CeBIT Australia 2009: Global Conferences Unveiled

With five specialist ICT conferences featuring more than 120 local and international speakers at the CeBIT Australia 2009 business technology event being held at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre from May 12-14, the CeBIT Global Conferences program starts in Australia as the largest technology industry summit held in this country.

Hannover Fairs Australia Managing Director Jackie Taranto said the CeBIT Global Conferences brand brought the full promotional reach of Deutsche Messe AG’s 90 offices around the world to the CeBIT Australia events, and positioned the company to invest in new markets in Australia.

Ms Taranto said the CeBIT Global Conferences launch in Australia – despite the tough worldwide economic conditions – would position the company to take advantage of the inevitable return to growth.

“Australia remains an incredibly vibrant and attractive market and the Australian Government has clearly signalled to the world with its A$43 billion National Broadband Network announcement that it is serious about the development of the ICT sector,” Ms Taranto said.

“So despite this being a difficult year, we are bullish about our prospects in this region. The NBN will create its own centre of gravity around ICT sector industry development and the CeBIT global brand will be there to help take some our best innovations to the world,” she said.

“The CeBIT Global Conferences platform gives us the flexibility to create new events in Australia and to leverage our trade promotional strengths and business contacts around the world – and in particular into the Europe Union, the world’s largest single market,” Ms Taranto said.

Since the first CeBIT Australia was held in Sydney in 2002, Deutsche Messe AG has spend more than Euro12 million promoting Sydney and Australia as an global ICT centre through the worldwide marketing of the event. The company has produced millions of pages of promotional material carry the CeBIT Australia banner, and tens of millions of email and website hits with targeted technology buyers around the world.

Since 2002, CeBIT Australia has hosted more than 4000 exhibitors and welcomed 189,000 business buyers through its doors.

Ms Taranto said she was proud that CeBIT Australia had provided the first real international exposure to a large number of local ICT companies.

“CeBIT Australia brings more international visitors to Australia than any other event in this country regardless of industry – and that has given some of our smaller innovator their first trade contacts offshore. And we’re delighted that some of these companies have thrived and grown with those contacts,” she said.

“This is an established event, and we really need to now leverage what we have here in taking both Australian companies to the world and bringing the latest offshore business technology to Australia,” Ms Taranto said.

Under the CeBIT Global Conferences Program at CeBIT Australia 2009:

Access 2009 – from broadband infrastructure and policy, unified communications systems, wireless integration to Voice over IP (VoIP) for small businesses to large enterprises – this conference helps you navigate communications technology – and deliver savings. This event sold out in 2008.

AusInnovate 2009 – Australia’s premier research-to-commercialisation conference, bringing together peak public sector R&D agencies with the elite of the business community. This conference has grown in regional stature, a must-attend for entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. The flagship conference, this event will sell-out.

Enterprise 2009 – Entirely new in 2009, this event is divided into two streams. The first addressing cost-saving business technology for large scale business like Cloud computing, virtualisation, CRM and SaaS, The second, for growing SME’s focuses on next generation eFinance, eCommerce, like eRetail 2.0, as well as practical sessions on managing complexity in IT environments.

WebForward 2009 – If you attend one conference in 2009, make it the two-day WebForward event. The multi-streams explore cost-saving and highly-effective post-2.0 business process around eMarketing, location-based services, rich media, email marketing, social media for business and much more. This event will sell-out.

e-Government Forum 2009 – Conducted by CeBIT Australia with the Department of Finance, this peak public sector technology event has never been more topical against the back drop of the Gershon Review and the increased interest in citizen-centric Web 2.0-style policy interaction.

Media registration for CeBIT Australia 2009 has now opened, offering print and electronic media journalists, bloggers and analysts access to the latest insider information and demonstrations on technology trends and techniques.

Media are encouraged to register for the show as soon as possible at: http://www.cebit.com.au/press/media-registration.html

Media access includes free entry to the exhibition, access by accredited representatives of media organisations to the full Global Conference Series, and use of the Media Centre facilities, including a blogging zone and interview area, on the show floor.

Press contacts:

CeBIT Australia is the largest business technology exhibition and conference event in the region. CeBIT Australia 2009 will be held from May 12-14 2009 at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre at Darling Harbour. For more information on CeBIT Australia, please visit www.cebit.com.au.

CeBIT Australia is organised by Hannover Fairs Australia, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the global trade group company Deutsche Messe AG. Hannover Fairs Australia also assists Australian companies in attending other international events organised by Deutsche Messe AG across the world. For information about other please visit www.hannoverfairs.com.au.