Meet the Flink Forward Program Committee: A Q&A with Lorenzo Affetti

Flink Forward events are designed to embrace the community and knowledge sharing of Apache Flink® and everything streaming data! Flink Forward gives the streaming data community a platform to share their story and network with peers for collaborative innovation. Each year, we entrust a Program Chair (this year Ben Gamble, Field CTO at Ververica) with the task of assembling a dynamic Program Committee. The Program Committee Members are respected professionals from a spectrum of industries and all have great insights into Apache Flink and streaming data technologies. Together, they sift through community submissions; that form a large part of the Flink Forward program.

I sat down with Lorenzo Affetti, Staff Software Engineer at Ververica, and one of this year’s Flink Forward Program Committee members, to learn about his insights into data streaming technologies. 

1. Can you tell us a bit about your background and your journey in streaming data?

My interest in streaming data began during my Computer Science engineering studies at the Politecnico di Milano university. I was always drawn to distributed systems, and after completing my master’s degree, I saw an exciting opportunity to combine data processing with distributed systems, which was becoming increasingly relevant. That naturally led me to streaming data. From an academic standpoint, Flink stood out as the best streaming data system then, and I still believe that today. Streaming data has always been my true passion - and at Ververica, it’s all finally in motion.

2. What excites you the most about being on the Program Committee for Flink Forward Barcelona 2025?

What excites me most is the opportunity to review the talk submissions. As a committee member, you get a front-row seat to see how people are using Flink today and what they're envisioning for the future. This dual perspective of what’s happening now and what could be next is incredibly inspiring.

3. The theme this year is ‘The Future of AI is Real-Time’ - how do you see real-time streaming evolving in AI and data applications?

The way I see it, there are two key areas.

• Firstly, AI’s impact on streaming data for simplifying pipeline development. For example, replacing complex SQL with natural language.
• Secondly, streaming data’s impact on AI. This is where things get really exciting. Streaming data could enable real-time, on-the-fly model updates. Imagine AI systems that adapt continuously to every new piece of data. This is still a research challenge, but Flink could be the platform to bring it to life.

4. What kind of topics and speaker submissions are you hoping to see this year? Any particular trends or challenges in the streaming space that should be addressed?

For me, I’m especially interested in talks that cover:

• Flink use cases – delving into the specific value Flink brings to the organization, along with the features that contributed to the biggest impact. I am particularly interested in applications that go beyond analytics and touch other domains.
• Academic insights - If you're conducting research implemented on Flink, tell us why you chose it and what the results are.

5. What advice do you have for someone submitting a talk for the first time?

The best way to ensure your talk proposal shines is to be specific about why you chose Flink, how it answers the concrete challenge faced by your organization, and the real value that it delivers to your project.

6. What do you think makes a talk truly engaging and impactful for the Flink Forward audience?

Firstly, a concrete use case with clear examples of how specific Flink features helped solve a problem. The audience already knows Flink can process data in real-time. What they want to know is why you chose it and how you made it work. Additionally, academic talks can be exciting when they explore potential breakthroughs in Flink itself, even if they don't have a real-world use case behind them.

7. Can you share an example of a past Flink Forward talk that stood out to you? What made it memorable?

Yes! This talk by Aljoscha, one of Flink’s co-founders, really resonated with me. Aljoscha explained the concept of ‘time’ in Flink and how it’s treated as a first-class citizen. It just made sense.

8. What would you say to someone who’s hesitant about submitting a proposal?

Just go for it! You have nothing to lose! From my experience, it’s usually those who are really shy to share their story but decide to take the plunge, that often get accepted.

9. How does presenting at Flink Forward benefit speakers in terms of career growth and industry recognition?

Flink Forward is a well-established conference in the streaming data world. We receive a high volume of quality submissions and are selective about what gets accepted. So if your talk makes it in, it’s a strong signal to the industry that you know your stuff!