The event, comprising an exhibition and technology-focused seminars, will showcase products and services developed under the aegis of the Department of IT. The exposition will be inaugurated on 28 April by Indian Communications, IT and disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie. Dr R Chidambaram, principal scientific adviser to the Indian government, will deliver the keynote address.

With the objective of positing India as the hub for global R&D, the theme for Elitex 2003has been appropriately chosen as 'Moving up the Value Chain: India - A Global Destination for R&D.'

The seminar sessions at Elitex 2003 are related to the theme of Elitex and include technology incubation, global IP protection and partnership, emerging growth areas, innovation to enhance digital unite, R&D-led success stories and human resource development initiatives.

Seminar sessions will also cover enhancing e-readiness as well as technologies developed under DIT in electronics and IT. Besides creating awareness about DIT technologies, Elitex 2003 will also promote R&D industry linkages essential for the absorption of indigenous technology by the industry and for stimulating innovations. The seminar deliberations will be available online and web-cast on www.elitexindia.com.

The scope of the Elitex 2003has been enlarged to include official participation from European countries besides the Central and West Asia, Gulf, Latin American and SAARC countries. The official delegations of these countries will focus on the commercial potential and tie-up possibilities on the technologies and services available from India in a separate session during the seminar. Efforts have been made to have participation of all the member countries of Asia Electronics Info-Communications Union (AEIU).

A special session on enhancing e-readiness will focus the deployment of IT in the state governments. State governments will also exhibit the available and proposed e-governance facilities and the status or plans for IT in their respective states.

The report on e-readiness, an assessment of the deployment and usage of IT to facilitate citizen services and streamlining internal administration using IT will be unveiled at the event. The report, in two parts, one on IT deployment in state governments and the other on that in central government ministries and offices will help identify the gaps that need to be bridged for India to emerge as an IT ready nation.

The exhibition at Elitex 2003 will showcase the technologies and products developed under the aegis of the Department of IT. The participants will get an opportunity to interact directly with the technology developers. Special arrangements have been made to facilitate discussions with the scientists involved in the development of these technologies.