As a journalist at Computerworld Australia:
CeBIT Australia organizer, Jackie Taranto, has poured cold water on reports of a falling out between the trade show and the Australian Government, following NSW Premier Morris Iemma's refusal to open this year's show.
According to a report published in the Australian Financial Review this morning, Taranto had criticized what was said to be a governmental lack of leadership in building a thriving ICT industry.
But while this morning's report portrayed the souring of a five-year relationship between CeBIT and the Australian Government, insulting the government had never been her intention, Taranto told IDG in an interview this afternoon.
"What I stated wasn't totally out there; it wasn't meant in that way," she said. "They've [the NSW government] always supported and funded CeBIT Australia very strongly as an ICT event."
"We have a good relationship with the Australian Government," she said. "New South Wales [state government] has supported CeBIT from the beginning, and that's always been the strength on how we've grown the event here."
The NSW Department of State and Regional Development has remained a major sponsor of CeBIT Australia since its inception in 2002, through a partnership that involves both financial and promotional support.
The recently re-elected Iemma has declined to attend CeBIT Australia's May 1 opening in favour of a meeting with his new cabinet. His refusal will result in the first time since its launch in 2002 that CeBIT Australia is not ceremonially opened by the Premier of NSW.
Unfortunately for CeBIT organizers, this trade-show-first will coincide with another new development: the involvement of Christian Wulff, a prominent German politician with a 50 percent stake in the CeBIT's parent company, Deutsche Messe.
"It's a pretty big thing [for Deutsche Messe] to have invested in bringing CeBIT to Australia," Taranto said. "Controlling 50 percent of the interests of our organization is pretty significant, and he's [Wulff has] never been here, so it's a big thing for him to come, and he's bringing pretty serious investors here this year."
In efforts to develop relationships between Germany and Australia, Wulff has scheduled meetings with Prime Minister John Howard; Special Minister of State Gary Nairn; QLD Acting Premier Anna Bligh; and QLD Minister for Public Works, Housing and ICT, Robert Schwarten.
While confident that Wulff will meet with representatives of the NSW state government during his visit, Taranto said that CeBIT Australia is still in negotiations with Morris Iemma's office to arrange a meeting with the Premier himself.
With half of its shares controlled by the German City of Hannover, and the other half controlled by Wulff's home state of Lower Saxony, Deutsche Messe is owned entirely by the German government, whose support of the trade show in Germany understandably surpasses that of the government in Australia.
"CeBIT in Hannover is the largest ICT show. In Germany, you always have the chancellor opening it, and it's a pretty significant thing because of what the industry is valued at," explained Taranto, quoting global ICT industry turnover figures of $AUD33,000 billion per year.
Taranto recalled this year's Hannover show, where the German Chancellor was said to have pushed ICT as the country's number one industry, pledging up to 15 billion Euros in governmental support into areas such as research and development and cluster development within the next two years.
"When you go to these countries and you have the leaders of these countries really outlining the importance of this [ICT], it's pretty significant," Taranto said. "We'd like to see that [ICT] outlined as a forefront here [in Australia] as well."
"Australia is really advanced in innovation, and I think that we can do so much more, it's just that when you look at the areas that are happening offshore, internationally, we really need to get a push behind that," she said.
Industry bodies too have a part to play in advancing Australian ICT, Taranto said, emphasising the need for a peak body that could represent the industry to the government.
While organisations such as the AIIA and the ACS were said to be doing "really great jobs", Taranto said there is a need for further collaboration between the organisations to present one voice to work with the federal government.
"In Germany, for instance, there is BitCom, so the industry bodies amalgamated into one strong voice, and they have significant say in what happens," she said. "I think the AIIA and the ACS and others are working together towards that; we're not there yet, but it's definitely coming that way, so I think that's a very positive thing."
