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The stork's on its way with CeBIT India?

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Abhigna
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HANOVER/BANGALORE: When the makers of a much-talked-about and watched-for International Business Technology Expo CeBIT decided to crawl out of their comfort zones and put a flagpost on a new land like Australia, they must have had their apprehensions and hopes. Ten years forward, they are grinning from ear to ear at the success graph of this move, specially in the unique government procurement bracket.

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While the aboriginal magnetism of Germany continues, there stays that enviable echelon of ‘second largest CeBIT' and don't be surprised when Mehul Lanvers Shah wistfully whistles the word ‘India' here even as you are almost stoic and ready to hear paeans about Australia at this turn.

Yes, India it is. The next beachhead for this massive ship called CeBIT and a spot that has been marked in a highly-global atlas to host the Expo this November.

What would be equally fascinating to watch is whether and how the India camping ground ignites enough fire for ideas and products struggling to get out of small wombs. Some 200 or 250 brand new products out of a pack of 600 companies? Possible?

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Desirable for sure as 'innovation' manages to be ironically-postured at every big event as the banner-flash but you always end up wondering how much of those really hot-from-the-oven ideas really made it to the right noses.

It's understandable to see why the big enchilada hogs all the limelight and a lot of footwork area in most expositions. Big brands and heavy-weights have their own significance but it won't hurt if some eyeballs as well as stalls are pinned around the next wave of innovation and iconoclastic thinking of business and IT.

Innovation and start-up genre is something that Mehul Lanvers Shah, Managing Director, Hannover Milano Fairs India Pvt Ltd - organizers of CeBIT India 2014, also acknowledges as a very critical area to be focused upon and encouraged as much as possible.

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Capturing how awards as well as visitor attention is growing, he illustrates progress palpable at CeBIT 2014 tradeshow and tags it as the ‘most youthful' ever. Among over 300 recently established companies at the recent tradeshow to present their products and services, there were 50 as entrants in the CODE-n startups competition, under the "big data" lead theme, he cites.

Think of standout entries like the "streetspotr project", and you know there is so much going on. This was an idea to create a community that instantly becomes Europe's largest smartphone workforce, able to complete major projects at multiple locations.

Or take the Munich-based startup Cosinuss that presented the first heartbeat monitor fitted in the user's ear, naturally with transmission to a smartphone via Bluetooth. The London firm Viewsy picked the CODE_n Award as it carried the day with a big data solution for retailers, capable of measuring and analyzing customer traffic in order to improve the level of customer services.

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"As this year's official Partner Country, the impressive innovative capacities of the UK were also at the forefront during CeBIT, with young British entrepreneurs presenting their solutions at the Partner Country pavilion in Hall 6. And because startups can only make their breakthrough into the big time with the support of investors, the Lower Saxony State Minister of Economic Affairs, Olaf Lies, and more than 120 investors were at the space:d showcase (Stand H 50) to meet and greet selected startups."

Your intrigue as to what makes our country worthy and metaphorically-spacious enough for an event of this scale and scope is quenched when Shah tells you how the idea incubated. "India was a partner country in CeBIT Australia in year 2012. The delegation was led by Sachin Pilot, then the Minister of State for Communications and IT, along with J Satyanarayan, Former Secretary, DeitY, comprising of 58 companies attended CeBIT Australia. During one of our conversation both of them encouraged that CeBIT should come to India as well. Since then, we worked on a very comprehensive research to understand the Indian IT market and its demands. After several discussions with our Management board, we finally received approvals to hold a CeBIT edition for India in December last year."

Besides that nudge, a history of sorts has been trailing the team to some ripe opportunities. With some mini-vertical events happening already under its hood, the team has seen a good connect with manufacturing communities and has gotten its roots around 2012. The confidence on end-user chain has built up significantly and strongly and apparently the team decided to enter the market on its own with its DNA of geo-adaptive trade fairs and an incisive focus on engineering and technology portfolios.

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Meanwhile the target for India is 600 exhibitors from all over the world, across eight clusters with about 30,000 buyers (C-level, users, developers, mid mgt), and approx 2000 delegates spread out on total occupied area of 35,000 sq km at the Bangalore Intl Exhibition Centre this Nov 12 to 14, 2014).

Shah reveals that CeBIT in other places have been held for many years now, therefore the count of exhibitors & visitors is much higher. Yet India would be a very important debut to watch out for.

Not perturbed too much by competition at this point, Shah observes some gaps that he is upbeat about filling soon. Working with both product side (iSpirit) and service side (Nasscom) of the spectrum could have equipped him with the strategic eyesight he needs to propel ahead with.

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"We have figured out the Indian dynamics with Nasscom well. It took us a year and half with our feasibility studies to reckon that India is a fast growing market with a good base on big procurements and found scope for some central pillars, clusters and trends. Earlier synonymous as a hardware name with many customers in India interpreting it as a computer show, the road has been long and dynamic. India needs the same clustering approach as would Germany. So we have identified eight clusters that will help technology buyers at C-level as well as at developer level, matrix level (like HR or marketing) etc."

Have they been too early or late in penciling in India on their slate? Shah answers that with a ‘right time' emphasis. "IT adoption requires a lot of access and besides personal perspectives of feeling a need for CeBIT in India; I have seen how the world convenes and buys technology. But can everyone fly to Germany? To compete at global standards and to have a right differentiator, IT is crucial for Indian businesses at the cusp of growing fast."

"In 2013 Hanover event saw 40 per cent visitors from places outside Germany, the per transaction average was 106000 Euros and overall transaction turnover was 20 to 25 billion Euros of which 60 to 70 per cent was from mid-sized business." Shah illustrates as he tries to drill a point on why the Indian market needs a one-stop shop like the modern shopping mall for small and mid-sized businesses too. "Procurement for future is critical for right pace of IT adoption.

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Topic clusters identified for the November kick-off include ERP and Data Planning, Enterprise Content Management, Business Communication and Networks, IT infrastructures and Data Services, Web and Mobile Solutions, IT services and Security.

Under the currently-flagged central theme of "New perspectives in IT Business" and glad of the support being offered from Government and the curiosity from industry side, Shah seems strongly hopeful and serious for pushing innovation in as many dimensions as possible at CeBIT India 2014. 

More on that first cry, as we move on.

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