Hanoi, 14.11.2008 – More than 80 IT experts are gathering today at "Drive for change", a conference on Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) held at Horison Hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam. Carried out as part of the FOSS-Bridge EU-Vietnam initiative, this event is organized by InWEnt - Capacity Building International of Germany, INRIA, the French National Research Center in Computer Science and Automation, and IOIT, The Institute of Information and Technology of Vietnam, with funding from the European Union and the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
"Deploy your own FOSS Strategies for outreach and business" is the main message of this one-day public event - a unique opportunity for decision makers, managers and ‘Free and Open-Source Software' advocates to discover the values of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) for Vietnam and learn about the results of FOSS-Bridge EU-Vietnam.
"Drive for change" features a range of experts from Europe and Asia, who are giving up-to-date background information on Free and Open Source software usage in Vietnam and Europe, as well as key ideas on how to deploy organizational FOSS strategies in Vietnam. This event is also a chance for delegates of enterprises and intermediaries to receive advanced training material on opening new businesses based on Free and Open Source Software. "FOSS is about connecting people and businesses through knowledge. We are therefore most pleased to see that more and more players in Vietnam cross the bridge towards free and open source software", state organizers Vu The Binh of IOIT and Balthas Seibold of InWEnt.
This conference is the culminating point of the initiative FOSS-Bridge EU-Vietnam, which has been promoting Southeast Asian software industries and cooperation with Europe through innovative collaboration on FOSS and business development since 2006. Overall, the programme has brought together more than 50 IT-companies from Vietnam and Europe for matchmaking and twinning, and about 100 FOSS companies and organizations are registered in the online network at www.foss-bridge.org. FOSS Bridge EU-Vietnam has successfully prepared more than 20 Vietnamese IT-intermediaries and IT-SMEs to spread key knowledge on how to make business based on FOSS. Says Christophe NEY, FOSS Expert and Lead Trainer of the high-level train-the-trainer program: „I am really enthusiastic about the commitment of so many professionals and the impact of their outreach work. Continue to drive for change!".
For further information, please contact
Mr. Vu The Binh, IOIT
Email: binh[at]netnam.vn
Post address: 18 Hoang Quoc Viet, Cau Giay, Hanoi, Vietnam
Fon +84-4-7564907
Mobile +84-(0)-9 0343 4477
Fax +84-4-7561888
Or visit our web platform on www.foss-bridge.org.
Background information
1) FOSS Bridge Eu-Vietnam in a nutshell: The main goal of “FOSS Bridge EU-Vietnam - Joint Business through Free and Open Source Software" is to strengthen Southeast Asian software industries and to boost cooperation with Europe through innovative collaboration on FOSS and business development. FOSS Bridge Eu-Vietnam is an ASIA-Invest Programme implemented by InWEnt – Capacity Building International of Germany, Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (INRIA) of France and the Institute of Information Technology in Vietnam (IOIT) of Vietnam with financial support by the European Commission and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
2) Information on the implementing partners: The international consortium of InWEnt - Capacity Building International of Germany, the French Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (INRIA) and the Institute of Information Technology of Vietnam (IOIT) is implementing FOSS Bridge “EU-Vietnam”:
InWEnt – Capacity Building International, Germany, is a non-profit organisation with worldwide operations dedicated to human resource development, advanced training, and dialogue. Our capacity building programmes are directed at experts and executives from politics, administration, the business community, and civil society. We are commissioned by the German Federal Government to assist with the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations. In addition, we provide the German business sector with support for public private partnership projects. Through exchange programmes, InWEnt also offers young people from Germany the opportunity to gain professional experience abroad. (www.inwent.org)
INRIA - is the French national institute of research in information technologies whose missions are to undertake basic and applied research, to design experimental systems, to ensure technology and knowledge transfer and to organize international scientific exchanges. INRIA is a strategic partner of the OW2 Consortium, an independent and international industry consortium working on more than 100 Open Source Software (OSS) projects in the domain of software infrastructures (middleware). OW2 was founded in January 2007 as a result of the merger of the ObjectWeb community and its Chinese counterpart OrientWare. As a cofounder of the former ObjectWeb Consortium, INRIA is actively contributing to the launch of OW2. (www.inria.fr)
IOIT – Institute of Information Technology – the leading IT research and implementation institute in Vietnam, belongs to the Vietnamese Academy of Sciences & Technology (VAST). With more than 30 years of experience working in the IT field, its 200 employees, amongst 60 of which hold a PhD and more than 10 of which are professors, IOIT has been leading in many research IT fields in Vietnam such as internet and networking, patent recognition, automation, etc. IOIT has conducted many significant projects related to FOSS, including the co-organization of an international FOSS conference for e-Governance – COSGov Vietnam in 2005. (www.ioit.ac.vn)