On May 30, 2025, SCiDEV and participants from the EYDR program joined INN Fest 2025—a flagship regional technology conference hosted for the fourth time in Tirana by the Albanian E-Commerce Association. INN Fest brings together tech start-ups, established businesses, and digital transformation stakeholders from across the region to foster exchange, innovation, and collaboration.
As part of this dynamic event, SCiDEV facilitated two interactive forums with students and EYDR participants, providing a platform for young people to explore key digital trends and express their perspectives.
Forum 1: Gen Z and Marketing
In the first session EYDR participants and students joined forces and tried to answer an intriguing question; What is more important to Gen Z; the product design or the brand who makes the product? Through a hands-on group exercise, they designed a notebook and brainstormed creative strategies for its social media promotion.
A strong need for community connection, low attention spans and a demand for engaging, digital-first content and a preference for brands that balance aesthetics with authenticity and values, were the answers provided to this challenging question by the participants.
Forum 2: AI in the Workplace
The second forum posed a timely question: Should AI be a tool to support workers—or replace them?
Participants leaned firmly toward AI as a complementary force, emphasizing its potential to enhance productivity while underlining the importance of placing ethical and regulatory boundaries around its development and use. They expressed concern about the rapid advancement of AI technologies and emphasized the need to impose boundaries on its use. A strong consensus emerged that AI systems should not be granted autonomy to make decisions without human oversight, underlining the critical role of ethical frameworks in shaping the future of work.
These forums showcased SCiDEV and EYDR project commitment to amplifying youth voices in debates that frame the stand of youth on important topics related to the digital transformation of society. We are proud to see EYDR participants engaging critically and creatively with the digital challenges of tomorrow.
DISCLAIMER: The Youth Digital Democracy Accelerator Program is part of Youth Participation in Digital Democracy: From Digital Skills to Digital Rights of Youth with Fewer Opportunities (EYDR) project and aims to strengthen the capacities of Albanian and Montenegrin youth to meaningfully engage in digital activism through an approach that balances protection and digital participation.
EYDR is funded by the Erasmus Capacity Building in the Field of Youth of the European Union and is implemented under the leadership of SCiDEV in partnership with UZOR, Beogradski centar za ljudska prava, Asociación Youropia, Centre for Comparative International Studies, Erasmus Student Network in Albania, National Youth Agency in Albania, and SHARE Foundation.
