the law. KYC/AML Task Manager is used by NLB Banka Podgorica. Why is KYC the topic of the CBCG Hackathon? KYC is currently a hot topic in the region. In most countries, it is not possible to open an account remotely, but the laws are slowly changing, which creates the prerequisites for the next level of digitization of banking. The KYC theme does not limit teams to developing identity verification services. As long as KYC verification is the basis of the solution, the application can vary and thus create potentially innovative banking products. The software solution that performs KYC verification, as well as other applications of this concept, has a potentially interested audience, which gives the participants of the hackathon an opportunity to acquire clients. Submit your solution for the CBCG Hackathon Do you think you have a solution that would change the way digital KYC verification is done or use the same for a more complex solution that digitizes the bank? Register via the link on the Takai platform by October 1. All ideas will go through a pre-selection process, and the 5 best teams will be chosen to present their solutions to an expert international jury. The first-placed team will receive 12,000 euros for further development of the idea and additional support from the Central Bank of Montenegro, while the best team from Montenegro will receive a cash prize worth 3,000 from Mastercard.

ICT Cortex is a true example of synergy

Podgorica, PR press service – ICT Cortex is a real example of synergy and shows that it is a strong sector, which is moving on an upward trajectory and which is well worth investing in, it was announced at the ceremony marking the first year of operation of that cluster. The president of the cluster assembly, Nenad Novović, said that a lot had been achieved in a very short time. “The professional association of companies in Montenegro is not that common, but in this case, I think it turned out very naturally,” said Novović. He presented the honorary accession to the cluster to the representative of the Ministry of Economic Development, Marijeta Barjaktarović Lanzardi. The President of the Management Board of the cluster, Sanja Gardašević, said that more than a year ago, the pieces of what is today ICT Cortex began to fall into place and that work is being done to achieve the six goals that 11 companies gathered a year ago. “First of all, we wanted to establish a professional inclusive organization, to implement education programs for both new and existing staff and to find a way to keep the existing staff, to work on the internationalization and strengthening of the potential of our products, to strengthen the innovation and competitiveness of the cluster members themselves, to influence the digital transformation of society and to implement programs of socially responsible business”, said Gardašević. “We signed a memorandum on cooperation with the Central Bank of Montenegro, we also achieved cooperation with the Capital of Montenegro, we connected with numerous organizations, universities, schools and business associations,” Gardašević pointed out. She also stated that an internship was conducted for high school students with the Vaso Aligrudić School of Electrical Engineering, and training was also organized for employed members of the association. “The crown of our work in the field of education is the Cortex Academy, which managed to unite all the education programs of the cluster members and provide an additional online form of education in five areas. We are extremely glad that we had 1,292 applications, which speaks of the great need for a program of this type and the great impact we can achieve through projects like this,” explained Gardašević. ICT Cortex today, as she said, has 29 members, and they have over 600 employees. “We estimate that the export of member companies participates in about 18 percent of the total export of goods of Montenegro for the year 2021. It is a strong sector, which moves on an upward trajectory. Total revenues have almost doubled over two years. We see that profits have increased, that exports have almost tripled, and that the number of employees is constantly growing, which all shows that this sector is very much worth investing in,” Garadšević pointed out. The executive director of the cluster, Tarik Zaimović, said that he is particularly proud because ICT Cortex is a true example of synergy. “We managed to connect directors and owners of companies very well. What we did not succeed in, and what was not even possible for the year, was to connect the people who carry the work. That is our plan for this year. We intend to open three committees, namely the Committee for Human Resources and Education, the Committee for Internationalization and Sales, and the Committee for the Empowerment of Women in IT,” said Zaimović. One of the capital projects, as he added, is a project to provide housing for 120 IT families, and the intention is to retain the best IT staff with this program, to provide them with savings of up to 45 percent for solving the housing issue, buying an apartment. “Also, we received a serious grant for half a million euros, which was earmarked for equipment at the Vaso Aligrudić School. We intend to do the second phase of infrastructural equipping of schools and we will decide that for Nikšić and Bijelo Polje. For this year, we intend to educate 300 high school students. We do that in six municipalities. At the same time, we train 15 professors and educate an additional 250 participants, who are young people and students, who are trained in member companies. The goal is to have 80 junior staff produced, of whom we will most likely hire,” said Zaimović. The plan, as he announced, is to visit Eastern, and Western Europe, and America in the coming period, all to find new jobs, and partners, open representative offices in Montenegro and increase exports. “This year, we intend to apply for a large tender and unite a large force of the best companies in Montenegro. Together with the Central Bank of Montenegro, we plan to organize the second Fintech conference and Hackathon. We are making plans with the Central Bank of Montenegro so that this year the Hackathon will be on an even bigger, regional level, and there will be a significantly larger fund for the best team and idea for the development of Fintech”, said Zaimović. The director of the Foundation “Čini dobro”, Aleksandra Bošković, said that “Čini dobro”, a non-profit association founded by ICT Cortex, aims to empower young people, invest in education, help with healthy innovative ideas and contribute to the digitization of society. “I am proud that throughout last year and 2020, we focused our work on the local community and on the segments of society that needed it the most. In the coming period, the Foundation will be mostly focused on education and will provide support to ICT Cortex in all the projects it will lead,” said Bošković. As she stated, the target groups are talented pupils and students, employees of the Foundation’s members, educational institutions, and organizations. “In the previous year and a half, we donated over 80 thousand euros, launched the website cinidobro.me, and increased the membership by three new members. We helped socially disadvantaged families and donated over 50 thousand euros. We reached almost 200 families, and we helped in the distribution of school equipment, textbooks, clothes,