The first International Conference on E-Technologies and Environments Conference (ETEC08), which is organized by the Faculty of Computing and information technology at Sohar University in collaboration with Information technology Authority (ITA) of Oman and University of Nizwa. The conference will be held on Tuesday April 15th and Wednesday April, 16th 2008.

Dr. Salim Al Ruzaiqi, CEO of ITA is the Chief Guest of the conference and will deliver his key note address on the creation of the knowledge society of the Sultanate. He will address the Computer Science research community with updates on the various projects undertaken under the umbrella of eOman and create an active forum for exchange of thoughts and ideas. He will talk in depth about the capacity building initiatives with the hope to build strong partnerships in training programs targeting the entire community.

He will brief on the formation of the Information Technology Authority, its mandate to implement the national IT strategy through a range of infrastructure, e-services and capacity building projects. His presentation will detail the launch of major projects such as eGovernment services gateway Portal, ePayment Gateway, National Data Centre, Government Network, Security Infrastructure projects, E-Tendering project, Innovation Support Center, publication of standards and frame work for e Government, e-Legislation and other Capacity & Skills development programs such as Government IT Training and Community IT Training.

Speaking on the theme of e-Governance, he will delve into other areas of e-technologies that will form key components that create and nurture the e-environment of the Sultanate in a sustainable march towards a Digital society. Other papers that will be presented by technology experts in this conference are topics of interest such as m-Commerce, e-Governance, e-Learning, Telecommunication technology, Web Information Services, networks and image processing.

About ITA:

ITA is a Public Authority created by Royal Degree 52/2006. It endeavours to consolidate and implement the Digital Oman’s strategy and egovernment to transform the Sultanate of Oman into a knowledge-based society through activating communication and information technology, promoting government services, enriching business sector and enabling individuals to deal with digital services to achieve the social and economic benefits to Omani society. For more information to  email eoman@ita.gov.om.