CeBIT Australia 2008, the local incarnation of the world's biggest ICT trade show, opens in Sydney tomorrow with this year's fair expecting 35,000 visitors including 1,500 from overseas, according to Jackie Taranto, manager of Hanover Fairs Australia, the company behind the show.
This year's CeBIT will include forums on innovation, open source, e-government, e-marketing, SEO, IP comms and e-commerce, with speakers including the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy Stephen Conroy and the Finance and Deregulation Minister Lindsay Tanner as well as representatives from IT giants such as Google and Sun.
The fair will also include approximately 750 ICT exhibitors showcasing their products across the five square kilometres of floor space at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre in Darling Harbour. CeBIT Australia is in its seventh year.
Taranto dismissed criticisms that CeBIT Australia was a consumer show, noting the conference ran Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with a standard entry cost of AU$65 dollars.
"[CeBIT Australia] had never been a consumer show," Taranto said, rather it's a "serious business show, with a range of agencies showcasing their services and packages".
Taranto said Hanover Fairs Australia, subsidiary of the German government organisation which runs CeBIT globally, has invested AU$4 million to put on the show, now in its seventh year.
CeBIT Australia 2008 runs from 20 to 22 May — Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week.
