ICT Illawarra (ICTI), a newly formed Information and Communication Technology industry cluster, was officially launched on the 20th of May at the University of Wollongong's new Innovation Campus.

Our schedule of meetings this year will continue to bring you a mix of interesting and knowledgeable speakers, combined with a chance to network and share your ideas and experiences with each other.

Next Meeting – June 17th – Looking out from Down Under

Our next meeting will be held on the 17th of June at 5:30pm, and features presentations by successful Aussie technologists who will share some of their experiences, lessons and insights as they’ve built and worked with technology on a global stage.

The event will feature as keynote speakers:

David Jones, co-founder of ThreatMatrix, a VC backed Australian startup with exciting real-time anti-fraud technology which is finding success globally.

Mr. Jones co-founded ThreatMetrix in 2005 – ThreatMetrix is now a leader in eCommerce fraud protection using next generation Device Intelligence. The 3 main fraud protection solutions focus on new account creation, account takeover, and online purchases.

Mr Jones has more than 15 years experience in technical and management roles within the software industry and prior to co-founding ThreatMetrix, he founded SpamMATTERS delivering products used by Federal Government agencies for tracking Phishing and Spamming operations.

At Surfcontrol, he was VP of Global Research, a leading internet content filtering company that has most recently been acquired by WebSENSE. Among his major achievements at SurfControl was the management of the Email Filtering and flagship anti-spam solutions generating over 30% of company revenues.

Mr. Jones arrived at his position at SurfControl when EmU Tech email filtering, another company he founded, was acquired by SurfControl in 2001. Mr. Jones holds a B.E. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Technology, Sydney.

Dean Economou, Technology Strategist for NICTA, and Director Emotional Logic.

Dean was peviously CSIRO''s top authority in network and advanced applications research. Dean’s personal goal is to build the ultimate mobile, networked human collaborative system.

He was the key architect of the Smart Services Cooperative Research Centre: a $120m market-focussed research initiative in the online and mobile services industries.

He is also the CEO, CTO and co-founder of a substantial public-private research and development program with CSIRO, "The Centre for Networking Technologies for the Information Economy". Two separate DCITA grants ($37m in total), with major contributions from CSIRO and industry.

In addition he is the co-founder of QPSX Communications, a major Australian telecommunications start-up which went on the export globally through Siemens and Alcatel.

Event Format:

Drinks and nibbles will be provided, and the event itself will be much more interactive and relaxed than our formal launch. We’d love to see you there, and be prepared to get involved in some round-table discussions that focus on a range of different topic areas that we’re sure will provide something of interest for everyone.

Local ICT businesses, business users of IT, university researchers and people interested in starting an ICT or ICT-related business are all invited to this ICTI event.

About ICT Illawarra:

ICTI has been formed to assist with the ongoing growth and competitiveness of the Illawarra's ICT industry.Through involvement in the cluster, local businesses will be investing in the Illawarra's future through the development of business linkages and skills.

With sponsorship from the NSW Department of State and Regional Development and the University of Wollongong, ICTI is incorporated as an independent association with a management committee, which includes leaders from local ICT stakeholder businesses.

For further information, visit www.icti.org.au or contact Carly: icti@icti.org.au or 02 4221 5827.

PLEASE NOTE: RSVP's are for catering requirements - please do not hesitate to drop into the event if you have not registered.