Keynote Speakers
Prof. Dirk Draheim
School of IT, TalTech, Estonia
TalTech National Professor in Information Society Technology
Talk Title
Web3 as the Next Digital Backbone: Architectural Foundations for IoT, Data Analytics, and Intelligent Decentralized Systems
Abstract
Web3 is rapidly emerging as a transformative paradigm for the future of digital infrastructure, extending blockchain-enabled disintermediation beyond finance into digital identity, data ownership, machine-to-machine interaction, and decentralized business ecosystems. Despite growing enthusiasm across academia and industry, the conceptual and architectural foundations of Web3 remain insufficiently defined.
This keynote addresses that gap by presenting a structured foundation for Web3 through its fundamental building blocks, architectural principles, and design space, positioning Web3 as a next-generation middleware layer for intelligent digital systems. We argue that Web3 can be understood as the integration of digital rights exchange directly into Internet application-layer protocols, enabling trusted and programmable transfer of value, ownership, and permissions across distributed environments.
In this context, Web3 offers particular relevance to the rapidly expanding Internet of Things (IoT), where billions of connected devices require secure identity management, autonomous coordination, and decentralized trust mechanisms. By combining blockchain-based digital rights infrastructure with IoT ecosystems, devices can become economically autonomous agents capable of secure data exchange and programmable value transactions.
Furthermore, Web3 architectures introduce new opportunities for data analytics by enabling transparent, tamper-resistant, and interoperable data pipelines across organizational boundaries. This creates the foundation for decentralized analytics ecosystems in which data provenance, ownership, and monetization can be embedded directly into system architecture.
About the Speaker
Dirk Draheim received a PhD in computer science from Freie Universitat Berlin, Germany, and a habilitation in computer science from the University of Mannheim, Germany. He is a faculty member of the School of IT at Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech), Estonia, and holds the TalTech National Professorship in Information Society Technology.
Dirk conducts research in information system technologies that enable the future information society at the crossroads of distributed and next-generation data technologies. He serves as Academic Director of the Next Gen Digital State Research Group and is also a founding member of the TalTech eID Competence Center. He is committed to e-Estonia and the mission of the Next Gen Digital State Research Group to educate the leaders and experts of the next generation digital state.
Dirk's current research focus is the utilization of emerging AI technologies in today's organizations and societies. He is co-founder and co-chair of the Next Generation Information Systems Engineering conference. He has co-authored more than 200 publications in international journals and conference proceedings, four Springer books, and is ranked among the Elsevier 2024 world ranking top 2% scientists.
Professor Atif Azad
Professor of Artificial Intelligence
Department of Computer Science
School of Architecture, Built Environment, Computing and Engineering, Birmingham City University
Talk Title
Building Trustworthy and Efficient AI: A Societal Imperative for Fairness and Progress
Abstract
Fairness, equity and justice are divine ideals, yet they are fundamental to human dignity. With increasing uptake of AI in our daily lives, the quest for these ideals has now turned to machines. But will artificial intelligence succeed where biological intelligence couldn't?
AI delivers decisions at hyperscale and astonishing speed. On the surface the accuracy statistics are high; often upwards of 90%. But on a population scale, the errors on the remaining 10% can leave behind a tale of devastation and destruction. At such scale, describing these outcomes merely as "errors" risks obscuring what can, in reality, become a form of digital dehumanisation.
The problem is not simply making AI more accurate; it is making it more just. Bias can enter through the data, through the systems that produce it, through commercial barriers that shield algorithms from scrutiny, or, as this talk contends, through choices that are not accidental at all, but knowingly harmful.
About the Speaker
Professor Atif Azad is Professor of Artificial Intelligence at Birmingham City University. His work supports the UK National Artificial Intelligence Strategy, the UK Digital Strategy, and BCU's institutional agenda around inclusive digital economy, partnership building, and reducing underrepresentation in the technology sector.
His portfolio of externally funded activity exceeds GBP 3 million across public and private sector investment. His research and teaching focus on the application and adoption of artificial intelligence, especially Genetic and Evolutionary Computation, alongside wider work in AI and data science education, industrial collaboration, and student employability.
Professor Azad serves as an editor for the Genetic Programming and Evolvable Machines journal and reviews for leading journals and conferences in Evolutionary Computation and Artificial Intelligence. He is ranked among the top 100 authors in Genetic Programming, received the ACM SIGEVO Silver Humies Award at GECCO 2015, and is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
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