Infosecurity 2005 – Innovative Method Fuels Business Opportunities
Two weeks ago, Reed Exhibitions held the annual Infosecurity Europe press conference. During the event, hosted in the classy London Millenium Knightsbrdige Hotel, selected journalists from all over the Europe including myself, were introduced to presentations held by 20 of the leading information security companies. In the next couple of weeks, HNS will publish a couple of audio sessions based on the selected presentations.
Besides the overview on the success of the past year’s event and a very positive forecast for this April’s conference, journalists were presented with a rather new concept in the field of IT events – assistance for overseas visitors. I should note that he term “overseas” in this case is obviously connected to visitors outside the United Kingdom. As the Infosecurity conference is UK’s top information security conference, UK Trade & Investment, the British Government agency that supports overseas enterprises seeking to set up or expand in the UK, came up with an innovative solution – compensating foreign visitors travelling to the Infosecurity show.
The price they are willing to help the foreign organizations, sending their representatives to the conference, is £100 (approx USD 185 / EUR 120) per person. The last time I travelled from Italy to the UK, I’ve managed to get two return tickets for a total of EUR 106 (USD 136), so the “assistance” could come quite handy with some of the European low-cost airlines.
After applying for funding, the Commerical Section of the British Embassy in your country will contact you with further information. Once they are satisified that your company meets the criteria for financial assistance, the UK Trade & Investment will undertake to make appointments with the exhibitors at Infosecurity Europe on your behalf. They will certainly try to get you the best contacts to fullfill your business purposes at the show.
As regards the money part of the deal, it looks like you will receive some kind of a paper proof confirming your Infosecurity meeting attendance. After bringing this to your local UK Embassy, the funds will be awarded to you.
An important note: applying for part funding from the UK Trade & Investment to attend Infosecurity Europe does not pre-register you for the event. To gain free entry to the show, you must pre-register online. Visitors not registered by April 22nd will be charged a £20 entrance fee.