14 - 20 February 2002
Issue No.573
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 14 - 20 February 2002 Issue No.573 |
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The future is here
As the tenth annual Al-Ahram Computer and Information Technology Exhibition (ACITEX), opened last week, Eman Youssef trekked down to Nasr City to see what all the commotion was about
It has been a year, so far, which has chimed with computers, technology, communications and IT. The Communications and Information Technology (CIT) revolution hit the nation with a bang as January 2002 rolled around, and the waves have retained their force and spark into this month too.
Egypt's commitment to CIT development echoed through ACITEX 2002
This year's ACITEX was the second big bash of the year, after Cairo Telecomp 2002 last month whose highlight was the launch of Free Internet. Al-Ahram's event was equally big, bringing together 200 companies and a rush of visitors.
Inaugurated by Minister of Education Hussein Bahaaeddin, Governor of Cairo Abdel-Rehim Shehata, Minister of industry, Ali Al-Saedi and Al-Ahram's Chairman of the Board and Editor-in-Chief Ibrahim Nafie, the four-day exhibit offered the latest high-tech gadgets and gimmicks, not quite free, but cheap -- relatively.
The event offered outsiders a flash-tour of the local sector, its plans, potential, and current projects.
One such project is Al-Ahram's recently inaugurated CD and DVD-manufacturing plant.
"The LE7 million factory will start production with an annual output of 36 million CDs", Nafie told Al-Ahram Weekly. "It provides a good opportunity to increase the Egyptian presence in international markets by producing high quality, secure CDs and DVDs that adhere to rigorous standards."
Production is expected to be expanded to 60 million as the market grows. And given the nation's signs of change, the expansion is sure to come.
"ACITEX has achieved great progress that can be felt easily if compared to the time when we first began 10 years ago," Nafie said. "Nowadays, we realise the awareness and concern given to the IT field from both the government and Egyptian society."
In recent years, CIT has become a government priority, with the quest to bridge the digital divide between East and West, rural and urban, becoming a key national concern. The surge in interest and importance stems from the global shift towards Marshal McLuhan's "global village" model, and the realisation that CIT and development now walk hand-in-hand.
Speaking to the Weekly, Nafie expressed his enthusiasm at the industry's potential, saying that national CIT awareness has finally started to take root and bud.
The awareness, he said, is evident not only from the number of visitors to the event, but also from the change in Egypt's watchdogs: the press.
"Our interest in computer-based journalism has grown rapidly," Nafie said.
"We are training our youth on what other countries have already been through a long time ago," Nafie said, stressing the need to speed up the process and intensify the task. Journalism being an industry focused around the processing of information, Nafie said that newspapers are increasingly appearing poised to give the web a critical role in newsrooms for news distribution.
"I really believe this is journalism's future; I think that we must pay attention to IT progress," Nafie said.
Appropriately, the 10th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence Applications (ICAIA'2002) was held on the fringe of the exhibition. A joint effort by Al-Ahram Establishment, the Egyptian Computer Society (ECS), the American University in Cairo (AUC), the National Committee of Information and Helwan University, the event is just another small reflection of the nation's commitment to becoming a regional CIT hub.
The addition to this year's event was a factor met with much enthusiasm given the slump following the September attacks on the US.
For the first time, APTECH LTD, Asia's leading provider of information technology training and software consulting, joined the event.
"We are pleased with the international participation in the exhibition," Nafie said. "I think their aim is to open new markets. We should benefit from the other countries' experience and create our own Egyptian production."
His belief is mirrored in the idea of establishing a joint venture between the federation of Arab journalists, Al-Ahram regional centre for journalism, and the press syndicate for the specialised IT-training of Egyptians and Arabs.
"The adaptation of the latest technologies in our establishment, and making contacts with the international institutions and universities concerning IT, are my aspirations for the near future," Nafie said.
CIT is indeed trickling its way into the historic institution, with web sites and portals now being buzzwords around the Al-Ahram buildings. The hope, for now, is that the vibes of the new year's big CIT bang, will retain their momentum throughout this year, and carry the enthusiasm from idea into reality.
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