UNCTAD Information Economy Report 2012 presented at ICPE

On Thursday, 6 December 2012, representatives of the Government of Slovenia, academic and research institutions, and multinational and software companies attended the presentation of the UNCTAD’s Information Economy Report 2012: The Software Industry and Developing Countries. It is the seventh edition in the flagship series published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, which monitors global trends, related to ICTs from a development perspective and is focused on the role of software capabilities in accelerating progress towards a more inclusive information society. The event was organised by ICPE in cooperation with CeGD (Centre for eGovernance Development) and Mr Torbjӧrn Fredriksson, Chief of the Analysis Section of the Division on Technology and Logistics at UNCTAD.

In the opening of the event, the participants were welcomed by Mr Janez Podobnik, ICPE Acting Director General, who stressed the importance of the topic of UNCTAD’s report and that this event marked the first step of the renewed cooperation and partnership between ICPE and UNCTAD. ICPE is taking part in the field of information economy in the role of a networker between the diverse stakeholders in ICPE’s members states and beyond. Mr Janez Rogelj, Secretary at the Directorate for Economic Relations at the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology (Republic of Slovenia), presented the role of the Ministry for sustaining cooperation with UNCTAD and underlined the importance of multilateral cooperation in the field of ICT and development. Finally, the participants were addressed by Mr Blaž Golob, CeGD Director, who presented the successfully implemented projects in the field of eGovernance development and the importance of the software industry for the future of societies. Mr Torbjӧrn Fredriksson presented in more detail some of the most crucial elements of the Report’s findings, underlining especially the new trends in the software industry and their social-economic benefits throughout the world. You can download the whole report at UNCTAD website:

Information Economy Report 2012

You can download the powerpoint presentation of Mr  Torbjörn Fredriksson here.

The presentation of the Report was followed by a panel discussion on the implementation of the Report’s proceedings in international partnership building and cooperation, the panellists being Mr Fredriksson, Mr Tomaž Vidonja (CEO of the OpComm Programme, ICT Technology Network Institute), Mr Dejan Cvetković (Regional Technology Officer, Microsoft Central and East Europe), Mr Nino Novinec (Public Administration Executive, SAP Slovenia), Mrs Sonja Rnjak (Alliances Business Manager Sounth East Europe, Hewlett-Packard) and Mr Andrej Mertelj (Director, Datalab, Slovenia). The discussion was moderated by Mr Nenad Stanković, ICPE representative in Vienna.

(From left) Mr Janez Podobnik, ICPE Acting Director General and Mr Torbjӧrn Fredriksson, Chief of the Analysis Section of the Division on Technology and Logistics at UNCTAD