Report on the Visit to Canada in September 1998

By:		Onno W. Purbo
Sponsored:	Canada ASEAN Center (CAC)

The original report was written in Indonesian language in September 1998 & sent directly to the media / reporter via e-mail at yth-wartawan@itb.ac.id as well as Cc to Canada ASEAN Center. The objective is to disseminate the information on Canadian IT capability to the Indonesian people. Below is the English translation of the original report. I am attaching the original Indonesian report as a reference.
Report on  Canadian  Information Technology Visit 1998

This report / press release is a rather long story written on the way on the airplane as well as hotels on my palmtop HP320LX during my trip to Canada on the 17-30 September 1998. My colleagues reports are very much welcome to rewrite this article to fit your target audience. Thank you very much for your help. I would like to apologize if the report sometimes not as synchronous as I expected as it was written on-the-spot as well as things are crop-up on my mind. I do hope you can bear with me.

The trip is sponsored by Canada ASEAN Center (CAC), which in Indonesia is organized by Ms. Sophie Toligi (stoligi@ibm.net). CAC is a non-profit organization to make the linkage between Canada & ASEAN countries closer together. For example, CAC opened the Canada house in Singapore to represent the information technology in Canada with a completed multimedia facilities connected directly to the national information infrastructure Singapore One and CA*Net3. CA*Net3 is an Internet on an optical fiber at a minimal speed of 2.4Gbps running across Canada. Interconnection directly to the national information infrastructure is possible in Singapore with more accommodative environment as well as mush friendlier bureaucracy as compared to the Indonesian side.

During this trip, I accompanied by my friend Dharma Setiawan (dharma.setiawan@ibm.net) the project manager of Canada Indonesia Technology Network (CITN) with headquarter at citn@itb.ac.id & citnjkt@ibm.net.

My mission is quite simple that is to seek possible ways to shorten the distance as well as possible collaboration between Indonesia-Canada especially in information technology such as application of national information infrastructure. This mission is rather difficult as there is only two Indonesian to capture the attention from the Canadian side (not to mention it is funded by the Canadian side). For example during the Softworld’98 conference, China delegation consists of 46 persons, while Hong Kong consists of 16 persons. Thus, Indonesian delegation is much smaller than other countries – which force us to focus on things that can be directed towards mutual collaboration.

In reality, such collaboration processes cannot be performed without meeting a minimum condition / prerequisite, such as (IMHO): 
•	The preparedness of the Indonesian human resource for partnership, starting small things such as the ability to communicate in English, having a global accreditation, mass of educated qualified human resources. Some of the consequences, which have to be bear by the Ministry of Education (DEPDIKBUD), for example, do we really a national accreditation body? Why don’t we adopt an international accreditation body? Do we really need a state examination for all private university graduates? I think we need to open widely the educational market in Indonesia for foreign investment to partner with local educational institutions. I think a strategic move should be in place within the government framework on how to educate the Indonesian people without putting too much burden to the nation budget especially in current monetary crisis.

•	In terms of regulation / macro policy should be aimed for incentive for investments, for example from the taxation, there should be no luxury tax imposed on IT goods – as Indonesia already sign the ITO agreement at WTO. I personally do really hope that the Indonesian treasurer / finance department could give incentive for investors, such as tax break, tax holiday, tax deductible for any charity to education as well as any incentive to investors.

•	Make it easy to provide internet access, a simple example is to open a very competitive internet access for the public, for example remove any requirement for license to open an internet café / internet public access facilities – I do really hope there should be no license required to open an Internet Service Provider (ISP). I do really hope that the only think needed to open an ISP in Indonesia is just registering to the government. Another requirement, is to remove any regulation in integrate private data network to public data network (such as PT. Telkom network). This kind of approach will enable the Indonesian people to use many alternative data access technology to access the ISP backbone to reach the global Internet.

•	Other things, which I think could be very strategic, are to open a virtual discussion platform between the players in Indonesian and in Canada. I think this is very important to remove any information bottleneck between Indonesia and Canada during the partnership / collaborative processes. Using Internet technology, such platform can be performed easily using e-mail mailing list, some of the preliminary mailing list to enable Canada-Indonesia interaction is as follows:

indonesia-canada@itb.ac.id (organize by Calindo; the Canadian Alumni organization in Indonesia at calindo@pacific.net.id)
citn@itb.ac.id (mailing list Canada Indonesia Technology Network)

I do really hope that the mailing list can provide an effective media for interaction between the two countries; not only for the leaders, bureaucrats or diplomats but also between the people of both countries over the Internet which I am sure will give much more significant benefit for both nations.

On the 17-23 September 1998, I have the opportunity to attend & to participate in Softworld’98 at St John's, New Foundland, Canada, which attended by more than 800  IT leaders from 35+ countries, such as Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Hong Kong, Iceland, Italia, Denmark, Japan, Rumania, New Zealand, Singapore, British, US etc.

All books & conference materials were stored at the ITB’s main library of which can be searchable through the Internet at http://www.lib.itb.ac.id/search.html, http://www.lib.itb.ac.id/isis/. Those who wish to make a copy or borrow could send an e-mail message to the librarians at library@itb.ac.id. I do really hope more Indonesian people could read the materials / access the information.

Weather in St John, Newfoundland where the Softworld'98 was held was relatively cool around 12-16 degrees Celsius as we were entering fall at that time. The scenery is very beautiful. Off course as the host of the occasion, Canada is presenting many of the top players & leaders in information technology.

Michael Binder, Deputy Minister for Spectrum, Communication & Information Technology Canada, gave the opening remark. In summary, Canada is one of the best places on earth to invest in information technology at least among the G-7 countries. He argued by looking at Canada from several different angles as well as comparing to other countries. Summary of his explanation is as follows:

Canada in general:

•	The 2nd largest country in the world.
•	Population of 30.3 million people.
•	5 time zone
•	Bilingual / multicultural
•	World class high-tech industry

Canada has a good fundamental economic condition, such as:

•	In the 1998 fiscal year, Canada is the only country in G-7 country with surplus in its financial balance sheet at 1.5%  GDP.
•	In the last 5 year, the Canadian inflation rate is 1.7%-40% below the US, thus bank interest is fairly low..
•	IMF predicted the economic growth in Canada 3.2% (1998) & 2.8% (1999) is the best among G-7 countries.
•	Economist Intelligence Unit ranked Canada as the 3rd best place for business among 58 nations in the world.

Canada has easy access to market:

•	The Canadian total trade output is the highest (76.4% GDP) as compared with other G-7 countries.
•	Through NAFTA, Canada has access to 390 million people combined with GDP US$ 8.6 trillion.
•	Direct Investment in Canada doubled from US$ 90.4billion (1985) to US$187.6billion (1997)

Canada has the most cost-competitive business environment

•	Rank as the first / top country in the world with the most knowledge worker.
•	US Government reported 10 Canadian electrical engineers in the top 22 North American.
•	Very productive workforce with 74% increase between the year 1990-1996
•	Every IT workforce in Canada produce a product of US$275.000 / person (in 1996)
•	Contribution of corporate tax to Canadian GDP is around 7.5% approximately similar to the US – but much lower than other G-7 countries.
•	Canada R&D tax incentive is the best among other G-7 countries with an index of  0.71 (US is 0.89, while German is the worst at 1.05).

Canada has the best information infrastructure in the world:

•	The first national fiber optics network in the world, it is known as CANARIE/CA*net3
•	From the World Competitive Yearbook, Canada is ranked 2nd to the US for technological infrastructure.
•	PC Penetration 36% is ranked as the first among the G-7 countries.
•	13% Canadians has Internet access (Indonesia has only 0.1% of its population an Internet access)
•	The lowest Internet access charges among G-7 countries.
•	The highest usage of ATM Bank-ing at 45.9 transaction per capita.
	
Canada has the most competitive IT industries in the world:

•	Canadian IT industry generates Cdn$69.6 billion in 1996
•	Canadian IT industry employs 417.975 workers.
•	IT trading is very profitable & generates:
o	Cdn$ 11.9 billion from Asian Market in 1997
o	Cdn$ 2.6 billion from European Market in 1997
o	Cdn$ 24.1 billion from the US Market in 1997

Canada’s Vision in IT & communication:

To make Canada the most connected country in the world by the year 2000

Paradigm shift in several basic areas:
•	Technology advancing rapidly
•	Monopolies to competition
•	More flexible regulation
•	Trade barriers falling - Globalization
•	Convergence of services and markets
•	Dramatic growth in wireless communications
•	Phenomenal growth of the Internet

Some interesting things in Canadian IT conditions:

•	16.500 schools connected to Internet by 2000
•	500 libraries connected to Internet
•	focus on wireless network
•	regulatory environment: privacy, encryption, e-commerce, digital signature, contract law
•	CANARIE/CA*net3 (first country optical cable network)
•	all government on-line (more government services coming on line)
•	strategies.ic.gov.ca (best government on line)
•	vision connect the country by year 2000

one of the interesting strategies initiated by the Canadian National Research Council is by expanding the market through strategic alliances in information technology with several countries specially the ASEAN countries. In Indonesia, this alliance movement is lead by the Canada Indonesia Technology Network (CITN) located at citn@itb.ac.id under the leadership of Dharma Setiawan dharma.setiawan@ibm.net. Model used by CITN is taken from the Canada Technology Network (CTN) http://ctn.nrc.ca, which will be described below. Some of the CITN activities are focused on several aspects, such as:

•	building the bridge for several technologies between Indonesia-Canada. I personally more interested in bridging the education & library sector between Indonesia-Canada.
•	Some initiatives to help the small & medium enterprises in Indonesia, which may have to focus on farming, agribusiness and handicraft.
•	Several network advisors who are mostly NGOs help CITN.

Information technology is conceptually used as the main medium of information exchange for CITN activities. Thus, we hope to be able to overcome distance & time barrier for collaborative activities between Indonesia-Canada.

Canada Indonesia Technology Network (CITN) is a collaborative activities between Indonesia-Canada, lead by the National Research Council (NRC) http://www.nrc.ca of Canada who is lead by Prof. Dr. Arthur Carthy who lead the research as well as activities to develop the information technology in Canada through its programs such as:

•	Canada Technology Network CTN http://ctn.nrc.ca/ctn/ctn.html to help the Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) especially from the technological aspects. Model used is similar to CTN by having members from educational institutions, research institutions, and government institutions working together over the network. For the SME, they can contact CITN through its network advisor to get the technological advice / help or market. All capabilities of the experts should be stored in database & can be access through the Web.

•	Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP) http://irap.nrc.ca/ is a program to help small medium enterprises by the Canadian National Research council. This program is executed by CTN to help / to give some incentive for small & medium industries to innovate with the help from various universities, research institutions etc.

As the Canadian information technology resources quite abundant it would be very difficult for me to attract most of them. To make the reader in Indonesia easier to access such abundant information I am including some URLs in the Internet to sneak into IT industries in Canada, some of these are:

•	www.connect-it.on.ca (contains more than 7000 IT products of Canada)
•	www.cplq.org (has more than 500 IT industrial members).
•	www.connect-it.on.ca/showcase (activities for international partnering & investment forum such as on 11-12 November 1998)
•	www.cfib.ca (Canadian Federation of Independent Business) with more than 88.000 members to give a business map in Canada.
•	strategies.ic.gc.ca contains data from industry Canada, government program / policy, trade, patent etc.

I would strongly suggest to browse the above URLs to pursue for possible partnership / collaboration. Help would be available through citn@itb.ac.id mailing list for those who encounter difficulties in pursuing such collaboration. Preferred communication language in such collaborative activities  would be English.

In reality, model for partnership / collaboration may be different than a plan trade / distribution chain, as within partnership / collaboration there is a mutual benefit. If the Indonesian IT industries quite mature, it would be much easier to negotiate for such partnership / collaboration. At the moment, it would be a bit difficult to do the negotiation processes. As we can clearly see, there is a quite large concentration of IT industry embryo in the Indonesian Internet communities, such as the AI3 Indonesia education network which consist of smart & militant young IT people who are the main recipe for the development of IT industries. Thus, strategic focus can be done by penetrating the collaboration / partnership with these young IT people.

Some of possible collaboration identified during the visit, focused on:

•	There is also technology incubator, some of them can be viewed on the Web at:

o	http://www.innovacorp.ns.ca/ticentre
o	http://itjobnet.gov.nb.ca

which may interest to some people at BPPT (Ministry of Technology) who are also working on technology incubator.

•	There is a possible collaboration between Indonesia-Canada to develop the concept & prototype of a Telecenter. There is an opportunity to send some people from Indonesia to Canada to work on the appropriate telecenter technology for Indonesia.
 
•	In telemedicine, there is an opportunity to collaborate with the strong biomedical research group lead by Prof. Dr. Soegiardjo Soegijoko (soegi@elka.ee.itb.ac.id) at ITB with CTN Newfoundland, Memorial University Novascotia program TETRA http://www.med.mun.ca/med.telemed/  & GAIA group in Canada.

•	Some possible collaboration between libraries is also possible as more and more library in Indonesia is now connected to Internet. NRC CISTI in Ottawa, Library Network 2000 can collaborate with the Indonesian side located at http://www.lib.itb.ac.id/isis/ or the digital library at http://digital.lib.itb.ac.id. Most of the people can be contacted at pustakawan@itb.ac.id, library@itb.ac.id or library-network@itb.ac.id.

•	Collaboration in developing the technology for distance learning, such as using XML, SGML, Knowledge Management etc between WatAGE (a waterloo based company) and AI3 Indonesia education network. We do hope we can sent a couple of people to Canada to study & develop / adapting the software for Indonesian environment.

•	Some possible collaboration in education sector, such as:

o	Ryerson Polytechnics in Toronto.
o	University Space Network - http://www.ilc-usn.kcc.ca
o	New Brunswick Distance Education - http://www.gov.nb.ca/edt/infohigh/index.htm
o	College of The North Atlantic - http://www.northatlantic.nf.ca/

At the moment, these schools provide various distance education courses, at least 150+ courses. Bilateral agreements among educational institutions can be performed to work together in adapting the courses for Indonesian purposes using the developed methodology & techniques. Minimal adaptation is language adaptation to make it easier for Indonesian people to adopt the concepts provided in the courses.

•	An opportunity to integrate the AI3 Indonesia education network into Singapore One / Singapore Research Education Network (SREN) & CANARIE CA*Net3. The help from Indosat / Satelindo the only international carrier in Indonesia will always welcome. The total bandwidth of CA*Net3 is in the range of 10Mbps while SREN around 30Mbps to STARTAP. A ground station may be needed to have a directly link to such education network, such ground station may be available at NRC facilities.

•	Some “trading” aided by IT for the farmer / majority of people in Indonesia has been performed for sometimes by wong-cilik@isnet.itb.ac.id. From the Canadian side, these kind of activities seems to be pursued by the Canadian International Trade as well as the model developed by CTN-CITN. I personally do hope this kind of trading activities can be done in Indonesia thus will increase the $ flow directly towards the people rather than within the distribution chain.

•	Softworld'98 is designed as a partnership media among information technology Industries. For Indonesia, with much younger information technology industries, large impact would be possible if we focus on education & trade sector. It can be seen from some results in education & trade activities.

Laporan Lawatan Teknologi Informasi Canada

Tulisan / press release ini merupakan cerita agak panjang lebar yang ditulis di pesawat & hotel menggunakan palmtop HP 320LX saya dalam perjalanan saya ke Canada dari tanggal 17-30 September 1998. Rekan-rekan media silahkan menyadur laporan ini disesuaikan dengan media / target audience anda masing-masing .. terima kasih banyak atas bantuannya. Mohon maaf jika laporannya mungkin agak kurang sinkron di sana-sini karena dibuat on-the spot se-ingatnya dll. Terima kasih.

Perjalanan ini di sponsori oleh Canada ASEAN Center (CAC) yang di Indonesia di organize oleh Ibu Sophie Toligi (stoligi@ibm.net). CAC merupakan lembaga / organisasi non-profit yang berfungsi untuk mempererat hubungan Canada dengan ASEAN. Sebagai contoh kegiatan CAC di Singapura telah membuka kerjasama Canada-Singapura salah satunya dengan membentuk Canada house yang merupakan representasi industri teknologi informasi Canada di Singapura dengan fasilitas multimedia yang lengkap yang terhubung ke tulang punggung jaringan informasi nasional Singapore One dan CA*Net3.
CA*Net3 merupakan jaringan Internet di atas fiber optik kecepatan minimal 2.4Gbps  membentang dari ujung ke ujung Canada. Indonesia tidak boleh iri, karena memang Singapura tampaknya lebih akomodatif lingkungan usaha maupun birokrasinya daripada Indonesia.

Perjalanan kali ini saya berangkat bersama rekan saya Dharma Setiawan (dharma.setiawan@ibm.net) yang merupakan project manager dari Canada Indonesia Technology Network (CITN) yang bermarkas di citn@itb.ac.id dan citnjkt@ibm.net.

Misi yang dibawa oleh saya sebetulnya sederhana, yaitu melihat kemungkinan untuk mempererat hubungan Indonesia-Canada khususnya bagi saya dalam bidang teknologi informasi terutama dalam hal-hal yang berkaitan dengan berbagai aplikasi infrastruktur informasi nasional. Misi ini menjadi berat sekali bagi team Indonesia yang terdiri dari hanya dua orang (itupun atas dibiayai Canada) untuk menarik perhatian pihak Canada & lainnya, karena dalam Softworld'98 ini Cina ternyata tidak kepalang tanggung membawa 46 orang delegasi, Hong Kong membawa minimal 16 orang delegasi. Yah kami hanya berharap untuk memfokuskan pada hal-hal yang bisa langsung menarik kerjasama saja ..

Tentunya agar proses ini bisa berjalan dengan baik ada beberapa persyaratan / kondisi dasar yang kemungkinan harus dimiliki oleh Indonesia agar proses kemitraan ini dapat terwujud, misalnya (IMHO):

•	Kesiapan SDM Indonesia untuk bermintra, misalnya kemampuan berkomunikasi    dalam bahasa Inggris, akreditasi global, kuantitas orang yang terdidik. Konsekuensi yang harus di tanggung DEPDIKBUD, misalnya mempertanyakan kembali fungsi Badan Akreditasi BAN, ujian negara di era globalisasi? & semangat untuk membuka pasar pendidikan bagi investor luar negeri untuk bermintra dengan lembaga lokal Indonesia. Inti dasarnya adalah yang akan diuntungkan adalah orang-orang yang mempunyai kemampuan / kualifikasi yang dibutuhkan; khususnya yang berpendidikan. Strategi / semangat yang perlu di adopsi adalah bagaimana supaya sebanyak mungkin bangsa Indonesia menjadi pandai dalam kondisi krisis moneter seperti sekarang ini.

•	Kemudahan regulasi, misalnya dari sisi perpajakan harus dihilangkan berbagai pajak yang melihat teknologi informasi sebagai barang mewah seperti yang ditanda tangani Indonesia dalam ITO di WTO. Sukur-sukur departemen keuangan bersedia memberikan kemudahan bahkan insentif bagi usaha-usaha yang sifatnya investasi; misalnya dengan tax break, tax holiday, tax deducatable untuk charitty bagi dunia pendidikan & usaha tax incentive lainnya untuk investor.

•	Kemudahan akses Internet, contoh sederhana untuk membuka kemungkinan ini secara ekstrim misalnya menghilangkan segala bentuk perijinan untuk usaha wartel maupun warung Internet ataupun Internet Service Provider. Yang perlu dilakukan oleh pemerintah mungkin hanya registrasi / pendaftaran bukan licensing / perijinan. Contoh lainnya adalah, pencabutan regulasi yang mempersulit integrasi jaringan-jaringan swasta / private network ke jaringan publik (Telkom). Hal ini akan memberikan kesempatan bagi masyarakat informasi Indonesia untuk mengadopsi berbagai alternatif teknologi data yang murah untuk akses lokal & menggunakan Telkom / operator telekomunikasi untuk akses regional & internasional.

•	Hal lain yang saya rasa akan sangat strategis adalah pembentukan platform / media yang memungkinkan diskusi langsung antara pelaku di Indonesia dengan pelaku teknologi di Canada. Hal ini sangat penting supaya saya, para birokrat, para diplomat & berbagai badan birokrasi yang ada tidak menjadi bottleneck usaha-usaha negosiasi / perkenalan. Menggunakan teknologi informasi / Internet hal ini sebetulnya dapat dengan mudah kita lakukan, misalnya menggunakan mailing list

indonesia-canada@itb.ac.id (yang di organise oleh Calindo; organisasi alumni Canada di Indonesia dg E-mail calindo@pacific.net.id)
citn@itb.ac.id (mailing list Canada Indonesia Technology Network)

mudah-mudahan dapat menjadi media interaksi yang effektif untuk memperkenalkan rakyat ke dua negara; jadi bukan hanya sekedar pimpinan, birokrat atau diplomat saja tapi hubungan langsung rakyat dengan rakyat dimungkinkan dengan Internet - yang tentunya akan jauh sekali sangat menguntungkan bagi hubungan antara ke dua negara.

Tanggal 17-23 September saya memperoleh kesempatan untuk hadir & berpartisipasi di Softworld '98 diselenggarakan di St John's New Foundland tempat pertemuan dari 800+ pelaku teknologi informasi dari 35+ negara berkumpul, negara yang berpartisipasi mulai dari Australia, Austria, Belgia, Canada, HongKong, Iceland, Italia, Denmark, Japang, Rumania, New Zealand, Singapura, Inggris, Amerika Serikat dll.

Seluruh buku & materi conference akan saya letakan di perpustakaan pusat di ITB yang dapat di search catalognya melalui http://www.lib.itb.ac.id/search.html & copy / pinjam dapat dilakukan melalui E-mail pada library@itb.ac.id. Saya berharap sebanyak mungkin orang Indonesia dapat mengakses informasi tersebut.

Cuaca di St John tempat acara Softworld'98 dilangsungkan relatif dingin sekitar 12-16 derajat C & kita memasuki musim gugur yang sangat indah. Tentunya Canada sebagai tuan rumah menghadirkan banyak sekali pelaku / pimpinan teknologi informasinya.

Dalam presentasi pembukaan oleh Michael Binder, Deputy Minister for Spectrum, Communication & Information Technology Canada merupakan tempat investasi teknologi informasi terbaik di dunia paling tidak di antara negara maju kelompok G-7 argumentasi yang digunakan menarik karena meliha dari banyak sudut & membandingkan dengan negara lain seperti:

Secara umum Canada:

•	Negara berwilayah ke 2 terbesar di dunia
•	30.3 juta orang
•	5 time zone
•	bilingual / multicultural
•	world class high-tech indusry

Canada mempunyai fundamental ekomoni yang sangat baik:

•	Fiskal year 1998 Canada satu-satunya negara G-7 yang surplus APBN 1.5%  GDP.
•	5 tahun terakhir rate inflasi Canada 1.7%-40% dibawah US, bunga bank sangat rendah.
•	IMF prediski pertumbuhan Canada 3.2% (1998) & 2.8% (1999) terbaik dari negara G-7.
•	Economist Intelligence Unit menempatkan Canada rangking ke 3 utk usaha dari 58 negara.

Canada mempunyai easy access to market:

•	Perbandingan total trade to economic output tertinggi diantara negara G-7 (76.4% GDP)
•	Melalui NAFTA, Canada akses 390 juta orang combined GDP US$ 8.6 trillion..
•	Direct Investment di Canada doubled dari US$ 90.4billion (1985) ke US$187.6billion (1997)

Canada mempunyai cost-competitive business environment

•	Rangking pertama di seluruh dunia utk pekerja yang berpendidikan tinggi (knowledge worker)
•	US Gourman report 10 Canadian electrical eng dalam top 22 Amerika Utara.
•	Workforce yang sangat productive 74% kenaikan dari tahun 1990-1996
•	Setiap orang pekerja di bidang IT menghasilkan product US$275.000 / orang (tahun 1996)
•	Perbandingan corporate tax ke GDP Canada 7.5% kira-kira sama dg. US & masih di bawah dari rata-rata negara G-7
•	Canada R&D tax incentive yang paling baik diantara negara G-7 dengan index 0.71 (US adalah 0.89, Jerman adalah 1.05 paling buruk).

Canada memiliki infrastruktur informasi terbaik di dunia:

•	Jaringan optik nasional pertama di dunia, dikenal sebagai CANARIE/CA*net3
•	DariWorld Competitive Yearbook, Canada rangking ke 2 dari US utk infrastruktur teknologi
•	PC Penetration 36% rangking pertama dari negara G-7
•	13% populasi Canada mempunyai Internet access (Indonesia hanya 0.1% populasi)
•	Charge Internet akses termurah di negara G-7
•	Pengguna ATM Bank terbanyak per kapita 45.9 transaksi per kapita
	
Canada mempunyai industri IT yang paling competitive di seluruh dunia:

•	IT industry menghasilkan Cdn$69.6 billion 1996
•	IT industry mempekerjakan 417.975 orang.
•	Perdagangan IT yang menguntungkan & menghasilkan
o	Cdn$ 11.9 billion dari pasar Asia tahun 1997
o	Cdn$ 2.6 billion dari pasar Eropa tahun 1997
o	Cdn$ 24.1 billion dari pasar Amerika serikat 1997

Visi Canada di bidang IT & komunikasi:

To make Canada the most connected country in the world by the year 2000

Perubahan paradigma yang mendasarnya:
•	Technology advancing rapidly
•	Monopolies to competition
•	More flexible regulation
•	Trade barriers falling - Globalization
•	Covergence of services and markets
•	Dramatic growth in wireless communications
•	Phenomenal growth of the Internet

Beberapa hal lain yang menarik dari kondisii IT di Canada antara lain adalah:

•	16.500 schools connected to Internet by 2000
•	500 libraries connected to Intermnet
•	fokus pada wireless network
•	regulatory environment: privacy, encryption, e-commerce, digital signature, contract law
•	CANARIE/CA*net3 (first country optical cable network)
•	all government on-line (more government services coming on line)
•	strategies.ic.gov.ca (best governmennt on line)
•	vision connect the country by year 2000

Salah satu strategi menarik yang digunakan Canada untuk mengembangkan pasarnya adalah menggunakan strategi aliansi bidang teknologi informasi dengan beberapa negara khususnya ASEAN oleh National Research Council (NRC). Di Indonesia aliansi ini berbentuk Canada Indonesia Technology Network (CITN) yang bermarkas di citn@itb.ac.id di bawah pimpinan Dharma Setiawan dharma.setiawan@ibm.net. Model CITN di ambil dari Canada Technology Network (CTN) yang akan di jelaskan di bawah ini. Beberapa kegiatan CITN di fokuskan pada beberapa hal, antara lain:

•	menjembatani beberapa kegiatan teknologi antara Indonesia-Canada khususnya bagi saya barangkali di bidang pendidikan & perpustakaan antara Indonesia-Canada.
•	beberapa usaha untuk membantu usaha kecil & menengah, di Indonesia kebetulan yang banyak adalah usaha pertanian, peternakan, agribisnis, kerajinan.
•	Di bantu oleh network advisornya yang umumnya LSM maka CITN membantu usaha ini

Teknologi informasi digunakan sebagai media untuk berinteraksi dalam CITN sehingga di harapkan dapat sedikit mengatasi hambatan jarak & waktu yang ada khsususnya jika harus melakukan diskusi-diskusi jarak jauh antara Indonesia-Canada.

Kegiatan CITN merupakan kerjasama Indonesia-Canada; khususnya NRC di Canada. Di pimpin oleh Prof.Dr. Arthur Carthy National Research Council Canada (http://www.nrc.ca) yang merupakan Dewan Riset Nasional Kanada telah memimpin kegiatan penelitian maupun usaha menumbuhkan industri teknologi informasi dengan berbagai program antara lain:

•	Canada Technology Network CTN http://ctn.nrc.ca/ctn/ctn.html yang membantu Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) khususnya dari sisi teknologi. Model yang digunakan adalah CTN mempunyai anggota lembaga pendidikan, lembaga penelitian, lembaga pemerintah. Bagi SME yang membutuhkan bantuan maka dapat menghubungi salah seorang network advisor dari anggota CTN untuk memperoleh bantuan teknologi & pasar yang dibutuhkan.
   
Seluruh kemampuan / kepakaran yang ada d data dalam database yang dapat diakses melalui Web seperti pada URL di atas.

•	Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP) http://irap.nrc.ca/ merupakan program bantuan bagi penelitian di industri kecil menengah yang dilakukan oleh NRC. Program ini merupakan program yang dilancarkan lebih dulu dari CTN ditujukan untuk memberikan insentif bagi industri kecil & menengah untuk melakukan innovasi di bantu oleh lembaga pendidikan, penelitian dll.

Karena banyaknya resource bidang teknologi informasi di Canada (jumlahnya ribuan) sangat sulit bagi saya untuk menarik perhatian semuanya. Untuk memudahkan bagi rekan-rekan di tanah air untuk bergerak maka saya sertakan di bawah ini beberapa Universal Resource Locator (URL) di Internet yang penting bagi pengetahuan & penetrasi tentang industri teknologi informasi di Canada, antara lain adalah:

•	www.connect-it.on.ca (membawa sekitar 7000 produk IT seluruh Canada)
•	www.cplq.org (mempunyai 500 anggota industri IT).
•	www.connect-it.on.ca/showcase (aktifitas untuk international partnering & investment forum tanggal 11-12 November 1998)
•	www.cfib.ca (Canadian Federation of Independent Business) dengan 88.000 anggota yang dapat memberika gambaran peta bisnis di Canada.
•	strategies.ic.gc.ca berisi data-data indutsry Canada, program pemerintah, trade, paten dll.
	
Saya sangat menyarankan supaya di lihat URL di atas, jika sekiranya ada beberapa yang menarik untuk dibuka kerjasama-nya. Bantuan dapat dilakukan melalui citn@itb.ac.id jika menemui kesulitan untuk melakukan hubungan secara langsung. Tentunya sebaiknya
komunikasi dilakukan dalam bahasa Inggris.

Usaha kerjasama / partnership tampaknya berbeda sekali model-nya dengan pola perdagangan / distribusi biasa, karena pada partnership sifatnya lebih mutual & masing-masing memberikan kontribusinya dalam kerjasama yang dilakukan. Sebetulnya jika di Indonesia cukup banyak industri teknologi informasi yang berkembang, cukup mudah melakukan negosiasi kerjasama tersebut. Saat ini agak sulit, karena sebagian dari industri IT indonesia lebih bersifat distributor dari sebuah product IT. Hal ini agak menyulitkan dalam negosiasi untuk menarik partnership ini untuk terbentuk. Beberapa embrio industri IT justru saat ini tampak di jaringan Internet pendidikan AI3 Indonesia yang banyak mengkaryakan orang-orang muda yang ahli di bidang IT & militan dalam berkerjanya. Akhirnya saya dengan sangat terpaksa mengambil inisiatif utk memfokuskan pada kemungkinan kerjasama yang akan memberdayakan orang-orang muda Indonesia untuk dapat lebih maju.

Beberapa jalinan kerjasama yang berhasil dibuka selama lawatan kami di Canada, khususnya:

•	Kemungkinan utk pengembangan model inkubator teknologi, salah satu yang menarik adalah yang dikembangkan

o	http://www.innovacorp.ns.ca/ticentre
o	http://itjobnet.gov.nb.ca

yang mungkin akan menarik rekan-rekan di BPPT / yang bergerak dalam inkubator teknologi.

•	Kemungkinan pengembangan bersama Indonesia-Canada dari konsep & prototype  telecenter. Yang akan dimotori oleh rekan-rekan di CTN Newfoundland & AI3 Indonesia, kemungkinan Indonesia akan memperoleh kesempatan untuk mengirimkan orang ke Canada untuk mengembangkan teknologi telecenter ini..

•	Penjajakan kemungkinan kerjasama dibidang telemedicine, antara lain melibatkan   kelompok penelitian biomedical dibawah pimpinan Dr. Soegiardjo Soegijoko ITB, CTN Newfoundland, Memorial University Novascotia program TETRA http://www.med.mun.ca/med.telemed/  & kelompok GAIA Canada.

•	Penjajakan kemungkinan kerjasama bidang pengkaitan perpustakaan melalui Internet antara lain dengan NRC CISTI, Jaringan Perpustakaan Network 2000, Jaringan AI3 Indonesia, jaringan perpustakaan Indonesia yang berpusat di www.lib.itb.ac.id/search.html.

•	Kerjasama untuk pengembangan teknologi untuk pendidikan jarak jauh, seperti penggunaan XML, SGML, Knowledge Management dll. antara WatAGE & jaringan AI3 Indonesia. Sedang di usahakan supaya Indonesia dapat mengirimkan beberapa orang ke Canada untuk sekolah & mengembangkan software ini.

•	Beberapa kemungkinan kerjasama bidang teleeducation misalnya dengan

o	Ryerson Politechnics di Toronto.
o	University Space Network - http://www.ilc-usn.kcc.ca
o	New Brunswick Distance Education - http://www.gov.nb.ca/edt/infohigh/index.htm
o	College of The North Atlantic - http://www.northatlantic.nf.ca/

Pada saat ini sekolah-sekolah ini telah memberikan berbagai kuliah jarak jauh, paling tidak todal berjumlah 150+ mata kuliah. Kerjasama-kerjsama bilateral sebetulnya dapat dibangun antara institusi di Indonesia denagn mereka untuk bersama-sama membantu mencerdaskan bangsa Indonesia menggunakan teknik & materi yang ada; beberapa penyesuaian perlu dilakukan oleh pihak Indonesia agar metari tersebut dapat dengan mudah diterima oleh mahasiswa di Indonesia.

•	Kesempatan untuk mengkaitkan jaringan Internet pendidikan AI3 Indonesia, Singapore One / Singapore Research Education Network (SREN) & CANARIE CA*net3. Bantuan dari operator Indosat & Satelindo tentunya sangat diharapkan dalam hal ini. Pihak NRC sedang mengusahakan untuk memperoleh statiun bumi yang dibutuhkan untuk menyambungkan jaringan AI3 Indonesia ke SREN & CA*net3. Total bandwidth dari CA*net3 adalah sekitar 10Gbps, sedang SREN sekitar 30Mbps ke STARTAP.

•	Penjajagan juga dilakukan untuk membuka hubungan kerjasama "perdagangan" yang dibantu oleh teknologi informasi untuk membantu rakyat kecil / petani / peternak di daerah supaya dapat memperbaiki nasib mereka. Usaha ini dimotori oleh rekan-rekan di wong-cilik@isnet.itb.ac.id. Dari pihak Canada tampaknya akan diusahakan oleh beberapa pihak seperti bagian International Trade maupun CITN-CTN. Mudah-mudahan jika hal ini dapat terbentuk paling tidak membuka kemugkinan bagi rakyat kecil menikmati transaksi dollar secara langsung.

•	Softworld'98 dirancang sebagai media partnership antara pelaku industri teknologi informasi. Bagi Indonesia yang industrinya belum terlalu tumbuh, alternatif yang akan terasa dampaknya langsung terutama di bidang pendidikan & perdagangan. Hal ini tampak dari beberapa hasil yang diperoleh khususnya dari sisi pendidikan & perdagangan.