The CONNECT-IT conference of our cluster was held for the seventh time in 2018. Like last year, our participants also had the opportunity to attend the Open4Business matchmaking event organized by the Pécs-Baranya Chamber of Commerce. This year we focused on three main areas:• the IT sector’s position and vision• Startup experiences• IT Security ChallengesIn the first plenary lecture, the founder of Codeberry, Mr. András P. Tóth, reported on the start-up projects that were mentored and gave some great advice on what aspects should be taken into account when choosing and validating a startup idea .Afterwards, Mr. Gábor Ligetfalvi, CEO of Hungarian National Trade House Inc. gave a lecture on the possibilities offered by the organization represented by him, with particular regard to the export strategy of Hungary for the IT sector.Following the plenary session, We invited start-up companies and their investors in the start-up section. During the open conversations, the experiences of both sides were heard. One of the start-ups in Pécs, Xoft (represented by Mr. Balázs Rádler), which received the investment from Széchenyi Capital Fund. In the second pair with the CEO of Chatler (Mr. János Szabó), and their investor, HINVENTURES, ellaborated their business relationship and the more pleasant and unpleasant side of the pairing.At the last section, our invited lecturers focused on IT security topics around IT security issues affecting the various manufacturing and service companies today. First, the founder of the well-known KÜRT Zrt., Dr. Sándor Kürti presented the experiences of recent years and the typical mistakes made by organizations regarding information security. In the course of the lectures, Mr. Viktor Bocsok (Ukatemi Technologies Llc.) Spoke about the issue of GDPR. An interesting area of ​​IT security discussed by the presentation of Mr. Péter Papp (kancellar.hu Zrt.), Which is also related to the issue of GDPR in accountability. The section was closed with the presentation of Mr. János Pálvölgyi (Big Data Kft.), Informing the participants about the possibilities of using and analyzing the huge amount of data in the industry. At the end of the event, a SMARTWARE.TECH co-organized a pitch contest, where early-stage start-ups measured their pitching ability.