Dhaka to host Asia's premier ICT event

With the invention of internet and the widespread availability of low cost information and communication technology (ICT) tools like cell phones, low cost computers, for the first time creates an equitable opportunity for Asia's large population. Some of the nations have already taken the path and have elevated their national growth to a higher level. The usage of ICT allows those nations to address issues like accessibility, capacity building and transparency in governance.

This year, Dhaka is hosting Asia's prestigious ICT event e-Asia 2011. eAsia 2011, with this year's slogan 'Realising Digital Nation' is the Asian Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) event with a conference part and an exhibition. The main objectives of these sessions are reinforcing technology and enhancing knowledge-centric growth. Additionally, this year an award category has also been introduced to recognise the e-initiatives of the world.

This event commemorates the 40th birth anniversary of Bangladesh and celebrates the progress of Digital Bangladesh agenda of the government.

Digital Bangladesh vision proposes mainstream ICTs as a pro-poor tool to eradicate poverty, establish good governance, ensure social equity through quality education, healthcare and law enforcement for all, and prepare the citizens for climate change.

This is the first time in the history of Bangladesh that the goal of poverty reduction and human development has been taken by utilising ICTs. This idea was strongly backed by influential political powers of the country from the very top and enthusiastic support from common citizens at the bottom.

e-Asia is a premier Asian event that has been held in the Asian countries since 2006. The first e-Asia was organised in Bangkok, Thailand in 2006, and subsequently it was arranged in the following years in Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2007 and 2008. The conferences focused on the themes like, e-Gov, telecentre, digital learning, eHealth, m-serve etc. e-Asia 2009 with its slogan “Opportunities for Digital Asia” was organised in Colombo, Sri Lanka with the themes e-gov, digital learning, e-health, Telecentre Forum and emerging e-technologies.

The event provided the participants the opportunity to gain deeper understanding of technology advances in ICT. The past e-Asia events received sponsorship and supports from several international companies like Samsung, Intel, Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, Everonn, EMC, SAP, and many more.

The 5th annual eAsia 2011 conference and exhibition will take place in Dhaka on December 1-3, 2011. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to inaugurate the event while President Zillur Rahman is expected to be present at the closing ceremony.

The event is organised by Bangladesh Computer Council, ICT Division, Ministry of Science and ICT along with Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (CSDMS), India. It is co-organised by Access to Information (A2I) Programme at Prime Minister's Office.

Asian-Oceanian Computing Industry Organisation (ASOCIO), Bangladesh Association of Call Centre & Outsourcing (BACCO), Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS), Bangladesh Computer Samity (BCS) and Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB) as well as Bangladesh IT Journalist forum are also helping to organise the event.

The conference will consist of two plenary sessions and around 30 focused workshops, debates and seminars.

India, Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, China and Japan will have country pavilions along with two special pavilions from Nordic countries and NTF-II project.

There will be exhibition providing a great platform for knowledge sharing, showcasing projects, programmes and initiatives of government and private sector agencies and corporations, as well as for demonstrating innovative ICT products, solutions and applications for various domains covered under the scope of the event.

John E Davies, Intel global vice president and head of World Ahead Programme will address the university students in a special “Meet the Technology Leader” programme hosted by Professor Zafar Iqbal.

The opportunity of IT Freelance outsourcing has attracted a good number of youth to offer their service for the developed nation. To recognise their contribution as well as to identify the challenges and barriers a freelancer conference will also be held on the third day of the event.

GPIT is the platinum sponsor of the event while Huawei is the gold sponsor and Qubee is gold internet sponsor. The other sponsors are Cisco systems, Samsung, Katalyst etc. BRAC and BRAC University are in charge of the knowledge partner's responsibility.