Mate Beštek · Ljubljana ↔ Paris
For more than two decades, one question has guided my work: how can technology serve people when the stakes are real?
Follow the thread ↓00 / The through line
I began by connecting software. Then teams. Then hospitals, countries, medical devices, and health data.
Today, I connect clinical knowledge with AI—turning difficult, high-risk ideas into systems people can actually use.
The first connection
I started in software engineering, building the connective tissue of Slovenia’s e-government. Fifteen integrated systems taught me that the interesting problem is rarely one application—it is how many systems, organizations, and people meet.
Led an eight-person team, introduced agile practice, and managed 45 deployments.
The domain shift
Healthcare made interoperability human. The interfaces were no longer merely between machines; they shaped how clinicians worked and how patients moved through care. I led architecture and delivery across hospitals, borders, and research teams.
Guided initiatives involving up to 60 people across Slovenia, Italy, and the wider EU.
The national scale
At the Ministry of Health and National Institute of Public Health, I helped move national eHealth from documents into durable public infrastructure—aligning strategy, standards, security, governance, education, and cross-border exchange.
The national specifications I led were implemented as information systems still in use today.
The deeper question
My PhD at the IT University of Copenhagen reframed interoperability as a social and political question. “Democratizing Health Data Semantics” connected computer science with digital design, information systems, and political economy.
Developed a commons-based approach to productive work with health data semantics.
The product lens
At 3fs and with Getinge, I translated years of health-system knowledge into a practical product strategy for MedTech—helping an ICU device supplier work more naturally inside complex hospital environments.
Defined an interoperability vision, strategy, and tactics spanning product teams.
The next connection
At the Oncology Institute Ljubljana, the whole path converges: clinical practice, national infrastructure, research, data, technology, and change. I lead the cervical screening information-system R&D initiative and explore responsible AI for screening.
Took over a high-risk, stalled initiative and brought it to the start of production use.
Research / Ideas in public
My research examines the architecture, standards, and collective practices that make health information useful across institutional boundaries.
Beyond the system
“Curiosity gets me into difficult problems. Deep listening helps me understand them. Structure and persistence get them finished.”
01Interdisciplinary by nature: computer science, health, design, organizations, and political economy.
02At home between cultures: Slovene and Croatian roots, a life between Ljubljana and Paris, and a multilingual family.
03Grounded by music, art, travel, mentoring, and an enduring respect for what people actually say.
Education
PhD · IT University of Copenhagen · 2022BSc, Computer & Information Science · University of Ljubljana · 2007