It's the next stop on the province's ICT roadmap.

The newly announced Alberta Information and Communications Technology Institute, geared to providing guidance and leadership to the province's fast-growing ICT sector, is just about to shift out of neutral.

The institute, whose leadership was named at the end of March, will provide strategic advice and policy recommendations to the government, including a review of provincial ICT strategy.

Comprised of nine scientists, business executives and politicians, the board is slated to hold its first meeting this month.

The institute will help to co-ordinate ICT research activities, reduce duplication and promote collaboration, while concentrating efforts on areas of significance to Alberta, says Roger Smith, the institute's industry co-chair and a former chair of Calgary-based iCore, which was established in 1999 to foster research in the areas of computer science, electrical and computer engineering, and other ICT-related disciplines.

"A substantial effort is currently going on, which is under the guidance of iCore, to develop an ICT roadmap for the future," Smith says about the initiative to identify the needs and opportunities in ICT worldwide and for Alberta specifically.

"One of the early initiatives of this board (of the new institute) is to take that roadmap, discuss it and develop specific strategies as a result of that discussion, and translate that into effective courses of action where possible," adds Smith. "We have an ongoing mandate to monitor what is going on in general in the science and ICT sectors and advise the minister (of Innovation and Science, Victor Doerksen.)" The institute will focus on three strategic areas:

* Developing and attracting highly qualified people.

* Co-ordination and development of ICT infrastructure (i.e., networks, equipment and labs).

* Growth of the sector by application of research discoveries and generation of intellectual property.

By developing ICT investment strategies, the institute hopes to bring a value-added component to the sector and in turn help to diversify the provincial economy via ICT activity.

The latest figures available show Alberta's ICT sector employed more than 53,000 people in 2004. Estimated revenue produced by the more than 4,429 Alberta ICT companies in 2004 was in excess of $8.7 billion.

Stephen Lougheed, chairman of the board of Calgary-based financial management software systems firm Sylogist Ltd., says the new institute is a positive development.

"One of the things I hope it will do is to really facilitate and focus the input from the (ICT) sector and really give people from the sector a place to go to influence policy and direction. It should be a place that will be a champion for the sector within the government," says Lougheed, who will serve as a board member for the institute.

Lougheed, who has 20 years experience in information management technology related to IT, electronics and telecom, is happy that the private sector is a key partner in the new organization.

"What I'm hoping to be able to bring to the institute is the business perspective of small or medium-sized, growth-oriented companies in Alberta," he says.

ICT Institute

The members of the board of the Alberta Information and Communications Technology Institute are:

* Alana DeLong, MLA co-chair, MLA Calgary Bow.

* Roger Smith, industry co-chair, professor emeritus at University of Alberta school of business.

* Elizabeth Cannon, professor, department of geomatics engineering, University of Calgary.

* Renee Elio, associate dean (research) of the science faculty, U of A.

* Charles (Changsoo) Kim, president of Canakor Inc.

* Stephen Lougheed, president and CEO of Sylogist Ltd.

* Brian Olafson, president of Brian Olafson and Associates Management Consulting Ltd.

* Lorne Olsvik, Lac Ste. Anne County councillor.

* Nizar Somji, chairman of the board of Matrikon.

- Source: Alberta Innovation and Science