S C I E N C E  A N D  T E C H N O L O G Y

Havana. May 20, 2004

Software industry seeks greater market effectiveness
• Cuba’s growing sector presented its corporate image during the 10th International Computer Science Convention and Fair 2004

BY LILLIAM RIERA -Granma International staff writer-

THE presentation in Havana of the corporate image of the Cuban Software Industry (incusoft) was one of the most awaited moments of the recently concluded 10th International Computer Science Convention and Fair 2004, held May 10-15, with more than 1,600 delegates from 37 countries.

In response to Granma International, Nelson Ferrer, deputy minister of Computer Science and Communications (MIC), who was at the launch, explained that with the creation of incusoft, it is hoped to combine the distinct efforts underway by diverse Cuban institutions in the field to attain the strength needed for more effective incursions into foreign markets.

Ferrer affirmed that the new registered label is focusing on goods and services that provide integral solutions for certain sectors of industry, trade and government, while not excluding the work of Cuban specialists for foreign consulting firms.

Ferrer commented that during 2003, Cuba exported software to more than 20 countries, but in small quantities. Hence, he explained, the need to make better use of the sector’s immense potential in fields such as health, education, telecommunications services and other fields related to art and culture.

Carmen Fernández del Busto, head of incusoft’s promotion and publicity department, noted that little by little, new companies are joining those that have already ventured into this industry, which she qualifies as a “high-priority sector.”

Cuba’s efforts to stimulate the development of new technologies, with the introduction of more than 50,000 computers in the country’s 12,000 schools and the education of professionals (5,000 computer science specialists graduated in 2003, and this year some 7,000 young people are studying in university classrooms and another 30,000 in polytechnics) will bear fruit.

The 2004 Fair, dedicated to Cuban software, constituted, precisely, a demonstration of what has been achieved to date in this field by 32 Cuban institutions that exhibited their newest products and services.

COMBIOMED and NEURONIC S.A., for example, displayed a diverse range of medical equipment, which has even been exported to First World nations. CITMAEL (the Information and Data Transmission Services Technology Enterprise) had a festive showing of its multimedia offerings, grouped into diverse series (Cuba, Educational, José Martí, Cuban Personalities, Literature, The World and its Environment, Medicine and Film and Television).

Likewise, visitors’ attention was caught by a conventional car produced by the SIMPRO company, which uses a virtual reality software program to teach people how to drive without wasting gasoline and to confront traffic or complex driving conditions.

This project, which is to be sold to other countries, is being used in the National Automobile School and for training those who drive National Revolutionary Police vehicles.

During the convention, which grouped together 12 events, Project Cuba: Information and Communications Technology for All was reviewed.

In that way, delegates were able to learn of the experiences of the Computing and Electronics Youth Clubs, where specialists offer free courses to children, teen-agers and adults in the new technologies; the labors of INFOMED (Health Telematics Network); the audiovisual program and the new television and radio literacy teaching methods that Cuba has made available for Third World countries.

During the 7th Ibero-American Seminar on Security in Information Technology, it was learned, for example, that in 2003 viruses caused $55 million worth of damage, representing an almost twofold increase over 2002, when such damage was estimated at $25-30 million.

José Bidot, general director of the Cuban IT security firm Segurmática, highlighted during his presentation that nearly 99% of incidents caused by malicious programming, including viruses, are originated by users.

He explained that in spite of warnings, users continue to execute files attached to e-mail messages, and do not use the patches that can solve diverse vulnerabilities in their computers’ operating system, which are used by hackers in their attacks.

For Bidot, educating users in how malignant programs behave (this year, between 80,000 and 100,000 have been reported internationally) and the security measures to confront them will continue to be priorities.

At this year’s convention, the first Congress of Bio-Computer Science was held, as well as the first Cuban Symposium on Artificial Intelligence.

In its 10th edition, the 2004 convention and fair corroborated what had been affirmed by Ignacio González Planas, communications minister, during the event’s opening, when he said that Cuba is working toward the social use of new technologies for its people’s development and culture. •

Collection of educational software for high school students being prepared

A network of educational software research and production centers, which operate under the Ministry of Education (MINED), are preparing a new collection of CD-ROMs destined for teaching in Cuban high schools.

Using the name InstEd, this network is composed of 16 centers - one in each of the country’s Higher Institutes of Pedagogy - and has already developed the El Navegante (The Navigator) collection, which can be found in all the country’s junior high schools and enables the three grades (7th, 8th and 9th) to be fully covered in all subjects for these grades’ new plan.

César Labañino, head of MINED’s educational software department and responsible for directing InstEd’s work, informed Granma International that the Future Collection - as it is called - will allow high school students to connect to RIMED (the education ministry’s national information network). It will also involve independent study techniques in preparation for entering universities as well as help with vocational orientation.

Labañino mentioned that some of the 19 title-collection’s newest elements include a database containing a record of all the university entrance exams for all majors in Cuba, as well as virtual laboratories in the areas of physics, chemistry and biology.

Work is being done to start off the new school year in September with some presence of the Future Collection in high schools, he added.

Based on interest shown by other Latin American ministries of education, work is underway to adapt El Navegante’s contents so that they can be used in other regional contexts, Labañino noted.