eIndia2008
eIndia2008 gathers momentum
Thomex.com
For event organisers, Tuesday was the day of an untoward event – a fire broke out in Hall No. 7 of premier venue, Pragati Maidan. As a result, the ongoing tradeshow eIndia2008 had to move part of its show to the main hall. The cause of the fire, as alleged by one of the organisers, was a short circuit in the AC system.
eIndia, organised by Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (CSDMS) from July 29 to 31 was however able to move forward with a limp. Blaming the ITPO for the mishap, Ajit Kumar of eIndia said, "It was the callous and negligence attitude of the authorities that precipitated the situation. They should have carried out the tests before giving out the space to us, " Ajit said.
There was another event - Power Asia 2008 which was scheduled for Tuesday but had to be cancelled. Sanjay Gupta of Mcreative Events & Promotion, organiser of the show, said, "Our CEO met with an accident as a result we had to call off the event."
And for the visitors, a humid and hot weather played havoc. Adding to the woes were the processions of kawarias that made access to highways. This restricted many UP school authorities from attending the show.
But despite the unforeseen debacles, eIndia2008 witnessed a brisk attendance. One of Asia's largest shows on eGovernance and Digital Learning, the event was inaugurated by Ms D Purandeswari, Minister of State for Higher Education, Govt. of India.
Speaking on the occasion, Purandeswari said that digital divide was an ever increasing phenomenon because of misbalances in rural and urban areas. She said, "The Govt. is planning to provide US$ 10-laptops to students. Research in this direction is being carried out at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and the IIT Madras," she said.
The show which was attended by CEOs, experts, bank officials, teachers, education departments, etc. focused on governance, digital teaching, eAgriculture and eHealth. "The show has received good response from the exhibitors. There are 106 exhibitors including 27 from the overseas. We have increased the exhibition area to 9,000 sq m in view of the response," Ajit Kumar said.
On the first day, most of the exhibitors seemed satisfied with the response. Rahul Tiwari of Globus Infocom said the visitors he received were mostly CEOs and top officials of various organisations. "The show is very focused in its target and provides good exposure to companies which make tech-savvy products," he said.
Ashok Sharma of Promethean, distributor of UK-based Almoe products said exhibitors often confuse tradeshow with retail selling. “Some of them come here to sell their products and make quick bucks. Rather, it’s a place to exchange technology and content and showcase products,” he said.
Attending to a stream of visitors mostly from medical colleges and preparatory schools, Sharma said his company was facing tough competition from Chinese products which despite having no value, content and sound technology are popular because of their low-cost.
DV Prakash of Mindtech, a Dubai-based company with offices in Bangalore and Mumbai said that people were coming to the show in search of new technology. Prasad, a first-time participant in the show, received more than 75 visitors on the first day, out of which 35 were potential buyers. "It's a place to get updated on the latest product," Prasad exemplified his reason of participating in the show.
For some, the first-day was too early to draw a conclusion. Sandeep Saha of Educational Initiative said the best is yet to come during the remaining two days. He hoped that a clear trend will emerge on the second day. However, he was determined to participate in the upcoming shows as it leads to creating better product awareness.
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