4 - 10 May 2000

e-Engineering conference discusses Internet opportunities

by Steve Chetcuti

A smart country-wide strategy has to be adopted to maintain competitivity in the technological field, engineer Alexander Tranter said at the ninth annual engineering conference held last week.

This, he continued, was essential to face the challenges and embrace the opportunities offered by the Internet without which the country faced stagnation and eventual economic decline.

"We must remember that with the advent of globalisation and the advent of connected economics, countries are being forced to compete for international investment, jobs, suppliers and market share," he said.

Delivering the welcome address at the ninth annual national Engineering Conference with the theme "e-Engineering", Mr Tranter, conference chairman, stressed the importance of the technological revolution.

"It is our chamber's aim that the conference will hopefully convince the yet to be convinced and motivate further the already convinced. The important and crucial million-dollar question is not whether the Internet will change our lives and our organisations, but when," Mr Tranter said.

Around 150 delegates from a number of private and parastatal companies participated in the one-day seminar. E-business was discussed and explained in the first session with PriceWaterhouseCoopers consultant Arthur Azzopardi and the chief information officer in the Prime Minister's Office, David Spiteri Gingell, delivering keynote addresses.

Companies involved in providing the necessary infrastructure which will facilitate the use of the new technology addressed the second part of the morning session while the afternoon session was taken up by companies which rely heavily on IT and have already re-engineered their way to addressing the challenges of the future.

The importance of information technology was also stressed by Communications Minister Censu Galea who said Malta had to be at the forefront of the developments taking place in the different technological areas to maximise the opportunities available in the sector. Mr Galea said the country could not simply say its systems were state-of-the-art but should make sure all developments in the field are introduced in Malta.

"Internet development has been able to reduce distances and to open the doors to a world library. It enables the exchange of ideas, from different poles of the globe, within minutes. Malta cannot be left out of this increasing means of contact and activity," he said. The minister said Malta's position in the technological sector today would not have been possible if the government had not invested heavily in telecommunications at the end of the 1980s.

"Imagine where we would be standing now with the mechanical switching system we had at the end of the 1980s," he said. Now, the

minister continued, we are on the verge of a new era with the publication of the Communications Authority Act approved by the Cabinet. The legislation, together with the liberalisation in the sector, will bring about new challenges to service providers, he said, apart from a considerable number of job opportunities.

Mr Galea also stressed the need to maintain high standards in the education sector. The minister said it was essential to give the engineering faculty the necessary tools and opportunities to remain up to date with developments, upgrade its curriculum and provide the facilities for research of new technologies. "The faculty of engineering should be the catalyst to create innovative advanced degree programmes including hands-on practise oriented degrees.

"These should not, however, be limited to the technical aspects but should include knowledge of financial and accounting practices, technological policy, management and decision making," Mr Galea told the conference participants. The minister said limited resources meant no fully-fledged research departments were available but this hurdle could be surmounted by sharing in international research programmes.