Sylvia Ilieva is a professor at the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics and Director of “Big Data for Smart Society” (GATE) Centre of Excellence at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. Her research Interests are in the areas of software platforms, software development processes, data management and software engineering for Artificial Intelligence. She is a founder and a leader of BSc and MSc Software Engineering programmes. She is a member of the Scientific Expert Council of “Sofia Tech Park” JSC and of the IFIP TC2 as Bulgarian national representative. She leads the GATE involvement in BDVA and its activities as IDSA national Hub facilitator. Prof. Ilieva has a track record of participation in more than 20 EC RTD projects and coordination of 2 EU and 7 national projects. She has more than 100 scientific publications and 3 monographs. She is also an independent expert for the EC FP7 and H2020.