On October 4-5 2007 Lviv (Ukraine) hosted an international event «IT Solutions for Competitive SMEs». Following 2006 seminar «Advanced IT Solutions and Competitiveness of SMEs in CEE», the 2007 edition was organized within the framework of the Extended Enterprise in Enlarged Europe (E4) EU-funded research project (coordinator – Fiat Research Center, Italy). Lviv Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Ukraine), companies Cognovis (Germany) and PPV (Ukraine) were the organizers with the support of Warsaw Stock Exchange (Poland) and Carpatair (Romania). Partners of the event included IT Directors Association (Ukraine), European Business Association (Ukraine), International Technology Channels Association (Germany), IT and Telecommunication Chamber (Poland), COMARCH (Poland), Complex (Ukraine).

The aim of the event was to contribute to the development of SMEs from Central and Eastern Europe, in particular industrial ones, by providing information and knowledge on available IT solutions, on-going research projects and funding possibilities. By creating learning and networking environment for representatives of different sectors of economy, the organizers tried to raise awareness on the existing and up-coming technologies and facilitate cross-sectoral collaboration. Such a format is a novel form of business events in the region. Increased number of participants in the 2007 event in comparison with the 2006 edition demonstrates the validity of such approach.

There were 23 presentations delivered over the period of 2 days. The event was attended by over 60 participants from 5 regions of Ukraine, Poland, Slovenia, Estonia, Germany and Belgium. Participants came from diverse sectors such as IT development, IT consulting, business consulting, research, and financial sector.

The event's agenda included several keynote presentations, including on opportunities for SMEs in the digital economy (Adam Turowiec, ITTI, Poland), on role of industrial clusters in industrial growth and place of IT innovation in this process (Dusan Busen, head of Business Interest Association, Slovenian Automotive Cluster, Slovenia), presentation on the effective IPO instruments and interconnection of innovative IT solutions and IPO process (Beata Jarosz, Warsaw Stock Exchange), presentation on the newly launched NewConnect trade platform for innovation companies (Lukasz Jagello, Warsaw Stock Exchange). Among the participants there were 5 IT companies, that presented their products and services (Innoware (Ukraine), COMARCH (Poland), SoftServe (Ukraine), IT-West (Ukraine), Management Solutions and Systems (Ukraine)), 2 consulting companies (Supremum, Elektra (both Poland)), 5 companies providing technology services for SMEs (Astelit (Ukraine), Complex (Ukraine), Uarnet (Ukraine), International Technology Channels Association (Germany), Sekwencja (Poland)). Participants learned about several research projects such as Extended Enterprise Management in Enlarged Europe (Cognovis, Germany), ToolEast (BIBA, Germany), PRO_NMS and ATVN-EU-GP (Center for Economic, Scientific and Technical Information, Ukraine), IST-World and ECOLEAD (Jozef Stefan Institute, Slovenia), projects of the IOS institute (Poland).

Participants of the seminar noted the importance of the event for the successful development of SMEs in Central and Eastern Europe, continuing integration and collaboration of different sectors of the economy and effective business networking. Beata Jarosz, Board member of the Warsaw Stock Exchange, mentioned that “it is important to put efforts in ensuring that this mutual interest grows into mutual benefits, as it leads to the development and growth of companies, to their bigger capitalization”. Richard Pytel, COMARCH sales managing director, stressed the increased importance of IT support that many young enterprises in the region require for their sustained growth.

The program and video materials (November 2007 onwards) are available at the event's official web site:
http://www.lcci.com.ua/E4/About_seminar_2007_ua.htm

Report on the 2006 seminar can be downloaded from:
http://www.lcci.com.ua/E4/E4_october/International_Workshop_Report.pdf