The 17th BASIS SoftExpo kicked off at the Bangabandhu Bangladesh-China Friendship Exhibition Center in the capital’s Purbachal area on Thursday to showcase the country’s ICT capabilities and talents. Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS), the body of the flag bearers of $1.4 bn ICT exports from the country last year eying $5 bn by 2025 and $20 bn by 2031 stressed a rigorous collaboration among the government, industry and academia to reach the achievable goals. And the three tasks are research and development of the IT sector, the industry branding all over the world and the making of the necessary skilled manpower in the country, said BASIS President Russell T Ahmed at the inauguration ceremony of “the largest South Asian ICT exhibition”. “2025 is not too far. Neither 2031 nor 2041 is too far away. There are many possibilities in front of us. We should not miss the boat of that possibility,” he said. Our main objective of this arrangement is to show the potentiality along with capability of the local ICT institutions and BASIS can be the strongest partner of the journey towards a ‘Smart Bangladesh’ from ‘Digital Bangladesh’, he said. Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury inaugurated the exhibition at 11am on February 23 while Mustafa Jabbar, Minister for Posts and Telecommunications of Bangladesh, State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak, were present as special guests. In his address Mustafa Jabbar lauded the country’s overall achievement in the IT sector, saying “Now we should give more focus on the issue of exporting software and ITES-enabled services as it adds 100% value locally.” Zunaid Ahmed Palak said the Expo would play a significant role in promoting the country’s IT sector as well as achieving IT export target. In the fair, different programs will be held to take new initiatives along with expanding business. Over 800 high officials of corporate institutions are expected to attend the Business Leaders Meet program. Besides, grand inaugural and closing ceremonies, there are some special programs such as Ministerial conference, Ambassadors’ Night with the participation of Ambassadors and representatives of different countries, to be attended by ministers, IT Job Fair and Career Camp for giving info on job in the IT sector, B2B Matchmaking session, Freelancing Conference, Startup Conference, Developers’ Conference, Women in IT program and Japan Day. Besides, at least 18 seminars and technology sessions will be held with the participation of high officials of the public and private sector. The organizers of BASIS SoftExpo 2023 said that special campaigns have already been held at 50 universities in the country. There is an arrangement of special shuttle bus service for facilitating the visitors so that they can easily visit the venue. Besides, there is also an everyday concert, gaming corner, business lounge and food court. In this fair, display of robots is one of the most attractions for the visitors where a total of five university’s student including University of Dhaka, Brac University and Comilla University are displaying their robots. Over three lakh people including public and private policy makers, about 200 national and international speakers, high officials of public and private institutions, IT experts, IT businessmen of different countries, foreign delegates, IT users from home and abroad, and the interested youths are to attend and throng the fair venue. The four-day exhibition will end on Sunday.
Parliament Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Choudhury on Thursday said there is no alternative to developing software for building Smart Bangladesh. She said this country will become a happy, rich and smart one by 2041 under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, she said while opening ‘BASIS SoftExpo 2023’ organised by Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) at Bangabandhu Bangladesh-China Friendship Exhibition Center in Purbachal (Narayanganj) on the outskirts of the capital. “One of the foundations of Smart Bangladesh would be making citizens smart and they will have to be proficient in using information and technology,” she added. Post and Telecommunications Minister Mustafa Jabbar and State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak addressed as the special guests at the opening ceremony of the exposition. BASIS president Russell T. Ahmed presided over the function, while Convener of BASIS SoftExpo 2023 Abu Dawud Khan delivered the welcome speech, said a Parliament release. Dr Shirin Sharmin said the country’s dependency on software is increasing. “But the invention of new information technology is constantly challenging our capabilities. To face this challenge, the youths will have to be made skilled and qualified human resources.” She thanked Zunaid Ahmed Palak and BASIS for bringing the hard copies of questions and answers in Parliament under a software system. The Speaker said the use of information technology through e-filing has also started in the official work of the Parliament Secretariat. BASIS members, local and foreign ICT experts and IT entrepreneurs, among others, were present in the event.
Bikroy is participating for the first time in the largest regional technological exposition, Basis SoftEXpo 2023. According to a press release, it is the largest annual exhibition of technology innovation and solutions in Bangladesh, showcasing the progress of various software, IT and ITES institutions in the country. The theme of the 17th rendition of Basis SoftExpo is ‘Welcome to the Smartverse’ which will focus on national and international technology-based relationships. The event started today (February 23, 2023) and will continue till February 26, 2023. Bikroy’s participation in this year’s event aims to highlight its contribution as a digital classified platform through its buying and selling services. Any visitor and exhibitor can check out the company’s available digital listing services through its Basis SoftExpo exhibitor profile. Bikroy’s services will also be highlighted in their stall, located in Hall 01, Open Pavillion 14. Visitors and exhibitors can visit the stall and gain an idea of Bikroy Membership services for mobile, home and electronics, business and industry, fashion, pets and animals, sports and others. The participants of 2023 will include 204 local and foreign IT companies. Besides, over 200 local and foreign IT professionals and industry experts will be participating in this event. The exhibition will host seminars, conferences, a 5G experience zone, e-sports championships and even live concerts. Eshita Sharmin, CEO of Bikroy said: “Basis SoftExpo brings together numerous technologists from around the world. We are delighted to be a part of such a digital transformation and innovative event. We are hopeful that through this event we will be able to make customers aware and attract customers to Bikroy’s service. Everyone is invited to Pavilion 14, Hall No. 1.” Md Arifin Hussain, head of Marketing of Bikroy said: “We look forward to participating in this prestigious software and IT exhibition. The largest IT and ITES collaboration in this region will bring many incredible technological creations. We are excited to showcase the contribution of Bikroy in this sector and highlight the changes we have brought. I am looking forward to introducing Bikroy to new customers through Basis SoftExpo 2023.”
With the slogan welcome to the smart verse basis soft expo 2023, one of the biggest exhibitions of information and communication technology (ICT) sector in South Asia, will begin on 23 February at Bangabandhu Bangladesh China Friendship Exhibition Center at Purbachal in the capital, said a press release. Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) is organising to show the latest technology innovations and ICT capabilities of Bangladesh to the world. Capacity of Bangladesh’s information technology sector will be highlighted through various programs in this four-day largest information technology exhibition. In this regard, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between BASIS and Huawei recently. In the signing ceremony, on behalf of BASIS, Russell T Ahmed, President of BASIS, Abu Daud Khan, Vice-President (Admin) of BASIS, Hashim Ahmed, Secretary of BASIS and Farah Jabin Ahmed, Assistant Manager, Stakeholder Relations of BASIS were present. On behalf of Huawei, Alex Li, Vice President, Cloud Business Group of Huawei South Asia and Md. Shajahan Ahmed, Cloud Solutions Sales Manager of Huawei, were present. Russell T Ahmed says, “We are now moving towards achieving the Smart Bangladesh goal. We are hopeful that BASIS soft expo 2023 will play a significant role in achieving this goal and take Bangladesh a step ahead in digitalization. Huawei has achieved the leading position in the ICT field worldwide. We are delighted to partner with Huawei, a telecom technology, products, software, and solutions leader.” Alex Li, Vice President, Cloud Business Group of Huawei South Asia says, “BASIS soft expo 2023 will be a congregation for everyone in the ICT ecosystem to make the Smart Bangladesh journey a success. Huawei has been working in the ICT sector of Bangladesh for more than 24 years. Huawei will stand with Bangladesh in achieving the Smart Bangladesh goal as it did in fulfilling the dream of Digital Bangladesh. We have partnered with BASIS with the same vision and we will showcase our latest software and solutions at this soft expo so each and every member in this ecosystem can learn more about the latest technologies and implement them for better success.” However, besides inaugurating and closing events of BASIS soft expo 2023, there will be arranged some special programs such as B2B Matchmaking, Ambassadors Night, Outsourcing Conference, Startup Conference, Developers Conference, Ministerial Conference, ICT Career Camp/Youth Program, ‘Women In IT’ program and Japan Day program. More than 800 corporate executives are expected to attend at ‘Business Leaders Meet’. Besides, more than 23 seminars and technical sessions will be held at the BASIS SoftExpo 2023. S M Nazmul Hasan, Director, Marketing, Huawei South Asia will be attending a session titled ‘5G and IoT - Opportunities for BGD Telecom and Software Industry’ on 25th Feb 2023, Saturday as panelist. There are various events and facilities for the visitors including shuttle services, knowledge-sharing sessions, cultural programs, which are respectively, theater, gaming corner, music fest, business lounge, food court will be arranged. About three lakh visitors including government and private policy makers, about 200 national and international speakers, IT experts, IT sector businessmen, foreign delegations, domestic and foreign IT users and interested young students will visit BASIS SoftExpo 2023. It is expected that this year approximately 10 lakh young generations will be interested through social media and attempts are ongoing to engage 50 university’s students. Like every year, IT professionals will come from the country and abroad.