Information and communications technology (ICT) will be the smart pillar on which Malta's economy is based, according to IT Minister Austin Gatt.
Smart was a keyword that cropped up throughout the day on Tuesday during the EMCS conference, Working Smart in a Globalised World: SmartCity and participation in ICT business.
Dr Gatt delivered the keynote address at the start of the conference, in which he called for higher broadband connectivity in local homes and the need to take a long-term view to attract the right investment.
"Government has a clear vision of where it wants to go and we knew we could be giants in ICT," he affirmed. "We dared to dream and SmartCity was the result, looking beyond the first opportunity.
"SmartCity will present Malta with a unique opportunity to change its economic base. ICT is no longer about the ICT business per se but focuses on all avenues that exist."
The gaming industry would not have been attracted to Malta, with all the fiscal incentives, without an ICT backbone and the right IT people who service this industry 24 hours a day, Dr Gatt pointed out.
He urged participants not the think small and for Malta to behave like a smart island, with the entire economic momentum encompassing smart thinking, smart strategies and smart people.
EMCS chairman John Grech, who chaired the conference and was responsible for leading a lively discussion after lunch, said in his introduction that the value chain is being redimensioned with work being reallocated on an international basis.
The business model is changing, he said, urging those present to read the signs of the times and implement what they are telling us.
SmartCity Malta executive director Fareed Abdulrahman gave an overview of the global ICT industry, which is set to reach $4 trillion. Despite the tectonic shift in the industry towards India and China, with India attracting most ICT investment, there is a nearshoring wave coming to Europe.
"We see SmartCity Malta as an ICT hub and a bridge between north Africa and southern Europe," he said. "It is important to create unique value propositions and to differentiate Malta from other countries."
He identified Malta's strengths and weaknesses, pointing to the need for more clustered development and predicting that SmartCity would contribute 4 per cent of Malta's GDP.
Alessandro Gazzini, principal, Booz Allen Hamilton, Italy, gave some insights in the work his organisation carries out, two thirds of which are for governments, giving eight prerequisites for innovation zone success and focusing on developments in Italy.
University Rector Juanito Camilleri stressed the importance of finding a total solution for Malta, not a quick fix, and to create an aptitude for change. He called for an increase in research investment, and for indigenous RTDI (Research, Technological Development and Innovation).
"It is no use attracting top companies to Malta without attracting their RTDI," he said. He sees a symbiosis between SmartCity at Malta and smart Malta, and an opportunity for Malta to be a showcase site to demonstrate the technology of the future.
Professor Camilleri called for a stronger National Commission for Higher Education to make sure standards are maintained.
Sinan Vural, who hails from Turkey and is director of Muovo, an IT recruitment company, spoke of the importance for ICT companies to have resources on board very quickly after setting up and called for the implementation of a Blue Card visa as proposed for the EU to import knowledge workers.
He presented a case study of Googleplex, focusing on the way this company had a focus on its employees, and urged certain ideas to be replicated, including offering stock options and following latest trends in employment.
Adrian Said, chief coordinator of Competitive Malta gave a rundown of the World Economic Forum's Global Network Readiness Rankings.
Pierre Mallia, country manager, Microsoft, Malta, spoke on what Microsoft is doing with partnerships after four years of activity here. It has 16 Gold partners, 11 Certified business partners, 80 Registered partners and five Dynamic partners. It is contributing Lm38 million to the local economy, employed 4,000.
Having raised $16.5 million this year in venture capital funding for his year-old company, MuleSource Inc, Ross Mason, co-founder and CTO, called on the need for Malta to improve its up-front finance.
MuleSource has grown to employ 46 in 10 countries, with head offices in Malta, an office in San Francisco and developers in several countries. Over a million copies of its open source software have been downloaded with over 2,000 deployments in companies varying from financial services, control and operations systems, telecoms, eCommerce and government.
Once the software has been downloaded for free, the company offers subscription-based support, management and monitoring tools, indemnity and adopts the 'second sell' approach.
It will obtain a small amount of business with a typical client and then scale up the organisation. So far it has retained all its customers, who have renewed their subscription and obtained 75 per cent growth in their business.
Listing the advantages and disadvantages of doing business in Malta, Mr Ross listed low operating costs, good international tax incentives, a good work force and decent communication infrastructure among the pros; and too much bureaucracy for such a small country, still not having managed to open a bank account after four months, Malta Enterprise not being geared up for ICT companies, the resource pool being small and the need for a direct flight to San Francisco and New York among the cons.
The last speaker, Lawrence Micallef, head of strategy and business development at BoV plc, spoke on banking for the ICT industry.
Smart was a keyword that cropped up throughout the day on Tuesday during the EMCS conference, Working Smart in a Globalised World: SmartCity and participation in ICT business.
Dr Gatt delivered the keynote address at the start of the conference, in which he called for higher broadband connectivity in local homes and the need to take a long-term view to attract the right investment.
"Government has a clear vision of where it wants to go and we knew we could be giants in ICT," he affirmed. "We dared to dream and SmartCity was the result, looking beyond the first opportunity.
"SmartCity will present Malta with a unique opportunity to change its economic base. ICT is no longer about the ICT business per se but focuses on all avenues that exist."
The gaming industry would not have been attracted to Malta, with all the fiscal incentives, without an ICT backbone and the right IT people who service this industry 24 hours a day, Dr Gatt pointed out.
He urged participants not the think small and for Malta to behave like a smart island, with the entire economic momentum encompassing smart thinking, smart strategies and smart people.
EMCS chairman John Grech, who chaired the conference and was responsible for leading a lively discussion after lunch, said in his introduction that the value chain is being redimensioned with work being reallocated on an international basis.
The business model is changing, he said, urging those present to read the signs of the times and implement what they are telling us.
SmartCity Malta executive director Fareed Abdulrahman gave an overview of the global ICT industry, which is set to reach $4 trillion. Despite the tectonic shift in the industry towards India and China, with India attracting most ICT investment, there is a nearshoring wave coming to Europe.
"We see SmartCity Malta as an ICT hub and a bridge between north Africa and southern Europe," he said. "It is important to create unique value propositions and to differentiate Malta from other countries."
He identified Malta's strengths and weaknesses, pointing to the need for more clustered development and predicting that SmartCity would contribute 4 per cent of Malta's GDP.
Alessandro Gazzini, principal, Booz Allen Hamilton, Italy, gave some insights in the work his organisation carries out, two thirds of which are for governments, giving eight prerequisites for innovation zone success and focusing on developments in Italy.
University Rector Juanito Camilleri stressed the importance of finding a total solution for Malta, not a quick fix, and to create an aptitude for change. He called for an increase in research investment, and for indigenous RTDI (Research, Technological Development and Innovation).
"It is no use attracting top companies to Malta without attracting their RTDI," he said. He sees a symbiosis between SmartCity at Malta and smart Malta, and an opportunity for Malta to be a showcase site to demonstrate the technology of the future.
Professor Camilleri called for a stronger National Commission for Higher Education to make sure standards are maintained.
Sinan Vural, who hails from Turkey and is director of Muovo, an IT recruitment company, spoke of the importance for ICT companies to have resources on board very quickly after setting up and called for the implementation of a Blue Card visa as proposed for the EU to import knowledge workers.
He presented a case study of Googleplex, focusing on the way this company had a focus on its employees, and urged certain ideas to be replicated, including offering stock options and following latest trends in employment.
Adrian Said, chief coordinator of Competitive Malta gave a rundown of the World Economic Forum's Global Network Readiness Rankings.
Pierre Mallia, country manager, Microsoft, Malta, spoke on what Microsoft is doing with partnerships after four years of activity here. It has 16 Gold partners, 11 Certified business partners, 80 Registered partners and five Dynamic partners. It is contributing Lm38 million to the local economy, employed 4,000.
Having raised $16.5 million this year in venture capital funding for his year-old company, MuleSource Inc, Ross Mason, co-founder and CTO, called on the need for Malta to improve its up-front finance.
MuleSource has grown to employ 46 in 10 countries, with head offices in Malta, an office in San Francisco and developers in several countries. Over a million copies of its open source software have been downloaded with over 2,000 deployments in companies varying from financial services, control and operations systems, telecoms, eCommerce and government.
Once the software has been downloaded for free, the company offers subscription-based support, management and monitoring tools, indemnity and adopts the 'second sell' approach.
It will obtain a small amount of business with a typical client and then scale up the organisation. So far it has retained all its customers, who have renewed their subscription and obtained 75 per cent growth in their business.
Listing the advantages and disadvantages of doing business in Malta, Mr Ross listed low operating costs, good international tax incentives, a good work force and decent communication infrastructure among the pros; and too much bureaucracy for such a small country, still not having managed to open a bank account after four months, Malta Enterprise not being geared up for ICT companies, the resource pool being small and the need for a direct flight to San Francisco and New York among the cons.
The last speaker, Lawrence Micallef, head of strategy and business development at BoV plc, spoke on banking for the ICT industry.