7th ICT and Multimedia Business Meetings: New Opportunities for the Sector
25 March 2008
Read by 2150 persons
Funded by Invest In Med, the Mediterranean Business Meetings in Tunis were organized by the El Ghazala Technology Park for Communication Technologies and Marseille Innovation. These days, which include B2B meetings for Tunisian, Algerian, Moroccan, and French companies, took place on Thursday, June 11th, and Friday, June 12th. The main objective was to strengthen partnerships between Maghreb companies and their French counterparts, network content production hubs in the Mediterranean region, and involve engineering schools in this dynamic.
This event, which brought together a large number of SMEs, aimed to encourage exchanges and the development of partnerships between participating companies, academics, and institutions. The goal was to strengthen the relationships of these actors with those in the financial sector.
Workshops, conferences, and business meetings were scheduled to connect supply and demand, fostering partnerships and open discussions on project financing issues and startup/investor relations. Eminent speakers were invited, including Christian Rey, president of the Marseille Innovation technology park, Lotfi Hamadi, head of international relations at the same park, Jean-Marie Micallef from the "Libertis" cluster based in Marseille, France, academics such as Yemna Syaeb Belhassen, assistant professor at Manouba University, and company representatives such as Mohammed Kossantini, engineering director at Assad, Didier Plas, CEO of the Genitech group, and Maher Keskes, director of "Stonesoft" for North Africa. These guests from various backgrounds participated in different panels that addressed current topics such as "corporate culture and the implementation of information systems," "information systems: what responses to good governance requirements?," and "information systems and the business environment: what strategies?"
With a few dozen Tunisian companies present, 5 other participating companies came from Algeria, 4 from Morocco, and 15 French companies specialized in IT professions such as network services, network access, switchless operators, specialized voice and value-added services, business software publishing, integrators, specific development (CRM, ERP) specialized in the transport, transit, and logistics sector, and other operators specializing in the design and manufacture of computer labs for direct or distance learning, or open-source software developers. Most of these operators, mainly from the Côte d'Azur region of France, sought partners in Maghreb countries, particularly Tunisia. The most sought-after professions were technical and commercial partnerships in the telecommunications, ICT, and multimedia fields. Most of the startups that attended were seeking export opportunities, such as Indial Concept, specializing in transport and seeking partners to market Trans'x services, CRM, and Progress Software for freight forwarders, carriers, and logistics companies in Tunisia and North Africa.
Some other companies came not only for offshoring but also to initiate other types of partnerships where the expertise of Maghreb countries, particularly Tunisia, is sought. This was the case, for example, with the president of the "Libertis" cluster, specializing in open-source software and related services such as service and open-source solutions in CRM or Business Intelligence, who sought to develop partnerships with institutions and industrial players by adopting a concept allowing them to benefit from the cluster's know-how for creating local projects in open-source software. Obviously, these were win-win partnerships.
This was the 7th edition, following six others held in Tunisia, Morocco, and Marseille. These meetings are partially funded by the Invest In Med Consortium, which, with a budget of 12 million euros, promotes Euro-Mediterranean integration and clearly prioritizes funding for projects in new technologies. In addition to this support, the event benefits from the Ubi-France label, which also promotes such meetings to establish business, subcontracting, and franchising relationships. The program also included thematic workshops aimed at explaining the ICT context in Tunisia and the business opportunities available.
Posted on June 15, 2009
africanmanager.com
This event, which brought together a large number of SMEs, aimed to encourage exchanges and the development of partnerships between participating companies, academics, and institutions. The goal was to strengthen the relationships of these actors with those in the financial sector.
Workshops, conferences, and business meetings were scheduled to connect supply and demand, fostering partnerships and open discussions on project financing issues and startup/investor relations. Eminent speakers were invited, including Christian Rey, president of the Marseille Innovation technology park, Lotfi Hamadi, head of international relations at the same park, Jean-Marie Micallef from the "Libertis" cluster based in Marseille, France, academics such as Yemna Syaeb Belhassen, assistant professor at Manouba University, and company representatives such as Mohammed Kossantini, engineering director at Assad, Didier Plas, CEO of the Genitech group, and Maher Keskes, director of "Stonesoft" for North Africa. These guests from various backgrounds participated in different panels that addressed current topics such as "corporate culture and the implementation of information systems," "information systems: what responses to good governance requirements?," and "information systems and the business environment: what strategies?"
With a few dozen Tunisian companies present, 5 other participating companies came from Algeria, 4 from Morocco, and 15 French companies specialized in IT professions such as network services, network access, switchless operators, specialized voice and value-added services, business software publishing, integrators, specific development (CRM, ERP) specialized in the transport, transit, and logistics sector, and other operators specializing in the design and manufacture of computer labs for direct or distance learning, or open-source software developers. Most of these operators, mainly from the Côte d'Azur region of France, sought partners in Maghreb countries, particularly Tunisia. The most sought-after professions were technical and commercial partnerships in the telecommunications, ICT, and multimedia fields. Most of the startups that attended were seeking export opportunities, such as Indial Concept, specializing in transport and seeking partners to market Trans'x services, CRM, and Progress Software for freight forwarders, carriers, and logistics companies in Tunisia and North Africa.
Some other companies came not only for offshoring but also to initiate other types of partnerships where the expertise of Maghreb countries, particularly Tunisia, is sought. This was the case, for example, with the president of the "Libertis" cluster, specializing in open-source software and related services such as service and open-source solutions in CRM or Business Intelligence, who sought to develop partnerships with institutions and industrial players by adopting a concept allowing them to benefit from the cluster's know-how for creating local projects in open-source software. Obviously, these were win-win partnerships.
This was the 7th edition, following six others held in Tunisia, Morocco, and Marseille. These meetings are partially funded by the Invest In Med Consortium, which, with a budget of 12 million euros, promotes Euro-Mediterranean integration and clearly prioritizes funding for projects in new technologies. In addition to this support, the event benefits from the Ubi-France label, which also promotes such meetings to establish business, subcontracting, and franchising relationships. The program also included thematic workshops aimed at explaining the ICT context in Tunisia and the business opportunities available.
Posted on June 15, 2009
africanmanager.com
