This year Innovation Competition has now been launched. [03 June 2008]

Full delegate information including details of accommodation location is now available. [9 July 2008]

The University of Aberdeen Sport and Recreation department are able to offer all delegates preferential rates for using the Sports facilities for the duration of the conference. [11 July 2008]

John Slater, University of Kent at Canterbury, gave a talk entitled "Who will rid me of this troublesome beast".

Kate Forbes-Pitt has 15 years experience of working with electronic document management systems. She started working with paper based systems, electronically generated, at London Borough of Lambeth in 1991. She joined the LSE in 1999 to procure and implement a new electronic document management system. In addition, during the last 15 years, she has completed two degrees at LSE, and now pursues document and content management as areas of academic research. She has spoken about document management at many conferences, has recently published on the structure of documents and content and is currently researching the effects of electronic documents on work ownership and identity. Kate gave a plenary talk on "Delivering Information: Document vs. Content". Kate can be contacted at K.Forbes-Pitt@lse.ac.uk

Matthew Wood is Head of Software Engineering and Architecture at BBC Audio and Music. He runs a team of software engineers and client side developers and likes making things. Matthew gave a plenary talk entitled "How the BBC make Web sites" with Michael Smethurst.

Patrick Lauke works as Web Evangelist in the Developer Relations team at Opera Software ASA. In a previous life he worked as Web Editor for the University of Salford, where in 2003 he implemented one of the first thoroughly web standards based sites in the sector. Patrick has been engaged in the discourse on standards and accessibility since early 2001 - regularly speaking at conferences and contributing to a variety of web development and accessibility related mailing lists and initiatives such as the Web Standards Project. Published works include a chapter in Web Accessibility: Web Standards and Regulatory Compliance, released by Friends of Ed in 2006, as well as various articles for .net magazine, where he sits on the advisory panel. An outspoken accessibility and standards advocate, Patrick favours a pragmatic hands-on approach over purely theoretical, high-level discussions. "I'm an idealist by nature, but a pragmatist by trade. I'd never class myself as an expert and I certainly don't have all the answers...I'm just an opinionated guy eager to find real world solutions 'where the rubber meets the road'." His personal corner of the web can be found at http://www.splintered.co.uk. Patrick will be giving a plenary talk entitled "HTML5 (and friends)".

Nicholas Watson is the media account manager for Corporate Projects for Learning and Teaching Solutions (LTS) - the media production arm of the Open University (OU). He is responsible for production of Open Educational Resources such as OpenLearn, iTunes U and YouTube. Nicholas facilitated a workshop on "Podcasting and iTunes U: Institutional Approaches to Scaleable Service" with Jeremy Speller. Nicholas can be contacted at n.watson@open.ac.uk

Tom Natt is a Web Developer working at the University of Bath. He has worked on a selection of institutional projects including wiki and instant messaging software and is currently looking at institutional repositories. In his free time he working on a selection of Web related open source projects. Tom facilitated a workshop on "What's the Point of having Developers in a Web 2.0 World?" with Phil Wilson.

Rob Bristow, JISC as Programme Manager for e-Administration gives a plenary talk on Institutional Responses to Emergent Technologies - What JISC is Doing. As users of all sorts become more familiar with new technologies (including both Web 2.0 type software tools and user-owned devices) and become used to, and expectant of, managing their own data through 'self-service' applications and systems, questions are asked of institutions as to how they will respond to these new demands. JISC has been investigating this area through strands within its e-Learning and Users and Innovation programmes which have been focussed in the main on the learners' and users' experience. JISC has recently funded a further series of projects that address the way that institutions are responding to these new challenges, looking at organisational policies, practice and strategies, as well as funding pilot projects that demonstrate actual institutional responses. This work is in its early stages but the scope of the responses to the call for projects and some of the early results of the landscape study will provide some interesting real life information about institutional responses from across the sector. This talk will describe the work that JISC is doing and relate it to the Institutional Web Manager world.

David Hyett, Head of Information and Records Management, British Antarctic Survey gives a plenary talk on Web 2.0 - Whatever Happened to Web 1.0? At the start of the redevelopment of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) external Web site, there was initial enthusiasm for "Web 2.0" with many stakeholders using the term without actually knowing what it meant. Fancy, interactive interfaces, are no substitute for good information architecture, good navigation and good content - all of which should be underpinned by understanding the user and their goals. The session will look at how the Web 2.0 concept can be interpreted and will argue that it should be used with caution. Web 2.0 by any definition is likely to have its place within an organisation's Web strategy but should only be considered once we've got Web 1.0 right! And let's now forget about "Usability 2.0" and "Accessibility 2.0" either! The experience and lessons learned by BAS will be highlighted.

A new Victorian Government medical technology strategy will position Victoria as an internationally competitive developer of medical technology. Victoria’s Medical Technology Industry Strategy will create more high value jobs and attract investment for the state’s advanced manufacturing sector.

Australia’s world ranking for biotechnology innovation jumped from seventh to fourth on Scientific American’s latest ‘Worldview’ scorecard. The publication’s scorecard provides a balanced assessment of biotechnology innovation around the world and indicated that Australia’s biotech market is undergoing a resurgence.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has grown its Australian service locations to Melbourne. The expanded company will roll out Amazon CloudFront - a content delivery Web service that offers both businesses and developers an easy way to distribute content with low latency and high data transfer speeds.

The Victorian Government’s investment agency has created 20,000 jobs since December 2010 reaching its target six months earlier than predicted. The jobs were created as a result of the Office of State Development attracting A$8 billion worth of assisted investment.

Global ratings agency, Moody’s, has reaffirmed Australia’s AAA rating and stable outlook, consistent with recent assessments by Fitch and Standard & Poor’s. Australia’s sovereign credit rating is based on the nation’s highly resilient economy, high level of government financial strength and low level of event risk.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) has reaffirmed Australia's triple-A credit rating and stable economic outlook, stating that the sovereign credit ratings on Australia benefit from the country's strong institutional settings, its wealthy and resilient economy, and a high degree of monetary and fiscal policy flexibility. “These factors provide Australia with a strong ability to absorb large economic and financial shocks, as was demonstrated during the global recession in 2009,” S&P said.

Singapore’s Fatfish Internet Group will open a new office in Melbourne to help boost its business in the Australasian region. Founded in 2011, Fatfish invests its own funds and money from the Singapore government in IT start-up companies and those in growth stage.

San Francisco-based IT company, Zendesk, is expanding its operations in Melbourne to take advantage of Victoria’s strong information technology skills base. “Our head of product and engineering says Melbourne is the best place for us to hire right now because of the combination of expectations, talent and production,” said Mikkel Svane, co-founder and chief executive of US-based Zendesk.

Australia has achieved its highest ever ranking in the 2014 Global Innovation Index (GII). The GII 2014 surveyed 143 economies around the world, using 81 indicators to gauge both their innovation capabilities and measurable results.

Former US President Bill Clinton has told delegates at the 20th International AIDS Conference, AIDS 2014 in Melbourne, that finding more economically efficient ways to respond to HIV is vital to saving lives and preventing the spread of the virus. Mr Clinton’s speech was made to over 2,000 people at one of the most eagerly anticipated sessions at the AIDS 2014 conference in Melbourne.

US-based data visualisation software storage company, DataCore Software, has expanded its operations in Melbourne. The new marketing function located in Melbourne delivers demand-generation programs and better serves the DataCore Australia-New Zealand partnership.

The Victorian Government is calling for Expressions of Interest to develop Federation Square East – an iconic site in the heart of Melbourne. Global developers are invited to respond to the EOI which will be officially released to the market on Monday 15 September 2014, presenting an exciting opportunity to create a vibrant, mixed use development that may incorporate commercial components — including shops, bars and even accommodation.

Australia’s largest biotechnology company, Commonwealth Serum Laboratories (CSL), will invest A$210 million to expand albumin production at its Broadmeadows manufacturing site (25 minutes from Melbourne’s city centre) to meet increasing demand for its global ‘ablumin’ critical care therapy. The planned manufacturing facility for the Broadmeadows site is expected to create up to 200 jobs during construction, with a further 190 manufacturing jobs once the plant is operational.

Aegis Services Australia has announced it will expand its business processing outsourcing operations in Victoria, creating 550 new jobs over the next two years. Aegis is a global outsourcing and technology company. The expansion will mean a doubling of the company’s existing local workforce and a substantial investment in training and up-skilling of employees. The company’s announcement underscores Victoria's strong reputation as a destination for global investment and business services centre.

The Victorian Government has launched Australia's first web tool specifically designed to help Victorian communities locate mining and exploration activities in their regions quickly and easily. The Mining Licences Near Me web tool ensures greater transparency for communities regarding industry activity in their region, both onshore and offshore, including minerals, gas and quarries.

The Australian Government has advised that it will expand and improve the Significant Investor Visa (SIV) program to leverage and better direct foreign investment. The program will be reformed to encourage more high net worth individuals to make Australia home and will contribute to a strong and competitive economic environment.

The expression of interest for the Ballarat West Employment Zone (BWEZ) has officially opened. BWEZ is the Ballarat region’s engine room for jobs and economic growth over the next 20 years. Located just over an hour north-west from the Melbourne city centre, Ballarat has fantastic connections to road, rail, ports and airports and the region is home to a large, skilled and stable workforce. With an increasing population of 100,000, Ballarat is one of the largest inland cities in Australia and serves as a key access point to the other regional centres in Northern and Western Victoria.

The Fu Wah International Group will establish its Australian headquarters in Melbourne, bringing 20 jobs to Victoria. A high-end real-estate development and commercial property management group based in China, the company recently took ownership of the iconic Melbourne Park Hyatt Hotel and is exploring other investment opportunities in Victoria's property and hotel sector.

Underutilised rail yards on the edge of Melbourne’s city centre are set to be transformed into the newest inner-city suburb - E-Gate. The 20 hectare site is equivalent in size to five Melbourne City blocks and will be developed into a new integrated community providing residential, retail, commercial and community facilities.

Global technology supplier Finmeccanica – Selex ES will establish its Australian Naval Communications headquarters in Melbourne, creating 80 manufacturing jobs by 2019. Finmeccanica - Selex ES works across the international defence, security, aerospace, naval and transport sectors.

An additional round of veski innovation fellowships – a prestigious Victorian program to attract outstanding global leaders in science and research to Victoria – is actively seeking applications from outstanding women in science and research.

Balluff Leuze has invested in a custom-built automation centre in Bayswater, located 40 minutes east of Melbourne’s city centre, as part of its continued Australian expansion plans. The German company, which specialises in technically innovative products for the Automation industry has been working in Australia for 15 years and is considered a leader in sensor technology. They also build a range of safety products that are used in the Victorian manufacturing sector.

Professor Sharon Lewin, the local co-chair of this year’s 20th International AIDS Conference, and internationally recognised HIV cure researcher, has been named Melburnian of the Year in an awards ceremony held on 15 November.

The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), in collaboration with NICTA (National ICT Australia) have announced the opening of a joint data analytics lab in Victoria. The lab will be based at RMIT University’s School of Computer Science & Information (CSIT) in Melbourne. NICTA is Australia’s largest ICT organisation, and its Machine Learning Research Group has been independently rated amongst the top five groups of its kind in the world. In a collaboration valued at over A$1 million, NICTA will combine its expertise with RMIT University’s CSIT, which is widely recognised as a leader in data and information management.

AEREON, a global leader in combustion, vapour recovery and pollution-control technologies has announced the opening of a new 1250 square metre (13,000 square feet) operations facility in Melbourne. The large facility will create flares, thermal oxidizers and gas compression units that adhere to Australian code requirements in the oil and gas industries. Local fabrication of the materials will allow AEREON to better improve their customer experience and ensure consistency and quality in their product range.

Global pharmaceutical company Janssen-Cilag, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, has signed a three-year research collaboration agreement with Melbourne’s Monash University. The collaboration will focus on ground-breaking research at Monash University to develop potential new medicines to treat autoimmune diseases and disorders .

The global data centre and software giant, Equinix, has recently opened a new state-of-the-art data centre in Melbourne, as part of its expansion plans throughout the Asia-Pacific region. The centre, which is strategically located in Port Melbourne, about 2.5 kilometres from the Central Business District, will help to meet the growing regional demand for premium data centre services, and comes amidst strong growth in Australia and Victoria’s IT markets. Equinix has invested A$60 million in the centre, known as ME1, and early reports indicate an successful launch.

Melbourne has reinforced its great reputation as the world’s most liveable city with new statistics showing Victoria as the number one destination for Australians moving inter-state.

Regenerative medicine research efforts are set to strengthen in Australia with the recent announcement between Melbourne’s Monash University and leading US biomedical institution, MDI Biological Laboratory.

More than 150 international buyers and investors from Europe, the Middle East and Asia will travel to Victoria as part of a major inbound trade mission that showcases its diverse wine industry. Meet the Winemaker, will introduce international buyers to over 100 key winemakers from 21 diverse winemaking regions around Victoria, allowing the industry to develop new export opportunities and giving the world an insight into Victoria’s unique winemaking capabilities.