Business is ready to show off their best achievements on Cebit Bilisim Eurasia fair

- Hello Mr. Özer can you tell us what is awaiting visitors to the fair this year?

- The CeBIT Bilişim Eurasia is held this year from 24-27 October 2013 at the CNR Expo Fair Centre while the CeBIT Synergy Summit is organised at the same time at the WOW Convention Center. Support from BITKOM and Deutsche Messe AG in Germany add a new dimension to this year’s events. For its entire 3 days, the Summit will be broadcast live via tv.cebitbilisim.com to viewers anywhere in the world. CeBIT and Turkey occupy a strategic position between Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East and, at the same time, serve as a bridge between these regions. Thanks to its fast growing economy, Turkey is the rising star in the region, a status which positively reflects in the continuously growing interest in the CeBIT Bilişim Eurasia. 

CeBIT Global Conference Eurasia this year in Istanbul

This year, CeBIT Hannover organises the Eurasian leg of the German CeBIT Global Conference for the first time in Istanbul. The event will be held together with the CeBIT Synergy Summit. A large part of the 3-day event of  seminars, conferences and panel discussion will be broadcast live and interactively and can be watched from anywhere in the world. One objective of the event is to promote Istanbul and Turkey as an easily accessible regional information technology centre

The conference will bring together representatives from the public and the private sector, from civil society organisations and academia, ensuring participation of all stakeholders. The event will be attended by the Ministry of Transport, Shipping and Communication, the Information Technology and Communication Agency (BTK), BITKOM, Deutsche Messe AG, the Technical University of Berlin , P Global and Semor A.Ş., and bring together the leading Turkish and international experts  in information technology and communication.

Special session at the CeBIT Synergy Summit dedicated to innovation and entrepreneurship

This year, innovation and entrepreneurship, which have a great impact on our lives and are of vital importance for Turkey’ future, have their own dedicated agenda at the CeBIT Synergy Summit. The session’s aim is to bring together all parties with an interest in these issues under one roof. Participation of a high level representative of the Under-secretariat for the Treasury has also been assured.

Two giant Turkish projects take center stage at this year’s fair:  The “Fatih Education Project” and  the “Urban Transformation Project”.

The Fatih Project was initiated by the Education Ministry of Turkey with the purpose of ensuring equal opportunities in teaching and learning, and of advancing the use of technology at schools. Project beneficiaries are students at all primary and secondary school in the country.  The project will also provide the necessary internet infrastructure and equip 570,000 classrooms with interactive LCD boards. The CeBIT Bilişim Eurasia acts as platform for potential suppliers to this project.

Another project feature is tablet computers for all teachers and students. Teachers will receive training for the efficient use of the new IT equipment in the teaching and learning process, teaching programmes will be adapted to the new IT-based teaching courses, and new educational e-content will be created.  

At the CeBIT Synergy Summit, in an educational activity jointly organised with Istanbul University, geography teachers will receive content training in the context of the Fatih Project. It is planned to extend this activity and to deploy it to Anatolia with the aid of the CeBIT Anatolia IT Conventions.

The Urban Transformation Project will be supported with technological solutions!

Turkey is an earthquake-prone country with a large low-quality housing stock in danger of collapsing when the next disaster strikes. This situation has prompted the initiation of an Urban Transformation Project. The CeBIT Bilişim Eurasia offers mobile and smart technological solutions in support of this project. They are presented under headings such as “Mobile Municipal Services”, “Smart Buildings”, “Smart Houses”, “Early Earthquake Warning Systems”, and “QR Code and Enhanced Reality Applications and Information Sharing”. Interested parties will have the opportunity to hold direct talks with potential solution partners.

Other topics at the CeBIT Synergy Summit are NFC technology for easy monitoring of mass transport, and mobile ticket applications. The Summit will also address the issue of mobile communication infrastructure as part of the urban transformation project, well-planned placement of base stations, and urban aesthetics.

- Can you provide us more detailed information about the “Smart Cities and Smart Municipal Services” programme? What is the level of interest in this programme in Turkey?

- Thanks to CeBIT, over the last few years, the country has come to better understand the importance of information technologies in its transformation to an e-state and e-municipalities. Following a strategy of citizen-focussed service transformation, a cooperation based on information technology and communication has been initiated in all areas of public administration. With this system municipalities have made great savings in their use of time of resources. The economic value of cities has increased. The changes have made life easier for citizens, as it offers simple solutions for immediate contact with local administrations at all stages from cradle to grave as it were. Citizens can now benefit from municipal services wherever they are without being subject to office hours.  Another important advantage this system offers local administrations is easy detection of tax dodgers; this means integration of the shadow economy into the regular economy. In the words of a popular Turkish saying, this system offers a gain of 5 with an investment of 1.  In the light of its advantages, this system is now being applied even in small communities in Turkey. Since the state is switching its services to the internet, local administration had to follow suit anyway.

- How is the level of interest in the fair? Has it increased?

- CeBIT Bilişim Eurasia and the CeBIT Synergy Summit are now in their 14th year. True to their motto “Into the Future with IT of the Future” and “IT for Everyone”, these events are meanwhile recognised as the most important platforms in this geographical region.

Fair and Summit do not only serve the needs of the Turkish IT sector but of the Middle East, Russia and the CIS countries. Over the last years, the Turkish government has signed treaties with its immediate and distant neighbours that simplify trade, customs procedures, visa applications and travel. This also benefits the CeBIT Bilişim Eurasia, and this year we expect an increase in the countries that send visitors to the fair in Istanbul.

- How important is the CeBIT Eurasia for society as a whole?

- The fair is very important simply because it is the only one of its kind in the entire region. For neighbouring countries, in particular in the Middle East and central Asia, this event brings great advantages with respect to logistics and the development of economic ties. It also offers the opportunity to closely follow developments in IT technology and see the latest innovations at an incredibly economic price and under easy conditions. This is true both for participants and visitors…

- This year you expect more visitors than last year. What do you expect for the future – given the event’s popularity?

- Visitors no longer just come to see technological products. The focus is on IT technology, software companies and new programmes. And it is not only about the fair; the event offers a technology platform where participants and visitors generate strong synergies for the entire sector.  Last year’s fair, the 13th CeBIT Bilişim Eurasia, registered 143,728 visitors from 93 countries – a great success. With 98,292 professional / business visitors, international visitors from 95 countries, 6325 international visitors, international participants from 23 countries , and 10 ministers from Turkey, the KKTC and Poland,  the 4-day CeBIT of last year once again succeeded in gathering the IT world under its roof.  The CeBIT Bilişim Eurasia and the CeBIT Synergy Summit, which were organised as parallel events, attracted many participants and visitors. The Summit, which was sponsored by Türk Telekom, was attended by 4,170 persons. The Summit comprised 95 individual events: forums, conferences and panel discussions, with a total of 165 invited speakers. In view of the positive response we expect even more interest and more visitors this year. The Global Conference will certainly contribute to both interest in the event and its popularity.

- What are the benefits of the CeBIT for businesses in Turkey?

- The CeBIT offers solutions for almost every business, big or small. The Fair and the Summit are both dedicated to a range of current topics and present the current status and the latest development in these areas. Let me cite some of the event headings: “New Developments in Cloud Technology”, “IT System Security, “Virtualisation”, “Developments in Data Storage Media”, “Satellite Technology Meets IT”, “The Current Status in Printer Technology”, and “New Dimension Security in IT Security”. There simply is no other platform that offers such a wide range of contents and choice for manufacturers, service providers, solution partners and potential buyers. Its unique position alone gives an idea of the contribution of the CeBIT to business.

KOSGEB Support to continue

Our cooperation with KOSGEB will continue and increase in scope. We receive support from KOSGEB in two areas: One is B2B match making, in other words: invitation of foreign purchasing delegations. Last year KOSGEB, in cooperation with VE Deutsche Messe AG, invited business visitors from 95 countries. The second area is financial support to national companies that want to participate in the fair. This support has been increased with respect to last year to 120 TL per square meter [fm].

Thank you very much for your interesting interview. It was very informative. We hope that this year will be even more visitors and everyone will be satisfied with the results of the fair.