As e-business explodes, can local companies cope with global competition? That’s just one of the many questions that participants will ask — and attempt to answer — during the first annual Smart2000 Conference from Oct. 23-26 at the Telus Convention Centre.

“What we’re trying to do is build a record, if you will, of how different parts of the community are affected (by technology),” said Norm Wagner, the event’s co-chairman. “Does technology make (starting a new business) easier or harder? That’s what we want people to be asking.”

Calgary was originally invited to host the World Teleport Association, but organizers came up with the Smart2000 concept of discussing what all this new Internet connectedness means.

“It’s really like a giant laboratory,” said Wagner. “We’re talking about something like 200 different presentations.”

Wagner said between 600 and 700 visitors are slated to attend the seminars, which are being held in conjunction with a trade show featuring technology-related products and services. Smart2000 has three essential themes designed to help businesses, health and educational institutions, the professions, and community organizations keep pace with new, rapidly changing information networks: Smart people, smart places and smart policies.

Among other topics, delegates will examine e-business ethics, virtual government, global connectivity and what it means to job security, Canada’s brain drain to the United States and other countries (especially in the technology sector), patient confidentiality versus increased access to online health records, increased Internet access for the poor, and Internet-based schools and libraries.

“We need to understand what this new world means to us, and we need to play a role in developing policies that will help, not hinder, our quest for success,” states the Smart2000 Web site.

Meanwhile, the fifth annual Calgary Computer and Technology Showcase/Internet Expo will be held Oct. 25-26 at the Roundup Centre. One hundred of Calgary’s technology vendors and thousands of products will be on display at this trade show and conference.

Delegates will hear presentations on e-business security, wireless data marketing, the “battle of the bandwidth,” and the mobile Internet.

E-business will also be a hot topic of conversation during Small Business Week, a series of seminars Oct. 23-27 at Mount Royal College’s Small Business Training Centre at 833 4th Ave. S.W.

Hosted by the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, Small Business Week will feature seminars on starting a business; marketing, advertising and sales; international business; business resources and, of course, e-business.

Costs to attend are $35 per day for Chamber members and $40 per day for non-members, or $15 and $20 per seminar (GST included).

If you’re hoping all this new technology can help you find a job, check out the one-day Techno Skill Career Fair at the Calgary Convention Centre on Oct. 19.

Web Watch:
www.smart2000.org
www.techshows.com
www.smallbusweek.com
www.smallbusweek.com