IT CONFERENCE PITS PROS AGAINST SCHOOL KIDS

Old and new IT exponents wrestled over robots at the annual conference of the Australian Computer Society Canberra in late March.

Local school students took on Society members in a challenge to design and program LEGO robots to solve given problems as ACT participants in the global First Lego League, which has grown into one of the largest science and technology programs worldwide.

Opening the conference at the Hyatt Hotel, ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope said that in 2009 more than 140,000 children in 56 countries around the world participated in the League, and it underlined the value of the conference’s key theme ‘Sharing Ideas – Delivering Visions’.

“The theme reminds us that innovation and advances in all fields of human endeavour require sharing in one way or another,” Mr Stanhope said. “In our case that means close collaboration between the local ICT sector and the ACT Government.

“The Government recognises the strategic importance of the sector to economic development and productivity and it supports the sector's growth through a range of business programs and activities.

“ICT is a thriving industry sector in the ACT with over 1,000 innovative small ICT and large multinational companies based here creating employment for thousands of workers.”

Keynote speakers at the conference included Ann Steward, Australian Government CIO, Matt Yannopoulos, Chief Technology Officer, Department of Defence, and Anthony Wong and Bruce Lakin, President and CEO of ACS respectively.

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