What I am working on right now
PeerSpace. We’re building products, using decentralized storage infrastructure in ways not done before. Currently experimenting with publishing and “data infrastructure” markets. Founder & CEO.
DeSciBelgrade. Founder & Managing Director.
Zeer. Revolutionizing personal safety. Head of Operations, turned external Advisor.
Data Science Conference. One of the fastest-growing data science & AI communities in Europe. Trying to be helpful. Currently: “Development Advisor: Emerging Technologies and New Business Opportunities”.
Project F. Consulting, when they ask for it.
What I am learning right now
I am currently self-studying finance, business administration (something like an improvised MBA), and continuing to sharpen my coding skills.
Something like a short byline
Highly entrepreneurial and curious, Filip is inspired by working on projects and causes with high levels of impact, especially where he can contribute the most. Searching for “radical innovations”.
Highly skilled in leadership (founded 10+ orgs and initiatives, including nonprofits, businesses, startups and civic/political formations), community organizing (organized events in 5 countries, reaching thousands of people in total, including 8 hackathons), project management (conceived and managed countless projects over the last 10+ years), writing (ran a content writing studio and writes (almost) every day, communication (led several campaigns), strategizing, problem-solving and advice (7 years of independent consultancy experience). Technical skills include SQL, Tableau, Power BI, R, and Python programming (intermediate level; ongoing learning process since 2021; Google says that I am OK).
As a generalist, operator, and self-starter, he’s interested in both dirty sleeves hands-on stuff as well as in philosophical, bigger-picture questions, like speculating about AI ethics, next-generation Internet, emerging world order, and the future of the venture capital industry.
Filip’s work in the field of open data was recognized by the European Commission and the Government of Serbia. Besides, he was invited to speak at more than 30 public events in 5 countries and his work was featured in many media outlets, including CNN (Brazil).
Believer in open knowledge/data.
What I’ve started (and why)
A friend, kidding: “Man, is there anything around that you haven’t started?!”
Many (especially new) friends get lost when I start talking about the things that I was working on and about the things I plan to do.
Seriously, I do love to start things and poke what’s around me, sometimes as a founder, but mostly as a co-founder. Bringing people together is one of my biggest superpowers. It’s also one of my favorite joys in life.
Here is the (incomplete) list of what I’ve started with a few contextual notes:
ZKML Serbia. Still a stealth initiative. In short: Kickstarting ZKML community in Serbia to advance the new, exciting field both locally and globally.
PeerSpace. Startup founder.
DeSci Belgrade. Community founder.
Evoke Writing. Co-founder, Strategy & (Business) Development, Writer.
Started as “Brave Content Writing”. The first company in the US. Wanted to experiment with writing for money.
Exited.
Corona Love Stories (2020) / online publishing project & totally unplanned startup
Corona Love Stories is a publishing project that supports international long-distance relationship couples during the Coronavirus pandemic. It was heavy for us LDR people when airplane traffic was down. Almost ended up as a full-time niche startup.
CO:IMAGINE (2020) / experimental collaboration platform
CO:IMAGINE is a science fiction collaboration platform founded to explore the future with artistic visions and storytelling grounded in science and technology.
A placeholder brand. Still sketching an alternative launch scenario. Covid-19 🙁 The ride should’ve started in Portland in April 2020. On hold, but revisiting once in a while. Probably launching late 2023 or q1 2024.
Focal Point Digital (2017) / web development shop
I’ve assembled a team of designers and developers, forming a company and onboarding first clients. Managed several dev projects from 0 to 1.
Exited.
Hacking Politics (2016) / hacktivism
I was inspired by what was happening in London, and I was really into hacktivism then.
I did two hacks. One in Belgrade and one in Sarajevo.
Realized it’s not safe (we had an unexpected police visit in Belgrade) and that there’s no cash to support the ecosystem development, hence not sustainable in the long run. Maybe I’ll come back to it in the future.
Connecting (2014) / non-profit organization
Let’s do something great for our city, let’s focus on the youth. We should definitely start with startups.
Connecting is a non-profit from Pancevo, Serbia, promoting entrepreneurship, startups, lifelong learning, and education for the 4.0 revolution.
Exited.
GAJP (2013) / public policy think-tank organization
Co-founded a policy NGO with colleagues from the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade. We did a lot of cool things first, like investigating drug policies in Portugal or the digital state in Estonia, or opening the theme of AI and politics.
Exited in 2018.
Zagadjeni Nacisto (2014) / grassroots political movement
My hometown was the most polluted city in Serbia, if not the whole Balkans region. The sky was painfully yellow for days one summer so we kickstarted a movement. We did a lot of creative cause campaigning. I was in charge of all the coordination and all online operations, and a few guerrilla hacks.
VOXER (2016) / media platform
An attempt to bring deliberative and participatory democracy to a local level by generating public discussions on relevant local topics.
I invested some of my cash in the project.
We couldn’t make it sustainable so we stopped.
“It’s Enough” (Pancevo) (2014) / political movement
A startup executive (dot-com boom) started a political movement in Serbia promoting things like the VC industry (non-existent at that time), tax reforms, and a fully transparent government. Was responsible for building the organization in the city of Pancevo, managing 20 people, and leading the election campaign.
I soon realized that I am not meant to be a politician. And definitely not in my twenties.
Techfugees (Belgrade) (2016) / humanitarian tech & hacktivism
The world and Europe were hit by the biggest humanitarian catastrophe after World War 2. Startup folks decided to try to help refugees with the smart use of technology.
Belgrade was the fourth city in the world to join the global movement. I founded the Belgrade chapter and did two hackathons, a lot of match-makings, and a few community events.
Smart and Simple Communications (Pancevo) (2014) / pr & marketing
A few friends started a very unsuccessful business. We had a great office though. Copy(writer). Directed one promotional video.
Selected clients and talks
Clients
Radio Free Europe (Prague) — Data Journalism in Western Balkans (2020), Data Journalism in Tbilisi, Georgia and Prague, Czech Republic (2021) // data journalism hackathons
Techfugees (Paris & London) — Techfugees Global Summit, Station F, Paris (2018) // conference program & workshops
Logikka (Belgrade) — Data Science for Entrepreneurs (2019) // project concept & project management
VoterSpace / Voterblockchain (US) — Blockchain for voting and elections (2018 & 2019)
NewGov Foundation (US) — Civic tech platform (2016) // fundraising, product
TechSoup (Poland) — Open Data in the Balkans region (Serbia) (2018) // project management
Data Science Conference (Serbia) — (2018 & 2019 & 2020 & 2021 & 2022) // conference hosting
Neowings (Germany) — Fundraising strategy (2020) // fundraising
I’ve also contributed to several Working Groups, collaborating with the government of/in Serbia.
Talks
“Open Data: Why, What, How & Wow” (Lecture) / Code Fest, Macedonia (April 2017)
“Development of open data in Serbia” (Lecture) / Kehl, Germany – conference organized by European Commision (September 2017)
“Venture Capital 101” (Lecture) / Pancevo, Serbia – Rotary Club meeting (April 2023)
“Why DeSci?” (Opening Keynote) / Belgrade, Serbia – World of DeSci: Belgrade conference
“Why open data”? (Lecture) / Vršac, Serbia (March 2018)
“What is open data and why should we care?” (Lecture) / Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (December 2017)
Belgrade Venture Forum: Open Data (Panel) / Belgrade, Serbia (October 2017)
“The role of technology in a humanitarian crisis” (Panel) / Point Conference, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo (May 2016)
“AI for Good” (Panel), Data Science Conference, Belgrade (November 2019)
“AI in Government” (Panel), Data Science Conference, Belgrade (November 2020)
“Fundraising 101” (Lecture), online/word (March 2021)
“AI in Public Services” (Panel), ICEDA project, online/ Western Balkans (June 2021)
“What does ethical AI actually mean?” (Panel), Data Science Conference, online/word (November 2021)
What others say about me
Britt Blaser: “Filip Milenkovic is a force of nature who deserves his own staff of logistics experts.”
Other interesting stuff
Startup Supermarket. We’ve organized the first summer startup school in Serbia in 2014.
Policy Days. I’ve conceptualized the public policy conference that gathers 150 people annually for the last 8 years.
Campaigning. Earned a few front-page media covers.
Impact numbers. Reached thousands through NGO activism and implemented more than 20 different, mostly educational programs.
“Bridging Serbia”. 10 writers from Portland, Oregon, and Serbia writing about Serbia. Published.
Published poet. I sent a poem once to an open call. They thought it was cool and published it.
Basketball. Almost professional. I was staying up all night to catch a piece of NBA action. My playing style? Allen Iverson!
Astronomy. Organized 3 astronomy camps and several events.
Web developer. I’ve created several websites.
Journalism. Published articles on electronic music festivals, internet business models and culture, tech, politics, and many other unrelated themes.
Parties. Organized countless, some were medium size (200 people). Adore electronic music. Mostly weird stuff. Love to dance.
Hackathons. Always a pleasure.
Press // because people will trust me more 🙂
Netokracija / Nova Ekonomija / Olbios Network / National Television Serbia (12:32) / Al Jazeera Balkans / CNN Brasil / Startit / N1 / Studentski Zivot
Why “never stops”?
Someone cool once told me that it’s one of the best domain names for a personal website. It’s true. It was a gift from one of the dearest souls who was – and still is – frustrated with my intensity and inability to stop.
I never stop because my mind never stops, and because if we’re doing/imagining/discussing something – I would prefer to go off-limits and all-in. Unfortunately, people who are ready to dance this way are rare 🙁
I also don’t ever plan to stop starting new, necessary things.
And I’ll probably be working on something on the day I die.