REGIONAL> Highlights
IT outsourcing summit held in Dalian
By Zhu Chengpei and Zhang Xiaomin
Updated: 2008-06-23 09:53

The 2008 China International Software and Information Service Outsourcing Summit (CSIO) was held Friday at the ongoing 6th China International Software and Information Service Fair (CISIS) in Dalian, Northeast China’s Liaoning province.

“This event represents a milestone for the software and outsourcing industry here in China. It will certainly play a bigger role in the future as the global market is growing by 20 percent a year,” Michael F. Corbett, Chairman of the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals, told China Daily after making a keynote speech at the summit.

The CSIO, now in its fourth year, started in 2005 along with the CISIS annual fair, China’s only state-level software fair approved by the State Council.

CSIO aims to set up a platform of communication and cooperation for the participating enterprises.

Gao Wei, president of Dalian Software Park Co Ltd (DLSP), China’s leading software park operator, introduced DLSP’s experiences at the summit.

“The rapid growth of our software park in the past decade can be attributed to effective government support, the concentrated industrial cluster, the internationalized quality system, and improvements in our training system,” said Gao.

According to Gao, DLSP houses 403 companies, including 33 Fortune 500 firms and more than 60 percent of the city’s IT outsourcing companies.

At this year’s summit, business leaders from internationally recognized companies like McKinsey and IBM analyzed the current status of the service outsourcing industry and put forward some suggestions regarding the consolidation and expansion of the industry.

The 2008 China Software and Information Service Outsourcing Contribution Award was unveiled at the summit. HP, Genpact, iSoftStone and other 12 companies shared the 15 awards given.