Digital transformation and new technologies, cyber defence and cyber security are Romania’s major strategic priorities in the context of its development as an information society, said Victor Negrescu, Vice President of the European Parliament, at the opening of the first edition of the D-Tech Forum, a regional summit organized by V+O Communication, which aims to align visions on digitalization and cybersecurity in the context of the European Competitiveness Plan, which took place on Friday at the National Bank of Romania. “The extraordinary level of speakers and audience at this event makes me optimistic about Romania’s technological progress, the alliance between the public and the private sector and the ability to achieve our goals together,” stressed Victor Negrescu.

Ministers, ambassadors, leaders of institutions of strategic importance for Romania, as well as top figures from the private sector, including CEOs, CISOs, CIOs, CTOs, cybersecurity experts from several countries in the region, and specialists from the European Parliament and decision-makers from the authorities of other states, participated in a true public-private meeting in which the collaboration between the three main groups involved in the digitalization of Romania in the context of the European Competitiveness Plan was addressed: legislators, executive authorities and the private sector.

The topic of the first panel was Digital Romania between freedoms and constraints, so the speakers focused on topics such as how we build the digital society and ensure democratic access for all citizens through legislation, technological progress, education, digital service packages, the role of AI applications in the automation of Digital Services, as well as ensuring confidentiality and the right to anonymity in return for the need to prevent and counter cyber and physical threats.

“To further digitize Romania, we must show will, vision and act, as I have said before and I will repeat, to continue the digital transformation of our administration and society”, said Bogdan Ivan, Minister of Economy, Digitalization, Entrepreneurship and Tourism.

“The pilot project for the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in schools and universities in Romania, announced in March, will optimize the activity of teachers, the learning process of pupils/students and the educational process. We will introduce mandatory and optional subjects that will allow us to prepare our children in accordance with the technological revolution”, said Daniel David, Minister of Education and Research.

The second panel had as its central topic medicine as an interconnected service, based on Integrated Patient Management Systems and interoperability between hospitals and specialties, including precision medicine, with the help of generative artificial intelligence, respectively the digitalization of the medical system within the national health strategy.

“One of the key elements of the digital transformation of the medical system in our country is the future health insurance IT platform, which is currently under development. In addition, based on the partnership with the University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology of Târgu Mureș, we will build the first fully digitalized hospital in the country there. But a lot depends on the available human resources, especially when it comes to digitalization,” said Alexandru Rafila, Minister of Health.

Accessibility of banking and finance services were the topics of discussion in the third panel, along with analyses of the optimal benefits of branches with human staff, hotspots based on artificial intelligence, smart ATMs or online/mobile banking services, respectively a denser network of ATMs or the stimulation of electronic payments in sparsely populated and banked areas.

The last panel of the day had two sections: defence and cross-border security, with specific discussions, respectively telecommunications beyond “just” mobility, where the revenue-generating business models of the future were explored, the usefulness of ubiquitous mobility for access to services and payments, the future of 5G/6G technology and local loop control (land-mobile networks), as well as mobile device security and IoT protection.

“The degree of satisfaction from interacting with digital services can be greatly improved through better interconnection. Digital services must function integrated, communicate with each other, because only then the technology behind them can be optimally used, and users finally have a pleasant experience. Today I believe we have taken a relevant strategic step in this direction,” said Ovidiu Ghiman, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Metaminds.

“We are delighted with the success of the first edition of D-TECH Forum, the event dedicated to digitalization, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. We thank all the participants, sponsors and partners who made this forum possible and who supported us in our mission to promote innovation and digital transformation in Romania and beyond. Together we created a collaborative framework in which industry leaders, decision-makers and experts from various fields were able to explore the framework and context together”, said Eugen Ilea, Director of V+O Communication, a communications company with almost 20 years of experience in organizing high-level business events.

“D-Tech Forum 2025 was the perfect setting to discuss concretely how we can actively involve Romania and Romanian IT&C companies in building the Digital Europe by 2030, based on fair access to technology, sustainable innovation and modern digital infrastructure”, concluded Victor Negrescu, Vice-President of the European Parliament.

The 2nd edition of D-TECH Forum will take place on 18-20 March 2026, and through the extended multi-day format, it will reach an even greater level of depth in analysis and solutions, to bring this initiative further and actively contribute to the development of a robust and secure digital ecosystem in a world plagued by instability, fake news, and the need for rapid education and retraining.