John Grant speaking at the AIIA Board of Directors dinner.

John Grant, Managing Director Data#3, has been elected Chair of the Australian Information Industry Association at its 29th Annual General Meeting held last Thursday.  

John has replaced former Chair, Peter Kazacos who moves to the position of Immediate Past Chair, after two successful years at the helm.

John said he was very enthusiastic about his appointment, particularly at this time when there are abundant opportunities in the ICT industry.

“AIIA has long been an active and vocal champion of the ICT industry and to be elected Chairman of its National Board is a great honour,” said John.

“Issues like broadband will play a crucial role in the upcoming Federal Election. Beyond that, AIIA believes that ICT deserves more recognition at all levels of politics.”

John has an extensive background in the ICT industry dating back to 1984 as a founding director of Data#3.  He has since taken over as CEO of Data#3. He has served as a member of numerous advisory boards such as the Federal Government’s ICT Advisory Board and Queensland Government’s Ministerial Advisory Group.

AIIA CEO, Sherlye Moon, echoed the sentiments of her colleagues and was delighted to welcome John to the Association’s Chair at a time when ICT was so crucial to the future of Australia.

“John is and has been a fantastic advocate for the ICT industry for decades.  He has the knowledge, experience and expertise you need to succeed in such a competitive industry and is a role model for other SME enterprises.” said Ms. Moon.

“ICT will be the key to helping solve Australia’s pressing issues such as the environment and national skills shortage and John will play a vital role in the future success of the Association, its members and ICT industry,” Ms. Moon added.

New appointments to AIIA’s Board were Lou Martini from ISA Technologies in WA and Rod Vawdrey CEO Fujitsu Australia and New Zealand.

More information on the makeup of the Board can be found at AIIA’s website (www.aiia.com.au).

Software and Internet Business Process Systems. Are they patentable? When does one infringe the patent? Is the situation different in Europe and USA from the position in Australia?
 
On Thursday 22 November these and related issues will be considered at a half day seminar arranged by Tech IP Professional Development on
 
Information Technology Patents - Current Position in Europe, USA and Australia.
 
The seminar will be addressed by leading international speakers from UK, USA and Australia.
 
The seminar is endorsed by Australian Information Industry Association, Australian Computer Society and Victorian Society for Computers and the Law.
 
Event details

 
Program Brochure, Speakers' Profiles and Registration Form: available at www.techip.com.au/itpatents

GS1 has been developing a new bar code symbology with retailers around the world. Called GS1 DataBar (formerly Reduced Space Symbology, or RSS), it is now a global standard with a sunrise date of 1st January 2010.

In Australia GS1 is teaming with Australia’s leading supermarket retailers, namely Woolworths, Coles & Metcash, with the support of leading ICT Associations (AIIA, AEEMA and ADCA) and the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) to profile this imminent global rollout.

Centrelink is organising a series of Employment Expos across Australia - particularly for communities in regional and remote Australia.

The main objective of the Expo program is to promote information about real jobs, and jobs pathway opportunities – a ‘Jobs Marketplace’.

The Federal Government is looking for ICT companies to partipate.  The aim is to create diversity in the workplace, with an emphasis on the Indigenous working age population.  This is a great opportunity for ICT companies looking at hiring indigenous workers at a time when the skills shortage is starting to bite hard.

It costs nothing to be a part of the expo and will be attended by ambassadors Michael O' Loughlin and Arthur Beetson. 

Australian organisations have made little progress towards improving their performance on innovation in the past 12 months, according to the Fujitsu Innovation Index 2007. The Index, which was launched today, fell from 64/100 in 2006 to 63/100 in 2007 despite the fact organisations increased spending on innovation by a considerable 37 per cent in the past 12 months.

The AIMIA Awards, the longest running and most prestigious awards in Australia’s interactive media industry, are now open for entries!

Sponsorship opportunities are now available for 2008 AIIA events.  If you’re interested in putting your company’s name on some of the ICT industry’s biggest and most exciting events, please contact Tania Crosbie for more information.

AIIA Welcomes our New Members and profiles them each week in the "Our Members' News" section of the Bulletin.

We encourage everyone to view these profiles each week and see if our new members products and services are of value to your organisation - possibly as a service provider, supplier, educator, consultant, alliance or business partner.

Waugh Partners is hosting a "Meet the Open Source Industry" breakfast event in every capital city around Australia, where you'll hear about the value of Open Source, meet the local industry vendors in each city, and hear about the Open Source Industry and Community Census - the biggest ever research project into the dynamics and metrics of the industry and community behind Open Source in Australia.

The event is a breakfast event with time for networking afterwards. Please click through to RSVP to the event in your city.