Keynote speaker · Applied AI · Travel & hospitality tech
AI works when the data is ready. Most companies skip that part.
I'm Hakob Sharabkhanyan, Partner at Civitta. I spent ten years building travel and hospitality systems, from GDS and aggregator integrations to booking platforms. Now I help companies put AI agents into production, and I talk about what that actually takes.
Clean Data, Then AIWhy travel companies stall at the pilot, and the data foundations to fix first.
KEYNOTE AI · ALL SECTORS
Beyond the Hype: What AI Agents Can and Can't Do
AI agents are strong inside clear boundaries and fragile outside them. Using real deployments and real failures, this talk shows where agents earn their keep, where they quietly cost you customers, and how to draw the line before you ship.
What the audience takes away
A simple test for which work to hand to an agent
The three ways deployments go wrong
Why accountability can't be delegated to software
Business and product leaders
Business analysts, ops teams
Delivered at BA & Beyond 2026
KEYNOTE TRAVEL TECH
Clean Data, Then AI: Why Travel Companies Stall at the Pilot
Travel runs on messy data: PNRs, fare rules, room-type mapping, supplier content that never matches. Most AI pilots in travel fail on that layer, not on the model. This session lays out the data foundations to fix first and the use cases that pay back fastest.
What the audience takes away
The four data gaps behind most failed travel AI pilots
Six agent use cases that are safe today
A 90-day plan from data audit to first live agent
OTAs, TMCs, airlines, tour operators
CTOs, CDOs, product heads
TALK HOSPITALITY
Big-Brand Tech for Independent Hotels
AI has cut the cost of building software. That changes who can afford personalization, revenue management and direct booking tools. This talk shows independent and mid-size hotels which AI tools are now within reach, and how to prepare for guests who book through AI assistants.
What the audience takes away
Which chain-level tools independents can now afford
How AI assistants decide which hotel to recommend
What to fix on your website this quarter
Hotel owners, GMs, investors
Delivered at Hospitality Investment Forum
WORKSHOP LEADERSHIP
Build or Buy in the Age of AI
When an AI-assisted team can ship in weeks what used to take quarters, the old build-versus-buy math breaks. A practical workshop for executive teams deciding where to build their own AI capability and where to stay on the vendor roadmap.
What the audience takes away
A one-page build-or-buy scorecard
Where in-house AI pays back, and where it doesn't
A shortlist of two or three moves for the next quarter
Executive teams, boards
Half-day or 90 minutes
Watch
Talks and interviews
Interview at AI Week, MilanMedia interview on AI and business, 2026
Beyond the HypeKeynote, BA & Beyond 2026
Hospitality Investment ForumPanel, Yerevan 2026
Stages
CITY
EVENT
SESSION
STATUS
BUD
BA & Beyond 2026
Keynote: Beyond the Hype, what AI agents can and can't do
SPOKE · 2026
EVN
Hospitality Investment Forum
How AI puts big-brand digital tools within reach of independent hotels
SPOKE · 2026
EVN
FinTech Day Armenia
AI in financial services
SPOKE · 2026
WEB
Stanford GSB LEAD
Storytelling session on AI agents and accountability
Money20/20 Asia, BangkokHospitality Investment Forum 2026Panel discussionInnovation in construction panelOne-on-one meetingsWeb SummitWith the community
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AI agents are powerful inside well-defined boundaries. The companies that learn where those boundaries sit, earliest, will win. The essay behind my keynote.
I founded HackTech at 19 and grew it into a 70-person engineering firm with clients in more than 25 countries. A large share of that work was travel: aggregators, GDS connections, booking engines and the integrations nobody else wanted to touch. Civitta acquired HackTech in 2025, and I joined as a Partner.
Today I lead AI and digital transformation work across Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia, for private companies and public institutions. One idea runs through all of it: data modernization comes before meaningful AI. Skip it and the agent fails in production, no matter how good the demo looked.
On stage I keep it practical. Real deployments, real failures, and a clear takeaway the audience can use on Monday.
For programmes and introductions · 50 words
Hakob Sharabkhanyan is a Partner at Civitta, where he leads AI and digital transformation work across Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. He founded HackTech at 19 and spent a decade building travel and hospitality technology. He speaks on AI agents, data modernization and AI in travel. Stanford GSB LEAD alumnus.
For websites and press · 120 words
Hakob Sharabkhanyan is a Partner at Civitta, a European consulting and digital transformation firm. He founded the software engineering company HackTech at 19 and grew it to 70 engineers serving clients in more than 25 countries, with deep work in travel technology: aggregators, GDS integrations and booking platforms. After Civitta acquired HackTech in 2025, Hakob began leading AI, data and digital transformation programmes for companies and public institutions across Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. His core argument is that data modernization must come before meaningful AI. He has spoken at Money20/20 Asia, BA & Beyond and the Hospitality Investment Forum, writes on AI agents, and is an alumnus of the Stanford GSB LEAD programme.
Credentials
Education · certifications · awards
Stanford GSB · 2024–2025
Stanford LEAD Certificate
Executive programme in corporate innovation and leadership, Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Stanford GSB · 2024–2025
LEAD Intellectual Contribution Award
Recognition for contribution to the programme's learning community.
Russian-Armenian University · 2016
BA, Applied Mathematics and Informatics
The engineering foundation behind a decade of building software.
