Speakers

Dr Dušan Zalar is currently Secretary at the Ministry of Infrastructure of the Republic of Slovenia, employed at Public Transportation Division, Sustainable Mobility and Transport Policy Directorate.

Prior to employment in the public sector (from 2000 to present: Slovenian Roads Agency - Head of IT; Directorate for Transport - Secretary) he worked in the private sector (from 1979 to 2000: Iskra Delta - Hardware and Software Developer, Designer and Project manager; SKB Banka - Head of Communication Divison, SRC - Director of Banking Program, IT Consultant). From 2014 he is a lecturer of topics in Transport Ticketing Systems in courses on ITS at the University of Maribor.

For much of his career, Zalar has focused on the implementation of computer and information technology in different industry sectors. In the public sector, he worked on the implementation of the Central Register of Vehicles, the pilot implementation of Digital Signed Contracts, implementation of the Tachograph System and in managing IT. His academic research addresses the global integration of public transport ticketing system, the use of artificial intelligence in public transport and autonomous, driverless public transport services.

His current work addresses the transformation of public transport in Slovenia, more precisely with the establishment of the National Public Transport Authority in the form of Transport Management Company and further development of the countrywide single ticket for public transport introduced in 2016.

For his innovative work, Zalar has won a prize for invention from Boris Kidrič National Fund (1987) for the development of Trident (Slovenian: Triglav) microcomputer. It was manufactured by Iskra Delta and came to the market in 1985.

Zalar earned his B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering at the University of Ljubljana (1979), M.Sc. in Transport Science at the University of Maribor (2005) and PhD in Construction Information Technology (2016).