"Strategic's 1st SouthEastern Europe IT FORUM 2001":
The "Irish Paradigm" in IT and Telecoms amongst the Key - Topics to be discussed in this major conference to be held on 18 - 19 June 2001, in Athens.

Athens, 1 June 2001 - The "Irish Paradigm", a model of successful economic development through the Information Technologies, will be presented, amongst others,  at "Strategic's 1st SouthEastern Europe IT FORUM 2001" which will take place on 18 and 19 June in Athens, at the Inter-Continental hotel. President of the Forum will be Mr Kieran Corrigan, member of the Executive Borad of IDA (Irish Development Agency) and additional speakers from Ireland will be Mr Hugh Logue, Mr Padraic Murray (Enterprise Ireland), and Mr Padraic Moran (HotOrigin). The forum, which is expected to be attended by more than 300 businessmen, top executives, policy makers as well as high-grade IT personalities from Greece, East and West Europe, will give a unique opportunity for contacts and discussions over its main topic, which is:

"The Great Transformation - IT and Internet are Rewriting the Business Rules in SE Europe".

Ireland is one of the four hot spots in Europe for software development. According to a recent survey of HotOrigin, there are more than 800 software companies in Ireland employing 2500 persons and contributing by 8% to the country's GDP. Government initiatives for the attraction of R&D programmes as well as for providing a low business tax environment led to the founding of more than 130 local software companies in the last two years and to the attraction of many international companies. The technologies and products are focused mainly on the areas of enterprise application integration, wireless applications, e-learning and CRM.

Graph 1:
Product categories produced by Irish software companies

Source: HotOrigin (2001)

The rapid development of Ireland in the IT sector has brought the country closer to the prespectives for entering a New, Digital Economy. We suggestively mention that the Strategic's National e-Transformation Readiness Index-SNETRI, developed by Strategic International, is 91% for Ireland, meaning that the country is only 9 percentage units away from the European average (opposed to 59 for Greece).

Graph 2:
National e-Transformation Readiness Index Ireland and Greece

Source: Strategic International, June 2001

The forum will provide unique data and analyses over the market of Greece and of the wider area and is structured in three distinct areas covering the whole spectrum of the Information Society. These areas are: Governing, Democracy and Information Society in SE Europe, the IT, the Internet and the New Business Rules for SE Europe, the New IT Generation: Profits and Opportunities for the Enterprises.

"Strategic's 1st SouthEastern Europe IT FORUM 2001" is held by Strategic International SA and is sponsored by the following important companies/ organizations of the IT sector like: Alphanova, CIN, DATAMEDIA, Delta Pliroforiki-Singular, Info-Quest and Oracle. Media Sponsors Include: International Herald Tribune/Kathimerini, Alter Channel, e-one, EPILOGI/economics.gr, NAFTEMPORIKI, and PC Magazine.

Information
For more information concerning "Strategic's 1st SouthEastern Euorpe  IT Forum 2001", visit the site of the forum http://www.strategic.gr/ events/ITForum2001

About Strategic International SA
The Forum is organized by Strategic International SA, a firm with long - standing experience in organizing international conferences. Strategic International SA (www.strategic.gr) is a Strategy Consulting firm specializing in Telecommunications, Information Technologies, New Media and the Digital Economy. The company has deep knowledge in the field, based on Market Research, Creative Analyses, International Customers and a strong network of partners in Europe. Main services include: Consulting, Market Research, e-business, Publications and Events.