"For almost twenty years we have been meeting in Ostrava for an event that is a set of workshops to share experiences, a professional procurement conference about the future, a relaxing teambuilding, and a networking festival. The main distinction to other conferences is the unique atmosphere and the digitalization in every other sentence. You must experience this to believe that the previous lines are not a recruitment sentence, but a statement of fact. In fact, the whole eBF is a response to the growth in the number of those who can function in professional communities, who can share and who are in favour of digitizing corporate and public procurement processes." -mk-
The eBF is known for its ability to respond to the latest industry changes, discoveries, and events, and to bring you up to date on what's new on the technical tool provider side and state of the art trends changing the environment and conditions for corporate and public procurement.
What has always been common has become exceptional. We missed each other, and the opportunity to see each other, hear each other, or just shake hands has become the biggest draw of this year's festival. It really seems like everyone is eager to see each other!
Plenty of topics, stages, lectures, follow-up discussions and informal meetings in the breaks between blocks mean enough room for networking with leading specialists. You will get inspired, discover new information, and learn the best way to implement everything into your own practice.
„The eBF festival opens with the TOGETHER exhibition on the Tuesday and closes with Friday's CAFFÈ LUNGO.“
The uniqueness of the eBF lies in the connection between corporate and public procurement specialists who can influence each other's opinions and draw ideas for solving their own problems. The discussions then motivate innovation in the corporate and public space. However, both worlds will find the best topics in their respective fields within our rich programme.
On the Fair Sourcing Awards gala evening prizes are presented. They are awarded for innovative, inspiring or long-term use of digitalisation to increase the efficiency and transparency of corporate and public procurement. The results seen by the winners of using of process solutions, procurement catalogues, eAuctions, eInquiries and other tools are presented. The competition is organized by the APUEN association and every year the three winners are presented with a crystal cube embellished with the FSA symbol. The organizers of the conference also award a GRAND PRIX for outstanding achievement in the field. There is also a cultural element to the evening, with a number of participants presenting their musical talents between the presentations.
The festival culminates with an opportunity for round-table discussions with ten inspirational personalities from outside the procurement world. They will have demonstrated various extraordinary qualities: creativity, responsibility, team-leadership, patience, recognition of the truth, recognition of quality, the ability to serve others. They will include, among others, a senior paramedic, a renowned blogger, a national coach, an inventor, a singer, a renowned winemaker, a well-known cartoonist and caricaturist and a journalist. Following last year's extraordinary success, we have again asked Mr Vladimír Vůjtek, who enchanted us all, to be one of our guests. The other tables are gradually being filled up. This year a bell will ring four times, giving you the chance to move to another interesting table.
The eBF festival will again actually start for the fifth time on the Tuesday evening at 7pm with the opening night of the TOGETHER exhibition, which will feature artworks by the conference participants, the organizers and their friends and associates. A change this year is that even buyers and procurers who are not participating in the festival can exhibit. They can join the painters, photographers, sculptors and ceramists look forward to seeing each other year after year, even though the exhibition lasts for only the four days of the conference. Last year there were 23 exhibitors.
A selection of the most interesting topics, discussions and personalities from this year’s eBF as well as issues surrounding the digitalisation of public procurement.
A selection of the most interesting topics, guests and discussions from all the stages at this year’s eBF covering the digitalisation of corporate procurement.
Gala award ceremony for effective and inspirational use of digitalisation in corporate and public procurement.
A handful of round discussion tables for meeting with hand-picked motivational speakers from public life in Czechia, Slovakia and Poland.
I have to admit that my dream came true at eBF, because there was one special stage where we talked about computerisation, automation and robotisation from morning to evening. What’s more, it was a great success because the hall was full. It seems to me that not only the number of participant has increased, but also the standard of the presenters. I saw people presenting at eBF for the first time who greatly enriched me. The organizers again managed to attract leaders who have something to share with others in their fields.
Everything was to my liking; the programme, the presentations and nice, funny, interesting people. The accompanying programme is also important; it is great when you can talk to people about what they have done and how and why they did it. I was here with my colleagues for the fourth time and we will be happy to come again. We were interested in supplier obstruction, for example, which worries everyone, and we were also interested in artificial intelligence. The "downside" is that the programme is really busy, so there was no room for the corporate sector in our schedule. The conference would have to last a week to fit everything in.
I came to eBF for the first time, so a lot of things were a surprise for me. I had no idea it would be so large, colourful and fascinating. I was most interested in public procurement, in which I myself work as a data analyst. I must say that I saw several innovative solutions here that can inspire us in practice. I was also pleased with the details of the organization, such as hairstyling and the festival-like approach. All this helps to create a friendly atmosphere in which it is easier to have fun.
I had an amazing two days with a full, interesting programme and lots of meetings with inspiring people. A person had to leave full of thoughts and energy. It seemed to me that the presentations from the corporate sector were also beneficial for public procurement. I liked seeing the way corporate sector buyers think, where there are fewer procedures and better results. This is an inspiration for those of us who work in the public sphere.
It was great to be able to speak at eBF and share my ideas with people who use them in practice. It was a fantastic meeting with a group of open-minded people, thanks to whom I had the opportunity to translate the results of my research into reality. This is seldom experienced. I liked it that everybody really gets to know each other at the festival, and people treat each other in a friendly and uncompetitive manner. It’s obvious that they meet to solve problems together, which is brilliant.
This year I was interested in the discussions at Hyde Park, where there were not only very practical topics, but also excellent speakers. The top issue was a discussion on the obstructive behaviour of suppliers. Although it was the last item on the agenda, everybody stayed till the end. It seems that this was a can of worms which hadn’t been opened before and it was great that we could talk about it so openly. The great group of people and the atmosphere that the festival is famous for were there as always, of course.
I always look forward to meeting my colleagues and hearing new ideas. eBF is a wonderful thing, more like a family or social event, for which I am very grateful. I've been to a number of conferences abroad and in Slovakia, but I think eBF is unique in its atmosphere. For this I would like to thank the organizers and say I’m looking forward to the coming years and more innovative ideas. In a professional capacity, exchanging experiences with DPS was particularly engaging for me, but I also found topics such as Big Data, digitalisation and the behaviour of cartels interesting.
Again it was a festival of ideas, experiences, examples, discussions and comments. From my point of view, eBF can respond to developments in the procurement environment, so it always offers something new. This year it was the turn of socially responsible public procurement, which I think is a new wind that will affect contracting authorities and has a future not only at the town and municipality level, but will certainly extend into other procurement areas.
I think this year's eBF was the most interesting so far. Given the extent of the programme, I sometimes found it difficult to choose where to go. I appreciated the fact that there were many foreign guests among the speakers. Thanks to this, it was possible to share experience between different EU countries and compare their situations. I was particularly interested in the Big Data block, which was about using data for a variety of predictions, such as corruption. A bonus was the friendly and open atmosphere.