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Days of communication & co-operation in CENTROPE
In the field of digital technologies, all four CENTROPE countries present remarkable scope for development. The B2B Software Days (Vienna, March 2011) offer a platform for establishing contacts between companies and setting up cross-border networks to unfold CENTROPE’s full potential.
The networking and sharing of knowledge and expertise is the focal point of the B2B Software Days, which will take place in Vienna on 30 and 31 March 2011. Around 200 companies and stakeholders, mainly from the CENTROPE region, are expected. The event targets all companies, universities and research institutions interested in sharing new project ideas, technologies and business opportunities on software for B2B solutions.
Keynotes will be given by Vincent Ducrey, media adviser to the French government, and Josef Pichlmayr, CEO of Ikarus Security Software GmbH. While Michel Rosier (Gartner Europe) will report abort “Global IT Trends in 2011”, Roman Tolic, Co-President of “12 Entrepreneurs – The Movement”, will extend an invitation to “Discover Europe in Silicon Valley”. Face-to-face matchmaking meetings will be at the core of the B2B Software Days. On the second day, visits to Viennese competence centres and companies are scheduled. Participation costs nothing but gives a lot in return: the CENTROPE region offers ICT companies a much wider marketplace compared to their traditional local markets.
5,000 ICT companies & 36,000 researchers in CENTROPE
While the single CENTROPE sub-regions hardly have the critical mass to be competitive on the global market, their aggregate figures are quite impressive: about 5,000 ICT companies with more than 10 workers, employing of total of roughly 350,000 specialists, are based in CENTROPE; about 60 universities and research organisations run ICT-relevant institutes and departments, accounting for 36,000 researchers. Although many activities already exist, there still is much room for enlargement when the remaining institutional and legal barriers can be mitigated and mental and physical borders caused by national borders are overcome.
Generally, co-operation between universities and research institutions on the one hand and companies on the other hand is becoming more and more important for the production of knowledge and its commercial use; this applies especially to the ICT sector, where short product cycles require intense innovation and research activities. Furthermore, R&D institutions could tap new funding possibilities by supporting ICT companies with their know-how. For them, the slogan of the B2B Software Days – “a first step towards cooperation” – could become a giant leap.
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