DiSz Conference 2025 by IT Plus Cluster in Odorhei was about empowering people in the age of AI and a networking opportunity. We must equip ourselves and the next generation with the knowledge needed to monitor—and, when necessary, overrule—artificial intelligence, concluded the speakers at the 10th DiSZ – Digital Szeklerland Conference organized by IT Plus Cluster in Odorhei-Székelyudvarhely. The tech event, held on 24–25th October, featured 64 speakers from public policy, business, academia, and civil society, who shared their knowledge and expertise through individual presentations, panel discussions, and workshops. Softech’s enthusiastic team was also actively involved in the conference.
Today, artificial intelligence plays a key role not only in the IT sector but also across multiple industries and in most aspects of our daily lives—from logistics planning to medical technology, from municipal services to research workflows involving data collection, analysis, and drawing conclusions. As the talks and panel discussions highlighted, AI can contribute to making the processes much more efficient, whether in complex logistics, medical data processing, large-scale information analysis, or the identification of misinformation.
IT Plus Cluster: A Decade of Knowledge Sharing and Community Building
‘The Digital Szeklerland Conference provides a great opportunity for professionals working in the IT field to meet, exchange knowledge, and establish successful partnerships—just as in previous years.’ said Simon Károly, PhD, president of the IT Plus Cluster, during his opening speech on Friday morning, while recalling the history of the event.
In his welcome speech, Szakács-Paál István, the mayor of Odorhei, humorously “asked” AI to describe the Szekler people. Among the listed attributes, he highlighted the challenges locals face in the labor market of the region, pointing out that local decision-makers aim to support entrepreneurship and improve the conditions for competitive local businesses.
How AI is Transforming Industries—and why Human Oversight Still Matters
Throughout the day, local, regional, and national-level policymakers showcased how the most advanced technologies can be integrated into public administration and education—creating a functional hub that fosters collaboration between municipalities, entrepreneurs, and individuals.
However, like every emerging technology, AI also should be used responsibly and critically. Rather than outsourcing full autonomy to machine-generated outcomes, experts recommend using AI as a support tool: delegating sub-tasks, improving measurement accuracy, and helping human decision-making—while people retain final oversight and responsibility. Speakers from multiple countries agreed that overreliance on AI is a risk, and human accountability must remain at the end of the process.
Soft Skills that Can’t Be Automatized
This is especially true in fields such as healthcare and education or personal development. As demonstrated during the ‘Medtech – Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare’ panel with Prof. Kovács Levente, PhD (rector of Óbuda University), and Fejér Szilárd, PhD, founder of the Pro-Vitam Research Institute, medtech includes much more than AI technologies. It encompasses complex medical devices and diagnostic systems that are essential to modern medicine, enabling increasingly accurate data collection and estimations at a high level. Yet medical research and data usage also raise significant ethical questions—from data collection and sharing to anonymization.
In a world where more and more processes become automatized, human-focused skills—soft skills—gain a new level of importance, emphasized Benkő Ilona, Head of L&D at Zenitech. Based on feedback from her sessions and workshops, she noted that young people today often struggle with the learning process itself, from filtering relevant information to structuring and presenting it. She explained that self-limiting beliefs frequently hold individuals back more than the material itself. Her afternoon workshop guided participants in creating personalized development plans and designing an actionable roadmap toward their goals.
From Medtech to Hands-on AI Development
The conference also showcased high-level technical sessions, presentations, and discussions. Engaging and memorable presentations were held by Kiss Gergely and Kiss Dániel from ARM Hungary team — a company working with world-leading technologies — as well as by Láng Máté (binhatch) and Süket Csaba (emotii, Neominds).
- Kolumbán Sándor PhD, CEO of Explorer Consulting and lecturer at Babeș–Bolyai University, demonstrated the use of the .NET Aspire platform.
- Balázs Aaron from Pine Lines presented how AI can boost business efficiency in small companies—from marketing automation to self-development workflows.
- Szabó Péter, founder of Tengr.ai, involved the audience (and AI itself) in building a working web application in just one hour—humorously themed around “headache prevention.”
- The CrySys Lab workshop showcased why critical thinking still cannot be replaced by AI, guiding participants through vulnerability analysis in a C application using debuggers and other tools.
Industrial, corporate, and agricultural digitalization proved to be particularly popular topics, such as the presentations on workflow automation, digital product development, e-commerce, the latest invoicing solutions, workforce management, and the key challenges facing higher education.
Ethical AI in Education and Research—a Shared Responsibility
The panel on higher education placed strong emphasis on the ethical usage of AI and responsible digital literacy. Representatives including Prof. Charaf Hassan PhD (rector of Budapest University of Technology and Economics), Prof. Palkovics László PhD (Hungarian Government AI Commissioner), Prof. Kovács Levente PhD (rector of Óbuda University), Prof. Markó Bálint PhD (prorector of Babeș–Bolyai University), and Prof. Farkas Csaba PhD (prorector of Sapientia University) discussed the possibilities of a dual education system, service-based research partnerships with companies, and the importance of teaching students to critically verify AI-generated results. As they concluded, a full ban on AI usage in education is neither realistic nor beneficial—exam questions can instead be designed to reveal genuine knowledge even when digital tools are allowed.
Learning and Networking at the DiSz Conference 2025 by IT Plus Cluster
The diverse conference programme provided valuable takeaways for the almost 250 participants, including IT professionals, students, and representatives of other sectors alike. Saturday’s schedule opened with a morning trail run and closed with a delicious dinner, party, and live music—combining knowledge sharing with community building and relaxation.
At the closing event, the conference’s former and current organizers, along with its key supporters — including Szélyes Levente, head of Softech; Bihari Béla and Kozma István, former presidents of the IT Plus Cluster; current president Simon Károly; this year’s main organizer, Derzsi László, and professional coordinator, Kolumbán Sándor — recalled the history of the event from its very beginnings in a warm, friendly atmosphere, sharing with the audience some entertaining behind-the-scenes stories as well.
Why We Support the Tech Events of the Szeklerland
Having an office in Odorhei founded back in 2009, Softech has been contributing to a large scale of tech- or science-related and cultural events of the region, being also a long-standing partner of the IT Plus Cluster itself. We have been attending all the editions of the DiSz Conference organized by IT Plus Cluster—this anniversary edition welcomed a major team from our side who all gained new inspiration and valuable fresh ideas on the future of the IT field. We were especially pleased that we could welcome colleagues not only from our Odorhei office but also from other cities, who travelled here only to attend this outstanding regional IT event.
Softech is a growing company with a 27-year history. To foster continued growth, besides using state-of-the-art technology and delivering high-quality work, we also feel it is essential to build our community, both inside and outside the office. If you feel that our values align with yours, send your CV to jobs@softech.ro and give yourself a chance to grow with us!
