Recession shadow on premier IT event

Recession shadow on premier IT event

Nagesh Prabhu
Venue of ‘BangaloreIT.biz 2009’ shifted from Palace Grounds to hotel
No entertainment, cultural programmes at the 3-day event that will begin on November 11

Govt. to save 50 p.c. of cost by shifting to hotel

Bangalore: The economic recession appears to have taken its toll even on the country’s premier annual IT event — BangaloreIT.biz 2009 — with the Karnataka government shifting its venue from the Bangalore Palace Grounds to a hotel.

The three-day event, which will be held from November 11, will focus on “Information and Communication Technologies for a billion people.”

“The venue has been shifted from Bangalore Palace Grounds to Lalit Ashok. The decision to change the venue is to reduce the infrastructure cost substantially and bring a sharp focus to the event through multi-track conference and facilitating a B2B platform for the delegates and exhibitors. Entertainment and cultural programmes, and golf tournament will not be held this year,” said Ashok Kumar C. Manoli, Principal Secretary, Information Technology, Biotechnology and Science and Technology.

The government is expected to save about 50 per cent of the cost by organising the event in the hotel.

The 12th edition of the event will be inaugurated by Union Minister of State Information Technology and Communications Gurudas Kamat. The event would focus on business to business (B2B) and create a platform for small and medium entrepreneur business.

800 delegates to attend
The conference would attract 800 delegates and 90 experts from different industry verticals. This year, the exhibition at the event would witness participation of about 100 firms, including IT majors and SMEs, and emerging IT nations. A large delegation from Chile is participating for the first time,.

Industry leaders such as Azim Premji, chairman, Wipro Technologies Ltd. and Padmashree Warrior, Chief Technology Officer, CISCO Systems, U.S., will participate in the inaugural function.

Nandan Nilekani, who heads the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), would deliver a vision talk on November 13 as a part of Vision 2020 Leadership Series, which is the highlight of the event.

Minister for IT&BT, Excise and BWSSB Katta Subramanya Naidu said that the theme of the event would address increasing impact of IT in the life of every citizen of India.

Mr. Manoli said the conference would focus on energy, healthcare, telecom, embedded electronics, governance, global information system, education, women in IT and Young Entrepreneurs’ Start-ups in Soaring Spirits (YESSS).