A computer festival initiated by the Vietnam Software Engineering Group (SEG Vietnam) opened in the central city of Da Nang on August 12.

This is one of the events to celebrate the 2009 World Information Technology Forum (WITFOR 2009) to be held in Vietnam later this month.

The festival has drawn the participation of SEG Vietnam members, including the Da Nang-based Duy Tan University , the Ho Chi Minh City Van Lang University and the Hanoi Digital Telecommunication Technology JSC as well as IT experts from the Ministries of Defence and Communications and representatives from the US-based Carnegie Mellon University (CMU).

The two-day festival focuses on such topics as preparing resources for developing large-scale IT systems, building large software systems and improving necessary skills and knowledge for IT students.

Prof. Anthony Lattanze from the CMU, who designed the first robot to explore the surface of Mars and has taken part in US aviation projects, delivered a speech at the event.

According to SEG Vietnam President Le Cong Co, after one year of implementing the CMU’s IT training programme, SEG Vietnam has trained 200 students in software technology and information systems.

The group has also organised training courses on software and IT project management for nearly 100 people who are leaders and managers of Vietnam ’s IT companies./.