Technology Leaders Converge on the Gold Coast, Australia This Week for Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2013
Source: Gartner Newsroom View: 217 Date: 2013-10-30

Australia’s largest and most important annual gathering of chief information officers (CIOs) and senior technology executives, Gartner Symposium/ITxpo, will be held at the Gold Coast Convention Centre from 28 to 31 October.

More than 1,400 people will attend the conference and exhibition held over four days and more than 70 technology companies will exhibit their products and services, including Google and Microsoft as premier sponsors. This year, there are also exhibitors from as far afield as Sri Lanka and Jiangsu province in China.

Gartner is the world’s largest technology research and advisory company that advises information technology (IT) executives on the trends and technologies they need to understand to make the best decisions for their organisation. Symposium/ITxpo is the company’s flagship annual conference held in eight locations around the world.

Gartner moved the event from Sydney to the Gold Coast in 2011 to improve the quality of the Symposium experience for delegates and exhibitors and make it easier for delegates from Asia to attend.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate said part of the city’s new economic development strategy was to diversify industry, which included supporting early stage technology companies.

“We’re certainly open for business and we recognise the importance of an event such as this in delivering cutting edge information as well as attracting new business to our city to boost growth,” he said.

On Monday from 11.00am, technology executives from the banking, government, education, retail, energy and utilities, manufacturing and healthcare sectors will hear about technology trends and issues specific to their industry.

The main conference starts at 9.15am Tuesday with a welcome keynote address by Gartner senior vice president and global head of research Peter Sondergaard, who will provide a forecast for IT spending by Australian businesses and top trends for the year ahead, including smart mobile devices, the digitalization of business, big data, the Internet of Things, 3D printing and more.

Keynote speakers include:

• Andrew Walduck, chief information officer, Australia Post
• Dan Flynn, Founder of social enterprise Thankyou
• Dr. Marshall Goldsmith – leadership thinker and best-selling author

The theme of this year’s Symposium/ITxpo is ‘leading in a digital world’.

“CIOs and senior IT executives need to lead the creation of the digital enterprise,” said Gartner vice president, distinguished analyst and conference chair for Symposium/ITxpo John Roberts. “Previously, when people thought of digital business it was industries like media, publishing, banking and retail that sprang to mind, those faced with major disruption to their business model. Now every sector from agriculture to government to mining needs to navigate through this new digital world.”

Note to editors: Event photography available.

About Gartner Symposium/ITxpo

Gartner Symposium/ITxpo is the world’s most important gathering of CIOs and senior IT executives. This event delivers independent and objective content with the authority and weight of the world’s leading IT research and advisory organisation, and provides access to the latest solutions from technology providers. IT executives rely on Gartner Symposium/ITxpo to gain insight into how their organisations can use IT to address business challenges.

Additional information about Gartner Symposium/ITxpo on the Gold Coast is available atwww.gartner.com/au/symposium. Follow news, photos and video coming from Gartner Symposium/ITxpo on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/GartnerSymposium, and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Gartner_incusing #GartnerSym.

Remaining dates and locations for Gartner Symposium/ITxpo this year:

November 4-7, Sao Paulo, Brazil: www.gartner.com/br/symposium
November 10-14, Barcelona, Spain: www.gartner.com/eu/symposium

Contacts
• Susan Moore
• Gartner
• susan.moore@gartner.com

About Gartner

Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) is the world’s leading information technology research and advisory company. Gartner delivers the technology-related insight necessary for its clients to make the right decisions, every day. From CIOs and senior IT leaders in corporations and government agencies, to business leaders in high-tech and telecom enterprises and professional services firms, to technology investors, Gartner is the valuable partner in over 13,000 distinct organizations. Through the resources of Gartner Research, Gartner Executive Programs, Gartner Consulting and Gartner Events, Gartner works with every client to research, analyze and interpret the business of IT within the context of their individual role. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.A., and has 5,800 associates, including 1,450 research analysts and consultants, and clients in 85 countries. For more information, visit www.gartner.com.

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