The Azerbaijan International Telecommunications and Information Technologies Exhibition and Conference, Bakutel 2016, will open its doors in the Azerbaijani capital Baku on November 29, officially launching ICTs Week. Every year for over 20 years, Bakutel, the largest exhibition in the region, has been bringing together leading players of the communications market.
As the main arena for presenting IT products and services, Bakutel has acquired status as the main business platform where new contacts and businesses are created. The high status of the exhibition is emphasized by the attendance of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan H.E. Ilham Aliyev and official representatives of International Organisations at the opening of the exhibition in recent years. The Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan has provided invaluable support to Bakutel. The show is also respected globally and is supported by institutions, such as the United Nations, the International Telecommunication Union, the Regional Commonwealth in the field of Communications (RCC) and the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry. The organisers of the event are Iteca Caspian and Caspian Event Organisers (CEO).
This year, Bakutel coincides with celebrations for the 135th Anniversary of Communications in Azerbaijan. One hundred and thirty five years ago, the Nobel Brothers laid the first telephone line in Baku and, since then, Azerbaijan has had its own place in the history of the communications industry. Today, Azerbaijan's ICT industry growth rate ranks first in the non-oil sector of the economy, which can be seen at the exhibition
This year the exhibition brings together over 200 companies from 18 countries, with 40% of the total number of participants being returning exhibitors at Bakutel. Among the participants are leading ICT companies, mobile operators, telecom operators, internet service providers, system integrators, and distributors of world-famous brands. This year the Registration Sponsor of Bakutel is the Azerfon, and the Technology Sponsor is the Eurodesign company, which will provide the entire exhibition area with free WI-Fi for the duration of the exhibition.
This year the exhibition’s debutants comprise 30% of the total number of exhibitors. Among those who are making their first appearance at the exhibition in Baku are the French company Vivaction, the Russian company Balt-Energo, the Belarusian government agency Beltelecom, Croatian companies Banksoft, Sekom and Span, DELL EMC (USA), the Ukrainian company MUK, Chinese companies FEC and BBT Telecom, as well as local companies CBC sport TV, GSS, and many others.
The active participation of national pavilions organized with the support of the Ministry of Communications and High Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan, has already become a tradition at Bakutel. This year, 9 countries - Austria, Belarus, Croatia, France, Iran, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Turkey will present at their national stands leading companies from their respective countries and innovative projects not only for Azerbaijan, but for the entire Caspian region, in addition to presenting various products and ICT services. Among the debutants to the national pavilions is the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
For the first time at the exhibition leading Azerbaijani state structures and ICT companies are represented on a single national stand, organised by the Ministry of Communications and High Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan. New developmental projects in the fields of communication, high technologies, mail projects, and e-Government, nanotechnology are presented at the stand. Presentations of such projects as “Sound library” for visually impaired people and “Digitalization of museums” will be made at the event. Young professionals and entrepreneurs from Start-ups will be provided with an opportunity to tell potential investors about their inventions, programs and services.
Over the four days, the exhibition will cover the following segments: Telecommunications and networks, cable and wireless communications, satellite communications and technologies, IT and office technologies, 4-5G mobile technology, services in the field of fibber optic technology and cloud computing, E-government, information security, and space technology.
At the exhibition, the company Huawei will present the project “My Beautiful Azerbaijan”, and the company ZTE will introduce the concept of Smart Cities to the exhibition’s guests.
The program of business events of ICT Week will also be rich and varied. Under the framework of the exhibition the 4th meeting of the High Level Working Group on the Development of Information Society of the Regional Commonwealth in the field of Communications (RCC), the first meeting of the Working Group on the Development of ICT of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States, the Ministerial Meeting of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States will all be held. Also, the local Start-ups’ meeting will be organised with Mr. Houlin Zhao, the Secretary General of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).
The Internet of Things (IoT) theme, which is getting more popular, will take center stage at the Internet of Things Conference to be held from the 29th to the 30th of November at the Hilton Hotel. This conference is jointly organized by the Ministry of Communications and High Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the companies Caspian Event Organisers and Huawei, and will be attended by both local and foreign representatives of leading companies in the field of ICT.
The Internet of Things discussions will be continued at the workshop Your Strategic Advantage, organised by the technology giant SAP. The workshop will be held on the 30th of November at the Baku Expo Center, in room № 19 and will showcase the capabilities of the SAP’s Digital Boardroom solution for the optimal management of companies, labour protection and equipment repair.
The Closing Ceremony of "Youth Inc. Business Academy" Acceleration Program will be held on December 1st (10:00-13:00) at Baku Expo Center, Seminar room, № 22, second floor. The Organiser is "Debate in Civil Society" Public Union - "Youth Inc." Entrepreneurship Program.
Another important ICT topic, namely ICT in education, how it will develop in Azerbaijan, and what we can expect in the near future, will open the Computer Science Education Conference, which will take place on December 2nd at the Baku Expo Center in room № 22. This conference is organised by the companies Azerbaijan ACM Chapter, Iteca Caspian and Caspian Event Organisers (CEO).
For the first time within the framework of the Bakutel exhibition, a B2B meeting between participants and professional visitors has been planned by the company Pamukkale Technopark Turkey. Meetings will be held over 2 days (30 November and 1 December) at the Baku Expo Center in room № 21.
In addition to business meetings and negotiations, surprises, contests and quizzes using IT technologies await all visitors and exhibitors. A “Game Zone” with applications of the latest technology will be open to all visitors of the exhibition.
Games are developed under the “Made in Azerbaijan” brand by people engaged in start-ups and working at the Incubation Centre of the High Technologies Park having won a grant from the State Foundation for Information Technologies Development (SFITD). The Formula 1 VR Baku City Circuit game is developed on the basis of the latest VR technology. This virtual reality game simulates racing along a Formula 1 track in Baku City. Fatal Fight is a modern fighting game which has been downloaded for more than one million times worldwide. The Memory Limit game will be introduced for the first time at Bakutel 2016, and exhibition participants will be allowed to test this game. The main characters of this game with a national theme developed on the basis of the Two Heroes 2D platform are characters from Azerbaijani fairy tales - Jirtdan and Malikmammad. 360 degrees’ photo and video shooting will also be done at the stand.
Numerous other diversions have been prepared by the organizers of the exhibition. Visitors will be able to experience virtual reality using special goggles, as well as create a unique item or object using 3D printing pen technology handles. In addition, for the first time in Azerbaijan, visitors to the Bakutel exhibition will have the opportunity to participate in a Robot Battle with mini-robots, as well as communicate with an “Intelligent Robot”.
Additionally, all the participants of the exhibition are prepared to the meet with the visitors and have scheduled surprises, quizzes and contests on their stands.
Details of all the events can be found at the exhibition’s website at www.bakutel.az, which this year has completely revised and updated its interface to make it even more convenient for users. Here you can go register electronically, significantly reducing the time to do so at the Baku Expo Center during the exhibition.
The ICT industry of the country looks forward to and prepares for its main event - the International Bakutel Exhibition. The exhibition has its own official newspaper, Daily News: Bakutel 2016, which tells all about the exhibitors and events. The latest news from ICT Week will be promptly posted on the websites of the exhibitions and on the official pages on social networks.
The Exhibition will take place from 29 November-2 December at Baku Expo Center. An innovation this year will be that over the first 3 days Bakutel will be held in B2B format only for industry professionals. Now there is a children’s area at the exhibition where your children can be trusted to the professionals who will take care of your children as well as entertain them with useful and exciting activities. This service is gladly provided by Agil and Bilgi. These funny guys have caught the fancy of the children and parents for their interesting and unusual projects and fascinating excursions. Free shuttle buses will run between Koroghlu metro station and Baku Expo Center. Some of Iteca Caspian's partners in 2016 are SafeLife, security partner, Premier Tour, tour operator, Sheraton Hotel and Qafqaz Point Hotel, the official hotels and AzExpoMontage, the official stand builder.
