Over the past decade, ICT has been increasingly used to achieve development goals, and there's a need to leverage IT to assist government in achieving its top five priorities: health, education, rural development, crime and corruption, and decent work.
This is the view of Chose Choeu, president of the Information Technology Association (ITA), who will open the two-day ITA inaugural annual conference, taking place at Gallagher Estate on 22 and 23 April.
“The conference was created to ensure the ITA has access to its members and stakeholders on a regular basis,” says Choeu. “It creates an opportunity for the ITA members to dialogue with government on issues that impact the ICT industry.” He adds that it also serves as a communication platform for networking and educating businesses.
The conference is supported by the American Chamber of Commerce and the Black Information Technology Forum.
“The event focuses on the innovation of the ICT industry, and how it will assist government to achieve its five main priorities,” says Choeu. “I suspect the speakers will allude to the impact of the economic downturn in their presentations.”
When asked what the key focus for 2010 would be, Choeu said cloud computing is a hot topic. “We are planning a dedicated seminar on the subject in the second half of the year.” He adds that the IDC says: “there is a lot of hype and talk about cloud computing in the market, with promises that this is set to be the next silver bullet - the answer to everything, perhaps. But what is the cloud and how and when does one make use of it?”
He highlights that the ITA has recently made submissions to the cyber security policy draft, IPR Amendments Bill, Protection of Private Information Bill, and the ad-hoc committee on service delivery.
He concludes: “The ITA is in the process of building internal human capital so we have the ability to respond to legislation impacting our industry.”
The conference is best suited for chief information officers, government IT officers, chief executive officers, non-government organisations, and IT students.
Costs for attending the conference for ITA members are: Day one: R200; day two: R200; both days: R380.
Costs for non-ITA members are: Day one: R350; day two: R350; both days: R650.
For more information on attending the conference, entering into a sponsorship opportunity, or holding an exhibition, contact Nisha Pillay on +27 11 312 3040 or e-mail nisha@ita.org.za.
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