The XVII-th edition of the International Conference “Digitalization of the science, education, business and tourism” took place from 16 to 18 August 2021 at Albena Resort. Organizers of the event were Varna University of Management and the Regional Academic Center – Dobrich of Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

The conference was attended by senior academics and scientists from Bulgaria, Canada, Poland, Russia, Slovakia and Ukraine, including representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, Cherkasy National University “Bogdan Khmelnitsky”, Jan Dlugosz University in Czestochowa, University “St. St. Cyril and Methodius” in Trnava, Thompson Rivers University and others.

The conference was officially opened by Assoc. Prof. Silvena Yordanova – Coordinator of the Regional Academic Center – Dobrich of Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and a lecturer at Varna University of Management. In her presentation, she emphasized the importance of digitalization as a factor to adapt to the new economic and educational situation, imposed by Covid-19 and its key role in increasing the competitiveness of educational institutions.

During the conference, scientific papers were presented in five main thematic areas – “Management”, “Economics”, “Tourism”, “Information Technology and Computer Science” and “Educational Management and Problems of Education”.

The speech of Assoc. Prof. Todor Radev – Rector of Varna University of Management, which focused on the role and importance of information technology in educational management, aroused great interest. A curious fact he pointed out was that since the beginning of the pandemic situation, the interest of students and their participation in lectures has increased significantly.

Later, Prof. Arkhipova from the main partner institution at the conference, Bogdan Khmelnytsky National University in Cherkasy, described how the digitalization process is applied at the Ukrainian university, as well as its effectiveness.

The plenary reports were followed by an interesting round table discussion on the problems facing educational institutions and business organizations in the new economic realities. The application of digitalization in the field of tourism was also discussed.