Members of 12 SEARCC nations stood side-by-side with glowing candles as they met for a conference with a theme “Collaboration for Inclusive Growth.” India is hosting the South East Asia Regional Computer Confederation conference or SEARCC-2011 in Mumbai on 12th & 13th December. The conference, which has been organized and hosted by the Computer Society of India (CSI) is being attended by delegates from SEARCC member nations such as Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Myanmar, Taiwan, Australia, Nepal, China and others. SEARCC was created by the UN in 1978 and established in 1988.

 CSI President MD Agrawal said the conference provides a great opportunity for collaboration and knowledge sharing. He acknowledged that the Indian ICT industry is vibrant and on a fast track growth. He said there is a good eco system provided by entrepreneurs, R&D, and there is the support of open-minded leadership. Agrawal will soon take over the responsibility as President of SEARCC.

“This is CSI’s third conference with the theme of Inclusive Growth. And we want to work on this theme increasingly. We want to partner with the Government and become a catalyst in the movement of ICT for inclusive growth,” said Agrawal.

Anthony Wong, President, SEARCC emphasized the importance of education and certification for ICT professionals.

“While ICT is advancing at an incredible pace, the threat to the smooth functioning of the systems is also growing and there are many challenges. However, we must continue to collaborate to generate trust in the ICT profession and the systems we build. The demand for ICT professionals continues to increase as the digital economy grows and the technology underpins more and more of our business and lifestyle outcomes. Increasingly, the skills, experience and professionalism of these practitioners will need to be verified in order to provide assurance to business and employees. It is critical that we provide the right level of ICT education and certification to ensure that professional standards are met. Asia is taking on a leading role in ICT and the ICT profession. There is a growing need for businesses for ICT certification and professionalism.”

Wong said countries like Malaysia have already realized the importance of this. The Malaysian Government recently introduced a Computing Professionals Bill to create a body for computing professionals in Malaysia. The Government of Malaysia has made it mandatory for all practicing professionals to be registered (with this body).

The Conference program has been designed to present and deliberate latest trends in ICT and the ICT role in providing solutions for Societal and Business Growth. Key sessions are in the areas of research, strategy, ICT solutions, global case studies of ICT solutions for inclusive growth; the role of collaborative and knowledge management technologies; opportunities for business to leverage ICT for better customer reach; and extending market to Bottom-of-the-Pyramid.

About 300 CIOs, CEOs, state level secretaries, and IT and business managers will explore opportunities for learning and collaboration along with senior Government officials and SEARCC member countries’ Presidents. IT Ministers from India, Bangladesh, Malaysia and PNG are addressing the conference along with 50 speakers from leading industries and research centres.

Plenary sessions will cover collaboration for driving innovation for inclusive growth and how ICT fosters business and transformation. Conference sessions are distributed across four tracks.

Also, there are special sessions such as the high power CIO/ CXO summit and the business Summit on Public Private Partnership - Partnership between CIOs and IT Secretaries (Ministerial Conclave).

SEARCC was founded in 1978. The last SEARCC conference was conducted in 2010 in Brisbane, Australia, in conjunction with the World Computer Conference. More details about SEARCC 2011 are available at http://www.searcc-2011.org/