The Hon. Michael Scott JP, MP, Minister of Energy, Telecommunications and E-Commerce announced the 2009 World Information Technology Services Alliance Conference (WITSA) The Hon. Michael Scott JP, MP, Minister of Energy, Telecommunications and E-Commerce announced the 2009 World Information Technology Services Alliance Conference (WITSA) Conference, begins next week and Bermuda will be host to global leaders of technology, business and policy.
In November 2007, The Business Technology Division of the Chamber of Commerce in partnership with the Ministry of the Energy, Telecommunications and E-Commerce announced the successful bid to host the WITSA Global Public Policy Summit (GPPS) in Bermuda in 2009.
Minister of Energy, Telecommunications and E-Commerce the Hon. Michaels Scott said: “I am excited to see this conference come to fruition here in Bermuda. With delegates and speakers from organizations such as the World Trade Organization, the OECD, the World Bank and others, the importance of the conversations and exchange of information will be beneficial not only to our community but the world.”
Ronnie Viera from the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce said, “The final countdown has started and in a few days, the Business Technology division of the Chamber of Commerce will be welcome 150 people from 10 countries and as far away as Japan. We are truly excited that the time has finally arrived after 2 years of hard work.” Mr Viera went on to say, “In addition, we are pleased to be bringing so many people to the Island in a year when there have been many challenges in the tourism and retail sectors. Obviously an event such as this would not be possible without sponsors and I am very grateful to our sponsors who have been so supportive, in particular, our pinnacle sponsor, Keytech Ltd.”
WITSA is a consortium of more than 70 information and communications technology (ICT) industry associations from economies around the world. WITSA members represent over 90 percent of the world ICT market.
The Business Technology Division (BTD) decided this would be an appropriate initiative to coincide with Bermuda’s 400th anniversary and to showcase Bermuda’s success of using ICT to enhance global business.
In effort to involve young people in the conference, there will be 75-100 (15-18) year old students from Cedarbridge academy, The Berkeley Institute and private schools who will be attending the session on “does environmental policies hamper growth and can enlightened policies and Involvement Bridge the gap?” The students will be undertaking relevant research and having classroom discussions prior to attendance. After the conference the students will be expected to apply what they learned at the summit in follow-up discussions and in some cases future projects related to environmental issues and ICT.
Of particular note is a joint initiative between the Government of Bermuda, WITSA and Field Fisher Waterhouse, who will be hosting a session where the unique concept of Binding Safe Processor Rules (BPSR) will be introduced. The BPSR is a set of internal data protection rules that apply to clients’ data processed by service providers. This session hopes to discuss the concept and work with interested institutions and other international stakeholders to undertake the development of such a model. If the model meets the requirements of the EU data protection authorities, this could provide significant benefit for multi-national corporations and institutions sending data to the EU.
Unique as well, to the Bermuda event, The G-20 ICT Policy Network project team and WITSA will briefly present information on the G20 ICT strategic initiative and one of the lunch time key notes will be presented by the World Bank who will speak about “Trade Facilitation in a Post-Crisis World”.
The Bermuda WITSA GPPS 2009 Organising Committee will also be inviting conference delegates from overseas to actually plant a tree to offset their carbon footprint created by their travel to Bermuda.
The WITSA Global Policy Summit has attracted high profile speakers from some of the most influential organisations in the World relating to Information Technology policies and practices. In addition to the business sessions, there will be several networking opportunities during the various social events which will be held over the 4 day period.
Sheila Lines, CEO of KeyTech said, “The KeyTech group is proud to be the pinnacle sponsor of the WITSA conference. The WITSA conference is a real benefit to Bermuda as it underscores Bermuda’s position as a global player in IT and technology readiness. KeyTech understands the importance of IT to businesses around the globe – we are a technology company focused on providing the best of Bermudian communications technology through our sister companies LOGIC, M3, BTC and Cable Co. WE are looking forward to introducing industry leaders to our staff at this conference and encourage others to do the same.”
There are many local delegates attending the summit sessions, however, for those in the local business community who do not yet have tickets, time is running out. Please visit the summit website at www.gpps2009.bm to register as soon as possible.