Competitive Intelligence International Conference – Competitive Intelligence Analysis in the Age of AI

Have you ever wanted to run a successful company? Regardless of the answer you gave to this question, now you can start learning how competitive intelligence can help you boost your business.

The Romanian – American University invites you to attend the “Competitive Intelligence International Conference” (2nd Edition), that will take place on 14^th of May 2025.

Our conference is exclusively dedicated to competitive intelligence, aiming to become from the very beginning the most important conference of this kind, in Romania and South-Eastern Europe. The second edition of the conference is organized in collaboration with IntelligenceCompetitiv.ro, SCIP and SCIP ICoE Romania.

Keynote Speakers

Răzvan Grigorescu is a Romanian business consultant with expertise in marketing, business strategy, information analysis and competitive intelligence. He has been a speaker at various national and international conferences on topics related to intelligence and national security or competitive intelligence.

He published different papers related to Competitive Intelligence, Economic Intelligence, Intelligence and National Security. He has facilitated webinars and conducted workshops in both the business and academic environments, with a particular focus on Romanian-American University students. He is a SCIP member since 2016.

Răzvan Grigorescu holds an M.A. in Sociology from the University of Bucharest, an M.A. in Intelligence and National Security from the “Mihai Viteazul” National Intelligence Academy, and a B.A. in Economics from the Romanian – American University.

He creates content on his YouTube channel and on his Competitive Intelligence Podcast, and he is developing the IntelligenceCompetitiv.ro platform, where he offers free competitive intelligence resources to Romanian companies, aiming to contribute to the development of this field in Romania.

Paul Santilli is the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Advisory Board Chair Emeritus of the Strategic Consortium of Intelligence Professionals (SCIP) organization and is active in several advisory roles to academia, business, and government organizations. Paul presents worldwide on Intelligence, Innovation, and Strategy in keynote and executive coaching capacities, and has published numerous papers in industry and academic journals related to Intelligence Modeling, Innovation, Disruption, and Strategy. He is a recognized thought leader in this space and chairs multiple Executive Customer Councils and Industry Advisory Boards globally.

Since March 2024, Dr. Emil Hedeșiu is Chairperson of the Intelligence Center of Excellence (ICoE) Romania, an entity dedicated to the development and promotion of Competitive Intelligence at national and regional level. Active member of the Strategic Consortium of Intelligence Professionals (SCIP) since 2014, Dr. Hedeșiu is a fervent supporter of the application of the concept of Competitive Intelligence in Romania, both in the economic sphere, through his consulting firms HERALD INSIGHTS and HERALDCONS, and in the university environment , through lectures given at various conferences and professional events. In 2023, inspired by the preparation of the organization of a global structure of Intelligence Centers of Excellence developed by SCIP, Dr. Hedeșiu started the initiative to establish ICoE Romania, which was officially launched in March 2024 together with other seven regional centers, in the form of a international network Intelligence Think Tank (ITT). The center’s activities are actively promoted in the LinkedIn group called SCIP ICoE Romania and on www.icoe-romania.ro website, contributing to the consolidation of the Competitive Intelligence community in Romania.

Amir Fleischman, Managing Director of Cicom Global, a CI training, research and consultancy company, is internationally recognized as an open-source intelligence leader with profound knowledge of CI-related tools and techniques within the online, social media and mobile space. He has presented at numerous events and is known for his practical, enriching lectures and workshops, where he demonstrates live powerful out-of-the-box search and analytical capabilities. Amir’s book, Beating Competition through Web Intelligence outlines extensive methodologies and tools to retrieve online business information in a sophisticated manner and gain competitive advantage. Amir has been a key opinion leader and Global Executive Advisory member of Strategic Consortium of Intelligence Professionals (SCIP). he was an editorial board member of Competitive Intelligence Magazine and published articles in I am SCIP and Competitive Intelligence Magazine.

Christophe BISSON, Ph.D explores and develops innovative competitive intelligence and anticipatory systems augmented by machine learning. He received international and national awards for his work and won research funds from the American NSF, EU, etc. He is the scientific director of the MSc Business Consulting and Decision Intelligence (Paris) at SKEMA and lectures as well in Raleigh and Suzhou in graduate programs. He provided training to top executives in the US, EU, ME, and Asia. Christophe created the platform ‘Stratbrain’ that combines AI and GEN AI for augmented decisions that he uses for his lectures and trainings. Christophe is also board member of several international organizations.

Guest Speakers

Dr. Cristian Obreja is a Board Member of the SCIP’s Intelligence Center of Excellence Romania (ICoE Romania) and has over 30 years of experience in the field of intelligence, 6 of which as a consultant.

His PhD dissertation from 2008 was entitled “Management of protecting the interests of the company”. In 2009, he published the book “Protecting and promoting the interests of the company through intelligence”.

Since 2012, he has been an associate professor at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration at „Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University in Iași, where he has been working to train students in the field of competitive intelligence analysis.

Event Agenda

to be updated

08:30 – 09:00	Registration
09:00 – 09:30	WELCOME TO THE CI INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE · Costel NEGRICEA, PhD Professor, Rector, Romanian-American University · Tudor Mihai EDU, PhD Professor, Vice-President for Research, Innovation and Internationalization, Romanian-American University · Răzvan GRIGORESCU, Business Consultant, CI Professional, SCIP Member
09:30 – 10:00	KEYNOTE SESSION · Paul SANTILLI, CEO SCIP
10:00 – 10:30	GENERAL SESSION Speakers presentations · Emil HEDEȘIU, CI Professional, SCIP Member SCIP Romania – Intelligence Center of Excellence
10:30 – 11:00	Networking Break
11:00 – 12:30	WORKSHOP MODULE \| FOUNDATIONS OF CI Răzvan GRIGORESCU, Business Consultant, CI Professional, SCIP Member An Introduction to the Competitive Intelligence Cycle
12:30 – 14:00	Lunch Break
14:00 – 14:30	KEYNOTE SESSION · Jonathan CALOF, PhD Professor, University of Ottawa, UNESCO Co-chair of Anticipatory Systems for Innovation and Venture Creation
14:30 – 15:00	GENERAL SESSION Speakers presentations
15:30 – 16:30	RESEARCH MODULE \| SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ON CI
16:30 – 17:30	BUSINESS MODULE \| EXAMPLES OF GOOD PRACTICES
17:30 – 18:00	CLOSING REMARKS

Why should you participate?

Alongside the Keynote Speakers, presentations will also be held by Mugurel Rădulescu, Marius Mitu, and Cristian Obreja.

We know that through the lectures and the workshops that will be made available to the participants during this event, as well as by accessing various scientific research and good practices examples, the conference will contribute to the growth of the competitive intelligence culture.

At the end of the conference, all the attendees will be happy that they have acquired new relevant knowledge about the field of competitive intelligence, which they will be able to use immediately in their work.

Who can participate?

Participation is open to all interested parties, especially to students, scientific researchers, business persons and competitive intelligence professionals, with relevant experience in the field.

Location

The conference will take place within the Romanian – American University, 1B Expoziției Bd., 1st District, Bucharest, Romania.