Russian presence at international IT forums has grown gradually over years, and at CeBIT the number of Russian exhibitors will grow from 88 to 150, demanding 4,300 square meters of floor space, higher than 2,000 square meters demanded last year. The Russian share of the show floor will be the fourth largest, with the top spots occupied by China, Taiwan and the U.S., said Ernst Raue, member of the managing board of Deutsche Messe AG.
It seems logical. Despite a decrease in show duration, spaces and the number of exhibitors, as some big manufactures left the fair, CeBIT remains the center of attention in hi-tech industry. Last year 434,000 visitors attended CeBIT, 85 percent of whom were professionals.
For Russia, struggling to add IT to its image, the status of being a CeBIT partner country is not just symbolic, but economically and politically important. Germany is the biggest sales market for Russian IT companies. The share of Russian IT companies oriented with the German market grew from 11 to 19 percent in two years.
Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, is expected to inaugurate CeBIT 2007 and welcome Russia as a partner. Organizers even expect Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, to participate in the opening ceremony. The two leaders are to meet at the German-Russian summit related to IT and Telecom technologies, held on the first working day of CeBIT.
Moreover, Russia, represented by industry association APKIT has been granted partner status with German IT association BITKOM for 2007. Together APKIT and BITKOM are expected to organize three joint booths at CeBIT for outsourcing, software and telecom companies to present the Russian IT and telecom industry.
Valentin Makarov, president of Russoft, a Russian IT association, announced the latest research results that show Russia being considered the third largest outsourcing software development provider in the world after India and China. Russian IT expenses has been increasing by 25 percent over the last several years, while the German IT-market grew by 1.6 percent annually. Europe feels jealous about that rate, said Mathias Weber, the director of BITKOM's IT-service department, who is responsible for cooperation with Russia and the CIS.
Russia will finance another joint booth, represented by the Ministry for Information Technologies and Communications (Mininformsvyazi). The joint booth will help reduce expenses of prospective participants, of which a list is being formed. The number of applicants for the booth is 2.5 times bigger than expected, and preference is being given to companies with German partners, so significant agreements can be signed during CeBIT, said Oleg Byakhov, director of the information society development strategy department at Mininformsvyazi.
In January the ministry announced a competition for the CeBIT 2007 Russian expo development. The planned federal budget for the project is 8.2 million rubles. The financing includes booth construction, catalogs, the Russian delegation residence expenses. Contest results will be announced on February 28th.
Russian exhibitors will be present in 70 percent of CeBIT's halls, though the scale is incomparable to the Chinese presence. Besides Russia plans to show its impact in global business through such companies as Intel, which has the second largest engineering department in Russia, after the U.S.
"We'll try to present not just detached companies, but Russia capable of accomplishing ICT-infrastructure projects and of applying ICT as means of security and economic and state development," said Byakhov of Mininformsvyazi. The Russian exhibit will be dedicated to four themes: communication, business processes, banks and finances, digital systems and equipment. "It is the first time Russia will have such an interesting, wide and many-sided presentation", underlined Irina Weishaar, Deutche Messe AG Representation Head in Russia and the CIS.