Tomorrow (May 25th) the World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) kicks off in Amsterdam. This is the 17th edition of the biannual event which began in 1978 and will feature around 280 keynote speakers from business, government and academia.

This year’s event will focus on the theme “Challenges of Change”, which the organisers describe as:

“This ‘challenge’ reflects the sense of urgency that is felt by politicians, policy makers, companies and citizens, all seeking for ways to provide ICT a prominent role in the current economic crisis and the economic recovery package in Europe and in the rest of the world.”

The event covers a broad range of topics covering a number of areas in which ICT is expected to play an increasingly important role. Specifically, it is broken down into the following 10 “tracks”:

• Creative Industries
• eGovernment
• eHealth
• eInclusion
• Energy
• Mobility
• Security & Safety
• Sharing Space
• Water
• Finance Special

The conference will be interesting in both the large number of people the event attracts (they claim over 2,500 for 88 countries have registered) and the broad range of backgrounds and disciplines present. This interdisciplinary is highly valuable in the modern world, in which we interact with technology in new and increasingly innovative ways. The event will hopefully result in interesting and collaborative discussions between the participants which include: Policy markers, Engineers, Ecologists, Lawyers, Economists, etc.