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CITI News: Springtime - Sept 2008


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Newsletter: September 2008
www.citi.org.za
Happy Spring day... One step closer to summer!


"Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises."

Demosthenes

SPRING NEWS

SynthaSite and Springleap have been selected as a finalists for The Industry Standards Innovation 100 Awards.

PLEASE VOTE for them!!

Voting ends 3 Oct and there is only one winner in each category - pls submit your vote today!


SynthaSite
SynthaSite is competing with other cool companies in the Community-Social category such as Delicious, Meebo, Get Satisfaction, etc...  Click here to vote for them!

Springleap
Cape Town based springleap.com is one of the 10 nominees in the Retail category going up against Amazon and some other amazing contenders. Click here to vote for them!
                                           
Much appreciated! For more information click here


www.synthasite.com
SynthaSite Offers New Array of Templates to Teachers in Time for Back to School

  Click here for the full press release
As education professionals return to the classrooms, SynthaSite, the leading do-it-yourself free Web site builder, today announced new design templates to ease teachers’ burdens and help them engage with parents and students.


Situated at 125 Buitengracht Street, Cape Town
5th Floor, (021) 409 7000
Contact person: Thuso v-thsego@microsoft.com
Microsoft Inter-op Lab - Invitation to all developers

Microsoft and CITI encourage software developers to visit the lab and make use of it. This initiative is free.


VELOciti: Calling on all start-up ICT Entrepreneurs!

VELOCITI is aimed at young IT entrepreneurs who are running a business where the true potential is yet to be fully exploited.
The business should have high growth potential and be able to become a Western Cape success story. At the end of the project, all participants will be provided with a certificate of completion and a letter of endorsement from CITI which could form part of your business plan.

CITI invites you to forward an application with the following:
Cost: This initiative is funded by Provincial Government of the Western Cape.

Applications with supporting documentation should reach CITI by Tuesday, 30 Sept 2008, and be addressed to the Project Manager, Tamzin Martin. Pls divert queries to Tamzin on 021 409 7000.



Become a CITI IT Associate:

The CITI IT Associates listing has been created to grow and promote the Western Cape’s ICT sector by displaying the innovative activities in this region. This FREE LISTING will benefit your organization to gain exposure to local and international opportunities.
CITI aims to:
  • Build linkages between stakeholders including firms, other sectors, government, educational   establishments and civil society
  • Grow the number and size of ICT firms
  • Increase the export of ICT products and services
  • Gather, organise, distribute and maintain information about the cluster
  • Influence policy formulation in the interest of the industry
All you have to do to join this exciting initiative is click here and complete the form as accurately as possible. For more information, please contact lorraine@citi.org.za


IT Service Management Forum

The itSMF is an independent, non-profit forum for people committed to quality IT services, to encourage the growth, standardisation and recognition of IT service management throughout the industry.
On the Home Page is a subscription link to newsletters, invitations etc. We encourage you to subscribe or join up as full members.


Join facebook and become a CITI Fan!

There are also other exciting pages to search for e.g. Synthasite, Skyrove, Freedom Toaster etc.


Ruby Brigade
Andy Duncan will give a talk describing the Rails based system he built during the recent Xenophobia riots to help NGO’s track attack victims.
Ruby Brigade Date:    Weds, 10 Sept
Venue: BWB Events Room, 125 Buitengracht Str
Time:   19:00 - 21:00

For more information click here
Spin
The Cape Town Software Process Improvement Network (CT-SPIN) is a non-profit leadership forum for the free and open exchange of software expertise, experiences and ideas, by creating a knowledge society based on all disciplines of software engineering.
Date:    Weds, 17 Sept
Venue: BWB Events Room, 125 Buitengracht Str
Time:   18:15 - 21:00

For more information click here
Everyone is welcome-no need to RSVP!

VC & Funding Seminar
SPII will be invited to present their venture capital funding schemes aimed at ICT companies. The Support Programme for Industrial Innovation (SPII) ) is designed to promote technology development in industry in South Africa through the provision of financial assistance for the development of innovative products and/or processes.


Click here for more info
Date:    Friday, 19 Sept
Venue: BWB Events Room, 125 Buitengracht Str
Time:    08:50 - 14:30
RSVP:  amanda@citi.org.za

Pls note there is no cost for this event!

What IT skills does corporate SA need?
ITWeb has partnered with the Joburg Centre for Software Engineering (JCSE) to bring you the 2008 IT Skills Survey and Executive Forum. The survey will go beyond the job vacancies to analyse the alignment between skills in place and skills required and the effectiveness of the approaches taken by practitioners and employers to close the gap.

We are looking for individual and corporate responses and the survey takes only a few minutes to complete on line.
CLICK HERE to complete the survey!

Please direct any queries to Adrian Schofield: Manager | Applied Research Unit | JCSE

www.itweb.co.za
www.jcse.org.za
ICT Skills Breakfast Seminar
Date:   Tues, 16 September 2008
Venue: Southern Sun, Grayston, Sandton
Cost:    Fees = R285.00 (incl vat)
Contact person: Maggie Pienaar
Programme & Registration form

International Association of Science Parks [IASP] World Conference
The Innovation Hub is honoured to host this 25th IASP World Conference - a ’first’ on the continent of Africa. The Programme and enrolments to date, are evidence that this Conference is a ’must attend’ for anyone in the world of Science and Technology Parks - including government policy decision-makers, researchers, and entrepreneurs.

Date:    14 -17 Sept 2008
Venue:  Sandton Convention Centre, Gauteng
RSVP:  Registration Form
Pre-Final Programme

For further information pls click here.

ITAC - Who’s Who in ICT Partnering Forum - September 23
ITAC’s Who’s Who partnering forum is a gathering of small and medium companies in an open environment designed to encourage collaboration, partnership and provides an opportunity to network with peers. Through table-top exhibits and one-minute pitches, exhibitors can showcase their company’s products and services.

Date:    Tues 23 Sept
Venue:  Metro Toronto Convention Centre
Contact person: Micheline Levesque mlevesque@itac.ca

For more information and online registration click here

WCITD’2008 - 2nd IFIP International Symposium on Wireless Communications and
Information Technology in Developing Countries
The organisers would be very glad if you were to join them for this 2 day event starting on October 6th in Pretoria. Several international speakers will  be presenting, including the keynote address by Dr Victor Bahl of Microsoft Research in Redmond, USA.

Date:    6 - 7 Oct 2008
Venue:  CSIR Conference Centre, CSIR Campus, Pretoria
RSVP: Online registration

For more information click here

TCI 2008: 11th Annual Global Conference of The Competitiveness Institute
Globally, local and state governments are realizing the power of local clusters, and are implementing initiatives to strengthen and foster the national and institutional structures that underpin them. TCI 2008 will focus on deepening the understanding of the role of clusters as the key building blocks of a modern innovative economy.
Cluster practitioners from government, industry and academia will share their experiences in running cluster initiatives and programmes.

Conference Fee (in Euro)

    * 3 day Conference payment due
    * Early bird: € 600 by 30 June 2008
    * Normal: € 650 by 31 July 2008
    * Late: € 700 after 1 August 2008

Fees include: 14% Vat, documentation, lunches, refreshments, welcome cocktail party, gala dinner and TCI membership fee for 2008.
Fees do not include:Travel and accommodation, tours or cluster visits

Date:    29 -31 Oct 2008
Venue:  Southern Sun Cape Sun, Strand Street
RSVP:  Natalie Smit registrar@sbs.co.za

For more information click here

Linux Tag: Europe‘s leading event for Linux & Open Source Event 2009
The future is open! Open Source is changing many industries, the way software is developed and how earnings are generated. Governments, SME’s and large corporations are discovering the benefits of Open Source while creating a rising demand in dedicated services and know how, to help modify, implement and maintain their systems. The LinuxTag in Berlin is Europe’s leading international Linux and Open Source trade show. This year it attracted 11,600 trade visitors from 31 countries participated in 250 work shops and forums and talked to over 200 exhibiting projects and companies. Come join us at LinuxTag 2009 and rock the world with open source.

Links to the event www.linuxtag.org and to the organizer www.messe-berlin.com
Date:      24 June - 27 June 2009
Venue:   Messe am Funkturm, Berlin, Germany ( Map)
Contact: HaukePlambeck: International Trade Fair  
             Marketing, SADC Representative of Messe 
             Berlin

Information on the 2008 event, click here
For more information on any of the above please do visit our website at www.citi.org.za