Representatives of Simscape Development Corporation have returned from the Hong Kong Information Infrastructure Expo and Conference with two strong business development opportunities and a potential for a third opportunity.
The invitation to company representatives Scott Ferris, Terry Smith, and Bob and Gloria O'Rourke to attend resulted from their attendance at Softworld '99 in Vancouver in November, 1999.
"Simscape was one of three Atlantic Canadian companies and one of 17 Canadian companies invited to the Canadian Pavilion at this international event," said Minister Mitch Murphy, Department of Technology and Environment. "Simscape's presence and success in Hong Kong has furthered the profile of the capabilities and skills of our IT industry."
Participants in the Canadian Pavilion, organized by the Consulate of Canada in Hong Kong in cooperation with Industry Canada, focused their presence on the E-commerce, multimedia and IT in Education to the more than 150,000 visitors to the major event.
IT Education is amongst the most promising sectors of opportunity, as the Hong Kong education system is shifting its program delivery from a largely textbook-based teacher-centred environment to a more interactive and learner-centred approach. The Government of Hong Kong has made a significant commitment to implement a five-year strategy to promote the use of IT in schools.
"This shift in Hong Kong's education system provided Simscape with an exceptional opportunity to showcase our unique capabilities, including web portal development and software development," noted Scott Ferris, Director of Marketing. "We also bid on an important piece of educational courseware development in the E-commerce sector as a sub-contractor."
SoftWorld '99 was a networking conference designed to give participating companies and agencies a forum to showcase their IT capabilities, venture into developing markets and strengthen businesses in the global knowledge economy. Again this year, Team PEI will have a strong presence at Softworld 2000 in Halifax with 40 people representing 28 provincial Information Technology companies.
The strategy for information technology development in the province focuses on complementing existing operations, and attracting new IT companies to expand the breadth of products and services available for export under the "Made in PEI" brand.
"I congratulate Simscape on their achievements and for once again demonstrating that Island IT companies can compete successfully for business anywhere," said Minister Murphy. "As more and more IT sector companies seek out global showcasing opportunities, intuitively, our provincial IT strategy will move forward."