Welcome

On behalf of the Program Committee, it gives me great pleasure to welcome all participants to the Baltic IT&T 2010 Forum: eBaltics, which has become a well known traditional meeting place in the region, where senior officials from leading ICT companies and from all levels of government come together every year in April, to exchange information on prevalent topics affecting the ICTE industry and information society in the Baltics and beyond, within the European and global contexts.

This year’s Conference will focus on some of the concerns that Chief Information Officers face in the current atmosphere of economic turmoil and reduced budgets. One of their top challenges is information technology security and privacy, including topics such as operating systems security configurations, protection of current IT assets from unauthorized intrusion and data theft, and document security solutions.  A discussion about optimization of ICT infrastructures and services inside organizations will take place during the CIO session, showcasing the best practices.

The seminar “Research, Development and Innovations - To Facilitate ICT Export Growth of Latvia”, on 22 April, will address ICT research priorities and strategies in Latvia and elsewhere in Europe, innovation and technology transfer models, as well as export development and foreign market penetration prospects. Opportunities and barriers for ICT RTD in Latvia will be analysed, and actions for the development of innovative technologies and solutions will be proposed on the national and European levels. Best practice and case studies from academic research institutions and ICT industry in Latvia will be presented, as well as experience from other countries.

This seminar is organized by Latvian Information and Communications Technology Association (LIKTA), in cooperation with Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA), and supported by European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

May all participants take full advantage of the opportunities offered by the Baltic IT&T 2010 Forum!  I take this occasion to thank all the session and workshop organisers, partners, session leaders, speakers, and panellists for their most valuable contribution in making the event a success.

Imants Freibergs
Latvian Information and Communications Technologies Association (LIKTA)

“The Role of Innovation for Economic Growth”

Innovation for economic growth, move towards knowledge economy has always been important issues that the world has been paying attention to and actively discussing.

Looking from a historical perspective of the world’s economic development, one can see that innovation has always been closely linked with economic development. Each major leap forward in economic development has been accompanied by improvements in existing innovations and the emergence of new innovation.

I am sure that the main motive force of knowledge based economy is innovative activity, which promotes the use of the newest science and technology achievements. Today success of entrepreneurs mostly depends on the ability to compete by producing value added and export-oriented products. That is why the issue of innovation as well as investing in innovation has become a policy priority and critical challenge for many governments worldwide, including Latvia.

To this purpose the Ministry of Economics continue to implement a variety of innovation support activities. Support is provided both for new products and technologies development and introduction into production. Activities have been implemented to facilitate technology transfer and commercialization. Attention also is paid to promote private sector investments in R&D&I activities, and to inform entrepreneurs and society about role of innovation for increase of competitiveness of companies as well as for economic growth in general.

Economic growth practice tells us that innovation is an inevitable choice for us to face the challenges. That’s why we need more actively explore ways to promote economic growth through innovation.

I am confident that seminar devoted to the research, development and innovations for ICT industry growth will be very productive and will guide us all not only through theoretical issues, but also will facilitate practical experiences.

Juris Pūce
State Secretary, Ministry of Economics of the Republic of Latvia