International
Conference on Strategies for Building
Software Industries in Developing Countries
Conference Agenda
East-West Center - University
of Hawai‘i at Mānoa
Honolulu, Hawai‘i
May 19-21, 2004
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With Support
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University
of Hawai‘i
at Mānoa
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United States Patent and Trademark
Office
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Conference Summary
On May 19th, 2004, delegates representing 29 different countries
convened in Honolulu, Hawai‘i, for a three-day conference focused on
how developing countries can forge ahead in building globally
competitive domestic software industries. The conference was held at
the East-West Center , located on the Campus of the University of
Hawai ‘i at Mānoa. The conference was supported by University of
Hawai ‘i, the University’s Office of Technology Transfer and
Economic Development and the United States Patent and Trademark
Office.
The conference covered six main topics, with a series of speakers
and subsequent panel discussion organized for each topic. These
topics included: 1) the role intellectual property plays in
protecting software and encouraging software industry growth; 2)
what is open source software, how intellectual property is important
to open source and advantages and disadvantages for open source
software companies; 3) government procurement policies regarding
software; 4) government and international efforts to support the
growth of software industries; 5) business and intellectual property
strategies software companies should employ; and 6) a presentation
of case studies of successful software companies based in developing
countries. You can view a copy of the conference agenda, speaker
biographies and conference papers and presentations here.
Conference attendees were from varied backgrounds and included
industry analysts, trade association representatives, government
officials, academics, software developers and corporate officers of
many successful software companies based in developing countries.
Attendees came from every part of the world, but the developing
countries of the Pacific Rim were especially well represented, which
was attributed to the location of the conference and to the many
efforts different governments in the region are undertaking to
bolster and grow their domestic software industries.
The diversity of the participants was reflected in the thoughts and
opinions expressed during the conference. Many attendees were very
pleased with the high level of discussion and debate of substantive,
complex issues. While many issues and ideas were brought to light
during the conference, a few in particular are especially
noteworthy:
Piracy is a Limiting Factor for Domestic Software Firms –
Amie White of International Data Corporation presented research that
suggests a link between the level of intellectual property
enforcement and local software industry development across several
countries. While the correlation was challenged by some attendees,
it was later pointed out by Nguyen Duong of the Ministry of Post and
Telematics in Vietnam that the high piracy rate in Vietnam has
hampered growth of the local software industry and Alexander Mora
from Costa Rica’s Grupo TecApro/Infonet stated that piracy has in
the past significantly impacted sales of his company’s software
products in Latin America.
Nevertheless, Intellectual Property is Important to Developing
Countries – This was highlighted by the presentation given by
Rakesh Basant of the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad who
shared his thoughts on how Indian software companies have recently
begun to see the value of intellectual property to their business,
and may in the near future begin to lobby the government for reform
in the patent law to extend patent protection to software. Other
presenters, like Wang Yueling from China’s Founder Group
Electronics, pointed out that their business strategies rely upon
intellectual property to protect the software products they offer
and are developing.
Pursing an Open Source Software Policy Can Have Both Benefits and
Costs – Larry Rosen of the Open Source Initiative in his
discussion helped to clear some of the confusion of what open source
means and that open source software should not be thought of as
synonymous with pirated software – instead, open source is simply an
alternative licensing scheme that finds its roots in both copyright
and contract law. It was clear from other presentations that some
countries, like China and Vietnam , are aggressively pursing a
national open source software policy because they see it as a quick
way of improving national technological ability and fighting rampant
domestic piracy. However, as pointed out by E. Andre Carter of
Irimicorp, choosing an open source approach means choosing to pursue
a service model as opposed to a products model of doing business. As
such, Avron Barr of Aldo Ventures adds, an open source policy may
reduce the net earning power of a country’s software talent.
There are Many Barriers to Building a Software Industry –
While it was shown that intellectual property policies and piracy
impact a country’s ability to compete in the international software
market, speakers also identified many other barriers that hinder the
growth of domestic software industries. Dr. Liu of the National
Center for Science and Technology Development, part of China ’s
Ministry of Science and Technology, indicated that one of the
largest barriers facing Chinese software companies is language. He
pointed out that countries like India have an advantage over China
because of the prominence of the English language in the field.
Another factor hindering software industry development is the
quality of software programmers. It was suggested that training
programs need to provide more practical experience to students and
encourage them to be more willing contributors in software
development projects. Also, the issue of the lack of developing
country participation in the international technology standards
setting process and the rise of closed standards was raised as a
point of concern and as a possible hindrance to software industry
growth in developing countries in the future.
Countries are Crafting National Strategies to Tackle Industry
Growth Barriers – Many governments have devised master
strategies for building their domestic software industries. These
strategies include intellectual property policy reform, favorable
tax policies for software and other high-technology companies, the
creation of business incubators and software parks to support
existing companies and assist in the formation of new ones. In some
countries, like Mexico , Costa Rica and India , policy is also
driven by well-organized and active trade associations. It was
widely agreed among attendees that a multifaceted approach, like
those introduced during the conference, is needed to improve the
ability of developing countries to capture the economic benefits
that can be attained from a robust domestic software industry.
Next Steps
It was the intention of IIPI and all parties contributing to the
organization and execution of this conference that Strategies for
Building Software Industries in Developing Countries would be but a
first step in improving the awareness of the important role
intellectual property policy and management, among other areas, has
in supporting strong software industries in developing countries.
Conference attendees were made up of a unique group of stakeholders
from across the world, which in their respective spheres have an
important opportunity to influence government policy and business
strategy. Thus, the next step is for conference attendees to take
the information and strategies they were exposed to, and the network
of industry professionals that they were introduced to, and use
these as resources to inform new and ongoing efforts aimed at
strengthening their local software industries to ensure such efforts
are well crafted and do in fact benefit the local industry. And,
while the success of efforts to build a software industry in any
particular country will ultimately rest upon the policymakers and
business leaders of that country, IIPI will do everything it can to
provide support. IIPI encourages you to contact us if you would like
to explore ways in which you could partner with IIPI to support
greater and more effective use of intellectual property in your
software industry and in your country, either through training and
educational programs, policy consulting or technical assistance.
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