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Basis SoftExpo ends with promises
The five-day long mega ICT exposition of the country, BASIS SoftExpo 2008, ended on Feb 18 with the view that there is no alternative to ICT. Several milestones were achieved in this year's SoftExpo. The show successfully drew the government's attention to various key issues and industry barriers. While inaugurating the fair, Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed touched on issues such as second submarine cable and internet pricing and promised that the government will work on such issues. More than 200 one-to-one matchmaking sessions between local and foreign companies took place in this year's show. TIM Nurul Kabir, convener of SoftExpo 2008, announced the date for next year's SoftExpo, which will be held from January 27-31, 2009. This year the fair drew nearly 1,00,000 visitors. They included people from different segments of the ICT industry such as local and multinational ICT companies, mobile application development companies, IT training institutes, public and private universities, IT consultants, foreign delegates, politicians and high-level government officials. Besides regular exhibition, more than 15 seminars, roundtables and workshops were organised by BASIS and other organisations. Delegates from 39 Danish companies interacted with 120 local software companies on the first three days of SoftExpo. Local firms have already submitted 15 pilot projects to the Danish companies. This matchmaking opened up a new window of opportunities for 20 Bangladeshi companies to develop their partnership. Delegates from seven Japanese companies also interacted with 41 local companies during the fair in a bid to expand their businesses in Bangladesh. Seminars became an integral part of the SoftExpo. At a seminar on e-learning, speakers unanimously agreed to build up public-private partnership to start a true e-learning process in the country. Another seminar highlighted the sustainable infrastructure development to flourish the ICT business in the country. Brig Gen M A Malek (retd), special assistant to chief adviser, said, "If the power of ICT can be harnessed rightly, it can significantly improve the productivity and performance of all the activities we do in every spheres of society". Manzurul Alam, chairman of BTRC said, "The government is sincere in spreading the ICT infrastructure facilities to rural areas and the government would provide subsidy for the users at rural areas. The government is also thinking of issuing license for call centres at a nominal price to encourage the youth to come to this business". Hua Du, country director of Asian Development Bank (ADB), urged women entrepreneurship to drive the ICT industry. Main attractions at SoftExpo 2008 were "Humanoid Robot" by International Islamic University, "Scheme Age Robot" by Khulna University of Engineering and Technology, "Sell to Net" SMS banking software by Upload Yourself System, "Process Light" -- a paperless office related software by International Office Machine (IOM), "Tally 9" by STM Vision Infotech etc. On the last day of the fair, BASIS donated computers to 15 Sidr affected academic institutions.
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