Microsoft leaders forum opens in New Delhi

New Delhi: Gerri Elliott, corporate vice president of the Worldwide Public Sector at Microsoft, inaugurated the second-annual 'Microsoft government leaders forum' (GLF) Asia in New Delhi today, by announcing the debut of a world-wide network of 'Microsoft innovation centres' (MICs), designed to foster strong, self-sustaining local software industries.

"GLF Asia is an important forum to encourage dialogue between leaders throughout Asia Pacific in an effort to address our most pressing challenges," said Dayanidhi Maran, minister communications and IT. "We are pleased that Microsoft is working with governments to build partnerships to address the tremendous social and economic challenges we all face."

Speaking prior to the event, Bill Gates, Microsoft chairman and chief software architect, said, "We have a greater chance of accelerating social and economic development if we work collaboratively. Our shared goal is to help remove barriers to digital inclusion and enable people around the world to realise the full potential of technology - through education and skills development programs, community access, and the preservation of cultural and language diversity."

Elliott also announced that the 'Indian computer emergency response team' (CERT-In) would join the 'security cooperation programme (SCP) that provides a structured forum for governments and Microsoft to engage in cooperative security activities in the areas of computer incident response, mitigation of malicious attacks and collaborative educational activities. thi is part of The software giant's initiative to enhance computing safety and increase IT security awareness.

Elliott's keynote also highlighted how the collaborative efforts by Microsoft, local governments and other organisations have produced new training and educational programmes. These efforts are further enabling digital literacy and access to localised and other technology, as well as expanding government involvement in technology-related security.

During the two-day forum, government, academia and industry leaders from around the Asia Pacific and other regions will explore how they can use information and communication technology (ICT) to help their industries and organisations remain competitive in an increasingly connected, technology-driven world.

At the first GLF Asia, in Singapore in 2004, Microsoft had pledged to work more closely with governments and development organisations to extend the social benefits of technology to underserved communities.

Microsoft innovation centres
Microsoft's global network of 90 Microsoft innovation centres (MICs) is designed to foster strong, self-sustaining local software economies. Microsoft will operate the centres in alliance with local governments, academic institutions, industry organisations and software vendors, with the ultimate goal of fuelling long-term economic growth in regions where the centres are located.

Sanjay Parthasarathy, Microsoft corporate vice president for the 'developer and platform evangelism' group, announced the debut of the centres as part of the second annual Microsoft government leaders forum (GLF) Asia in New Delhi. The MIC network will begin serving local regions immediately from 60 existing Microsoft facilities in Australia, Brazil, China, Germany, Japan, Malaysia and other countries — all of which have aligned their programmes and services to help spur local software innovation and economic development.

An additional 30 MICs will be opened in 2006, with facilities planned in Korea, India and South Africa.

"We are especially pleased to be supporting the national IT goals of many of our host countries, including efforts focused on job creation, fostering innovation and entrepreneurship, and creating more competitive software ISVs," said Bill Gates, Microsoft chairman and chief software architect, prior to the GLF event. "We are listening to our government partners and strongly support their goal of long-term economic growth."

The centres, Microsoft says, will provide world-class facilities and resources for students, professional developers, architects, IT professionals and researchers. Hands-on labs and other programmes focus on technical and business skills development and spurring advances in areas such as 64-bit architecture, Windows Vista development and innovative application design. Partnership programmes build software-quality certification and assessment, support for student-led research projects, and proof-of-concept projects and workshops.