Published on the 07/03/2013 | Written by Newsdesk
Cebit – the largest enterprise focused technology event on Australia’s technology calendar – kicks off at the end of next month. More than 30,000 visitors are expected for the end of an era event…
“Adapt or Die” is the overarching theme for this year’s Cebit 2013 conference and exhibition being held in Sydney from 28-30 May.
For Australian businesses the need to adapt or die is increasingly well understood given the decade-long rise in insolvencies. According to the Australian Securities and Investment Commission a decade ago, in 2001-2002 6411 companies entered external administration. By 2011-12 that had risen to an all time high of 10,757.
Adapt or die is also a particularly fitting focus for Cebit itself which will shortly have to follow its own advice.
The massive event, which is this year expected to bring together more than 500 exhibitors and over 30,000 attendees to both the exhibition and seven conference events, is now in its 12th year in Sydney – but this will be its last at the Sydney Exhibition and Conference Centre in Darling Harbour. From December this year the venue will close its doors as the State Government controversially tears down the buildings as it prepares to build a more modern facility.
Hannover Fairs Australia, which is owned by the German Government and stages Cebit, has been approached to relocate the event outside of Australia from 2014, but has yet to announce its decision. General manager Dan Smith said that the organisation hoped to make an announcement about the location of Cebit 14 in the next few weeks.
Innovation, agility and renewal will be a key theme at the seven-stream 2013 conference which will explore five key technology and business areas (business intelligence and big data; cloud computing; enterprise mobility; cyber security and supply chain and logistics) and two vertical sectors (government and financial services).
Two widely anticipated addresses feature US speakers who were intimately involved in Barack Obama’s re-election campaign last year. Harper Reed, the campaign’s chief technology officer will speak about the important role that cloud computing played, while Rayid Ghani, the chief data scientist on the Obama campaign is expected to reveal the campaign’s business intelligence and big data secrets.
