What at evening at MIT: Over 120 attend Boston Meetup
On Wednesday, November 11, 2026, more than 120 guests gathered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the Boston BiH Professionals Meetup 2026. MIT’s Ashdown House welcomed guests from across Greater Boston, New Jersey, Chicago, Tampa, Florida, and Vermont. Some flew in from as far away as Paris, France, and Brisbane, Australia.
The Bosnia & Herzegovina Futures Foundation (BHFF) organised the evening in collaboration with the Masic Lab at MIT, New England Friends of Bosnia & Herzegovina, and GIS People. Over three hours, students, researchers, engineers, entrepreneurs and other professionals met one another, heard from five keynote speakers and exchanged ideas about how to stay connected and work together.
A local welcome and a global outlook
The evening began with a reception in the Hulsizer Room, followed by opening remarks from Dr. Edhem Čustović, founder of the Bosnia & Herzegovina Futures Foundation. Zineta Borogovac welcomed guests on behalf of New England Friends of Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Igor Stjepanović spoke on behalf of GIS People, a software and geospatial solutions company. The partner showcase also featured Gruntify, an AI-powered platform for field operations.
Mirza Cifric introduced Cloud Health EuroVentures, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s first venture capital fund, which backs early-stage digital health startups in the Balkans. The fund has reviewed more than 100 pitches and made three investments. Cifric spoke about a challenge for founders looking to enter the US healthcare market: finding their first customers and turning that early interest into revenue. For people in the diaspora with experience in US healthcare, introductions to potential buyers and advice on how to sell can make a practical difference.
Five speakers, five perspectives
Prof. Admir Masic of MIT opened the keynote programme. His research looks to ancient building technologies for clues about how to design more sustainable construction materials today. Dr. Tarik Borogovac, an Applied Scientist at Amazon Web Services, brought a perspective from industry shaped by more than 15 years in AI, machine learning and data science, including leading a team developing generative AI applications.
In her talk Mindset for Success, Dr. Hanan Qasim, Science Manager and Head of Project Management at IonOptix, drew on her experience in research to talk about setting achievable milestones, keeping alternative plans and learning from experiments that fail. Her example of 15 failed protocols made the point concrete. Each attempt ruled out an approach and helped narrow down what to try next.
Ivana Dević, a Project Engineer at TRC Companies, traced her journey from Šnjegotina Srednja and Gimnazija Banja Luka to Dartmouth College and a career in energy engineering. At Dartmouth, her capstone team studied energy efficiency at the Dartmouth Skiway. Her work today ranges from assessing airport energy demand and EV charging needs to planning microgrids and battery storage and forecasting electricity demand. She invited guests to continue the conversation about applying to US colleges from Bosnia and Herzegovina, careers in energy and opportunities to work on energy projects back home.
Dr. Nermin Ibreljić, Founder and CEO of Esma Bio, shared his path from gene therapy development at Sarepta Therapeutics to founding a company focused on women’s health. He presented Esma Bio’s investigational RNA-based approach to endometriosis, which aims to act on disease processes within lesions while sparing systemic hormones. The programme is in early development.
Building connections beyond the meetup
Alen Corak also presented an update on the Bosnia & Herzegovina Futures Foundation Endowment Fund, an initiative to build lasting financial support for the Foundation’s work with young people in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
After the closing remarks and group photo, guests had more than an hour to continue conversations over refreshments. Students could ask speakers about their career paths, researchers and founders could compare experiences, and visitors from across the United States and overseas could get to know Greater Boston’s Bosnian and Herzegovinian community.
Thank you to our speakers, our partners and everyone who joined us at MIT. Whether you crossed the Charles River or flew in from another continent, we were glad to spend the evening with you.
