Friday January 25, 2008

IT giants coming to KL

DAVOS (Switzerland): Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Intel chairman Dr Craig Barrett will be among the eminent global personalities at the 16th World Congress on Information Technology in Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysia is the first South-East Asian nation to host the biennial event, often billed as the Olympics of ICT, from May 18 to 22.

Other personalities include Blue Brain Project chairman Dr Robert Bishop, International Telecommunication Union secretary-general Dr Hamadoun Toure, Dr Robert Atkinson of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, Robert Carter of FedEx and Douglas Merrill of Google.

More than 2,500 delegates from over 80 countries are expected to attend the meeting, which will address issues like technology’s impact on education, innovation, technopreneurship and the future of the Internet.

“The congress will bring the world’s ICT giants to Malaysia,” Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis told Malaysian journalists on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum annual meeting here.

He said Malaysia must continue to develop its ICT industry, particularly its technology entrepreneurs, as innovative knowledge could help drive the future economy.

Dr Jamaluddin said innovative strategies could be used to develop industries as the country could not just depend on exports of commodities like rubber and palm oil or its human expertise.

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