The largest digital expo of Bangladesh ‘Digital World 2015’ kicks off on Monday in capital Dhaka with 85 high-profile tech personnel from 25 countries along with 120 companies and 100 governmental organisations.  

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Division in collaboration with Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) is organising this mega event at Bangabandhu International Conference Center in Dhaka.  

It is supported by Access to Information (a2i) and Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC).

In addition, 24 seminars, nine conferences and 11 workshops, the four-day tech conference is having four expositions— E-Governance Expo, BASIS Soft Expo, Mobile Innovation Expo and E-Commerce Expo.  

Remarking about the overall groundwork of the event, Russel T Ahmed, Convener of the Organising Committee of Digital World 2015 said: "This year nearly 85 individuals from several tech giants have agreed to join Digital World so far."

The guest list includes Ben King, Head of Sales, South Asia Emerging Markets at Google, Bickey Russell, Head of Agency Development, Global SMB Revenue Organisation, Google, Katie Sanders, Marketing Specialist (contractor role) Google, Linne Ha, Senior Program Manager, Machine Intelligence, Ravi Rajakumar, Software Engineer, Google Speech, Arne Mauser, Software engineer, Google Translate, GDG Bangladesh Country Manager Jabed Sultan Pias, Ankhi Das, Director & Head of Public Policy, Facebook India, Houlin Zhao, ITU Secretary-General, Boydlee Pollentine, Founder Tipsy & Tumbler, Dave Nielsen, Founder CloudCamp, Venk Shukla, President, TiE Silicon Valley, Ian Shakil, Cofounder and CEO of Augmedix, Martin Labbe ITC, NTF III Bangladesh Project Manager, Avinash Vashistha, Chairman Accenture - India, Bikroy.com Head Martin Malmstrom .  

For the first time, a "National ICT Award" will be offered at the expo. For individuals and companies who have made a significant mark in the industry, 47 public, 7 private and 4 in special category— in total 58 awards of appreciation will be given.

From seven divisions of the country, the best DC, OC, UNO, Deputy Commissioner (land), Upazila Digital Center, Digital Educational Institution, along with a Best Digital City, Digital Municipal, Digital Hospital, Bank and e-Initiative and e-Entrepreneur will be awarded. In the private sector, 5 best IT inventions, one female tech personality and one technology personality will be presented with lifetime achievement awards.  

Apart from this, four companies from the ones that participated in this conference will also be awarded in the last day of the expo.

Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMOTOB), Bangladesh Association of Call Center and Outsourcing (BACCO), Bangladesh Computer Shamity (BCS), Bangladesh ICT Journalist Forum (BIJF), Bangladesh Women in Technology (BWIT), CTO Forum, Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh and Silicon Valley based ICT organisation TiE Bangladesh are working as the partner for this Expo.