The ExcellCity project will take part in the first edition of Startup Fairs – ULSIT, which will be held on November 13, 2025, at the University of Library Studies and Information Technologies (ULSIT), 119 Tsarigradsko shose Blvd., Sofia.

The event will bring together students, lecturers, entrepreneurs, investors, and business representatives with a common goal – to promote innovation, knowledge, and an entrepreneurial mindset.

As a participant in the exhibition, ExcellCity will present its vision for smart and sustainable cities, based on collaboration between education, science, and technology.

During the forum, participants will have the opportunity to join:
🎤 Lectures, panel discussions, and workshops dedicated to innovation and entrepreneurship
🏢 Startup exhibitions with product and service demonstrations
🤝 Networking sessions with potential partners and investors
🌱 Experience sharing between academia and business

ExcellCity joins this initiative as part of its mission to foster intelligent and sustainable urban development through innovation and collaboration.

📅 Date: November 13, 2025
📍 Venue: ULSIT, 119 Tsarigradsko shose Blvd., Sofia
💸 Free admission

For more information and registration:
👉 Registration for exhibitors
👉 Registration for participants

From 27 to 31 October 2025, the ExcellCity Winter School 2025 was held at the University of Library Studies and Information Technologies (ULSIT) in Sofia, Bulgaria. The event, themed “Big Data, Agentic AI & Microservices for Smart and Secure City Environment,” took place within the framework of the ExcellCity project, bringing together leading researchers and experts from the University of Murcia (Spain) and the University of Messina (Italy).

The Winter School was officially opened by Prof. Georgi Dimitrov, Dean of the Faculty of Information Sciences, and Prof. Dr. Eugenia Kovatcheva, Project Manager of ExcellCity. In their welcoming remarks, they emphasized the importance of academic collaboration and knowledge exchange for the development of smart and secure urban environments.

The distinguished lecturers included:

• From the University of Murcia: Prof. Dr. Antonio Skarmeta, Prof. Dr. Miguel Zamora, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Juan Martínez, Dr. Aurora González, and PhD candidate Juan Sánchez;

• From the University of Messina: Prof. Dr. Massimo Villari, Prof. Dr. Maria Fazio, and Prof. Dr. Antonio Celesti.

Throughout five intensive days, participants explored a wide range of topics, including:

• Agentic AI – agent-based and autonomous systems for managing urban resources;

• Big Data Analytics – OLAP, Data Warehousing, and Kubernetes in cloud and edge infrastructures;

• Microservices and FIWARE – IoT integration, security, and interoperability for smart cities;

• Edge & Cloud Continuum – architectures for efficient distributed data processing.

Hands-on sessions focused on FIWARE, FogFlow, Eclipse Ditto, and Kubernetes, enabling participants to experiment with real-world IoT integrations and create digital twins of urban assets.

The program concluded with a PhD Panel and Research Meetings, encouraging informal discussions and future research collaborations. The closing session, led by Prof. Massimo Villari, showcased practical demonstrations of AI inference models at the Edge.

The event highlighted ULSIT’s role as a regional hub for international research cooperation and innovation in the fields of artificial intelligence, big data, and smart city technologies.

• 27.10.2025 - 30.10.2025

On October 31, 2025, the University of Library Studies and Information Technologies (ULSIT) hosted the Winter Scientific Seminar on Open Science, organized within the framework of the project EXCELLCITY: Enhancing Scientific and Innovation Capacity in the Smart City through Twinning (BG-RRP-2.005-0003).

The event was held in person at ULSIT’s Ceremonial Hall, bringing together young researchers, PhD students, and postdoctoral fellows engaged in the Open Science training series under the ExcellCity project.

The Winter Seminar marked the second module of the Open Science training program, which began with the Summer Seminar in May 2025.
During the session, participants shared their progress and experiences from the self-paced activities available on the online platform https://projects.unibit.bg/course/view.php?id=89, which hosts learning materials for Module 1 and Module 2.

Certificates were awarded to the participants who successfully completed all modules and assessments, demonstrating their commitment to the principles and practices of Open Science.

The seminar was opened by Prof. Evgenia Kovacheva, Director of Scientific Policy and Project Coordinator of ExcellCity, who emphasized the importance of Open Science initiatives for strengthening ULSIT’s research ecosystem and its integration into the European Research Area.

📅 Date: October 31, 2025, 1:00 PM
📍 Location: Sofia, ULSIT 1, Ceremonial Hall
🎓 Format: In-person

👉 Through its series of Open Science seminars, ULSIT continues to promote an open, collaborative, and innovative scientific community, fostering transparency, cooperation, and knowledge sharing in research and education.

• 31.10.2025

Dear partners and colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to participate in the 2025 ExcellCity Winter School, which will take place from 27 to 31 October 2025 at the University of Library Studies and Information Technologies (ULSIT), Sofia, Shipchenski prohod Blvd. 69A, Room 210.

The theme of the Winter School is “Big Data, Agentic AI & Microservices for Smart and Secure City Environment”, introducing participants to the concepts of big data, agentic and autonomous intelligent systems, and the creation of microservices for sustainable and secure urban environments.

Keynote speakers and lecturers include leading experts and researchers from:

University of Murcia (Spain)

• Prof. Dr. Antonio Skarmeta

• Prof. Dr. Miguel Zamora

• Assoc. Prof. Dr. Juan Martinez

• PhD student Juan Sánchez

University of Messina (Italy)

• Prof. Dr. Massimo Villari

• Prof. Dr. Maria Fazio

• Assoc. Prof. Dr. Antonio Celesti

Programme highlights:

• Agentic AI – agent-based and autonomous systems for managing urban resources;

• Big Data Analytics – OLAP, Data Warehouse and Kubernetes in cloud and edge infrastructures;

• Microservices and FIWARE – IoT integration, security and interoperability for smart cities;

• Edge & Cloud Continuum – architectures for efficient data processing in distributed systems.

Hands-on sessions:

• FIWARE and FogFlow – practical IoT agent and sensor integration;

• Eclipse Ditto – creating digital twins of urban assets;

• Kubernetes – open platform for container management and microservice-based applications.

PhD Panel and Research Meetings

The Winter School provides an opportunity for informal discussions and exchange of ideas for joint research activities and projects.

📎 The full programme of the event is attached below.
📝 Please register your participation by filling out the short registration form here.

We look forward to welcoming you!

📎 View the full programme (PDF)

On September 29, 2025, the University of Library Studies and Information Technologies (ULSIT) hosted the international conference QED’25: Designing Education Ecosystems for the Future: The Role of Digital Technologies, held under the patronage of the Bulgarian National Commission for UNESCO.

The event brought together representatives of the three active Bulgarian UNESCO Chairs – at ULSIT, UNWE, and Burgas Free University – as well as researchers and experts from various countries. The aim was to discuss future education ecosystems in the context of digital technologies and to disseminate the key messages from the global forum EDUsummIT’25, held in June in Dublin.

📌 In the afternoon session, dedicated to project initiatives, special attention was given to ExcellCity. The team presented the project’s main activities and achievements related to the development of innovative urban solutions and their integration into educational and research processes. The significance of ExcellCity was emphasized as a model for uniting academia, local communities, and international partners in the pursuit of sustainable development and “smart” ecosystems.

🔹 The project’s participation in QED’25 provided an excellent opportunity to share experiences, establish new connections, and explore perspectives for future cooperation. Its inclusion in such a prestigious platform reaffirms ExcellCity’s role as an important contribution to the discussions on the future of digital technologies and their application for the benefit of society.

• 29.09.2025

Between 9 and 15 September 2025, lecturers, PhD students, and undergraduate students from the University of Library Studies and Information Technologies (UNIBIT) participated in a short-term academic mobility at the University of Messina (Italy) under the project ExcellCity – Strengthening the Scientific Excellence and Innovation Capacity in the Area of Smart City through Twinning (BG-RRP-2.005-0003), funded by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan of Bulgaria.

The mobility focused on the themes “Intelligent Cloud Continuum” and “AI Agents & Edge Continuum”, emphasizing the development of intelligent and scalable infrastructures for smart cities.

The program was conducted under the supervision of Prof. Massimo Villari, Prof. Maria Fazio, and Prof. Antonio Celesti, with the active participation of seven additional researchers, PhD candidates, and experts from the FCRLab, who presented innovative projects in cloud computing, IoT integration, Cloud–Fog–Edge continuum architectures, and AI-based automation systems for urban environments.

The week included lectures, hands-on sessions, and demonstrations of real-world solutions, covering:

• the design of intelligent systems and infrastructures for smart cities;

• FIWARE architectures for interoperability and IoT connectivity;

• deployment of Big Data Warehouse and OLAP solutions in cloud environments;

• application of Agentic AI models for autonomous decision-making;

• Edge–Cloud Continuum scenarios optimizing computation and energy efficiency.

During the program, participants took part in practical exercises at the Papardo campus, including simulations of smart city systems, management of IoT data streams via FogFlow, and implementation of digital twins using Eclipse Ditto.
They also visited the FCRLab Control Laboratory for the Intelligent Campus, where integrated solutions for energy efficiency management, sensor networks, and AI-based environmental control were demonstrated.

A key highlight of the program was the PhD Research and Project Panel, where doctoral students from the University of Messina presented their research topics and discussed methodological approaches and potential collaboration and idea exchange with PhD students from UNIBIT.

The mobility strengthened the scientific and educational collaboration between UNIBIT and the University of Messina, contributing to:

• deepening expertise in AI-based architectures and Cloud–Edge integrations;

• developing joint research initiatives in FIWARE, Big Data Analytics, and Intelligent City Infrastructures;

• preparing participants for the upcoming ExcellCity Winter School 2025, which will expand on these topics through practical demonstrations and a dedicated PhD panel in Sofia.

This mobility was part of the strategic actions aimed at enhancing research capacity and fostering international collaboration in the field of intelligent and sustainable urban systems.