WORLD ELECTRONICS FORUM London, September 14-16, 2005 Florin VREJOIU Executive Vice-president ARIES

Long tradition in mathematics and informatics Ten years before NORBERT WINER – the Romanian scientist STEFAN ODOBLEJA had prefigured the bases of cybernetics by his paper “The Consonant Psychology” edited in Paris. In this book the concept of feed-back is defined for the first time – the first computer with ENIAC electronic tubes – USA Romania – the first computer (CIFA-1) with electronic tubes The first country in South-Eastern Europe and the fourth in Europe 1960 – the first computers with transistors (mass production) – IBM and Data Corporation control 1964 Romania – the first computer fully equipped with transistors (CET-500) The first country in South-Eastern Europe and the eleventh in the world 1972 – the first computers network - ARPANET, USA 1985 Romania - the first computers network (RENAC/RENOD) The first socialist country

Exceptional geographic position Romania is situated on the borderline of three great commodity markets: Western Europe, the former Soviet States and the Middle East (Eurasia) Large and accessible market Romania is the second largest country in Central and Eastern Europe in terms of surface area and population

Very good educational system Annually 5000 university graduates in the software field Cisco Networking Academy program – Romania holds the 11th place in the world More then students local Cisco academies The first Ericsson academy in Romania Autodesk has made the biggest donation in the world for Romanian universities - 64 Mil USD in software products Professor Sandu POPESCU was awarded the Adams prize by Cambridge University Constantin TELEMAN was awarded Senior Whitehead Prize by London Mathematical Society

Acknowledged human resources The team of students from the POLITEHNICA University Bucharest has won the Computer Society International Design Competition 2000, 2001 and Romania has won first place among nations at the World Innovations Research and New Technology EUREKA Show Romanian pupils have gained international Olympic prizes this year in IT and mathematics 2005 – Romania holds top spot for most medals won in the all-time International Mathematical Olympiads nations standings – In the all-time International Informatics Olympiads nations standings, Romania holds third place.

Acknowledged human resources Romania holds first place in Europe regarding the number of certified IT persons in Brainbench studies

Absence of linguistic barriers The English language – spoken by everyone working in the IT&C sector The German language – strong German minority in Transylvania The French language – since the 19 th century Romania has been a French- speaking country The Italian and Spanish have the same Latin roots as the Romanian language "Romanians are best foreign language speakers in Europe", according to the Eastern European Translators Association.

Experienced and dynamic companies OMNIS GROUP has won the Microsoft Retail Application Developers European Contest The European Commission has declared SOFTWIN the most innovative high-tech company in Eastern Europe SIMEDA, a Romanian-German company, was awarded the World Java Champion prize for the best wireless application by portal Handango ROMSYS is the only enterprise in Central and Eastern Europe that received the certification “Star Supplier” from the American corporation Lockhead Martin INTERAKT - certified as „Alliance Macromedia Partner” GeCAD - security technology bought by Microsoft Corporation THE NATIONAL ELECTRONIC SYSTEM ( was the only European e-Government application that received the World Summit Award (WSA) at the World Summit for Information Society (WSIS) Romania and Japan received The Global Information Technology Excellence Award for the “e-Government Initiative”. The distinction was awarded by WITSA (World Information Technology and Services Alliance) during the World Congress on Information Technology

Romanian Software and IT Services Export, Year Export, mil USD IT&C sector In the past years, the annual rate of growth of the Romanian IT companies exceeded 25%, while the growth of the GDP was around 5% mil.$ Turnover Production Added value Romanian Software and IT Services, Year

Opening toward foreign investors Romania has special programs and facilities for attracting foreign investors Ongoing investment frame in the stage of harmonizing itself with the European Union legislation (Romania is a nominee to EU adhering) The foreign citizens have the same status and ownerships rights as the Romanian citizens Support from the authorities The Romanian government has defined the IT&C sector as a strategic priority for Romania’s development Software employees don't have to pay salary taxes.

Foreign Companies using Romanian R&D ALCATEL - embedded software for telecom SIEMENS - car navigation systems MOTOROLA - compilers KATREIN - wireless network equipments ALVARION BREZE - telecom equipments ORACLE - opened (February 2004) five Global IT and Technology Centers in Romania INFINEON – to set up a R&D center

About ARIES The largest IT&C association in CCE Civil Society award for the category of "Promotion of the Business and Professional Interests” Innovation Relay Center (IRC) for Romania Main partner of EICTA and ITC Geneva in Romania

ARIES' involvement in growing the competitiveness of Romanian organizations Integrating Romanian organizations into the European Research Network Projects - European IST ( - IST Bonus ( - ISIS ( Enhancing Romanian participation in the European Tehnology Transfer Network Projects - IRC4D ( Mobile Technology Roadmapping Projects - Alipro ( European Intergration of the Romanian ICT industry Projects: - Electranet (

Thank You For Your Attention! Florin VREJOIU Executive Vice-President