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Press conference of Macedonian Chambers of Commerce (MCC) on which, by the ICT Chamber at the MCC, it was discussed about the need for digitization within the business and specific draft measures were presented for promotion of the sector of information and communication technology in Macedonia.
Macedonia has IT potential that contributes to the attractiveness of the country and placement of a greater number of foreign direct investments in the IT sector. The necessity of development of the information sector is essential, starting from the business sector as the biggest user of information technologies, to households. Namely, according to data from the State Statistical Office for 2015, 64.9% of households had Internet access, 70.4% of users aged 15-74 used the internet and 93.5% of enterprises with ten or more employees used the internet. In this regard, in terms of the need for IT services, IT sector has a significant share in the building and growth of GDP in the country, and is one of the sectors that contribute to reducing unemployment, and even more increased technological development country. ICT sector at European level accounts for five percent of GDP annually building, with 20 percent growth in GDP and an additional 30 percent investment in the ICT sector.
IT sector is constantly in motion, new things arrive and their application is great. The data in the cloud are flowing into the computers of the companies and private users. Also, we are working on systems that will facilitate the purchase in supermarkets blind people through the application of smart phones with built-in camera that will scan the environment and will lead to the required shelf in their pronunciation of the required product. Further, we have information to perform online orders through drone with the installation of a system of remote management. As the project is also finding a way to perform delivery of products enabled program will be cold by the time of the delivery to the reception of the product by the buyer.
In this computer age, all companies should follow the world trends. The introduction of computer systems and finding solutions in software companies is necessary in terms of their promotion, increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of their operations, which could lead to their greater competitiveness.
Macedonia as a country with strong IT potential, should direct its efforts to promote the IT sector, but also give incentives for innovative products. ICT chamber continuously submit proposals and measures to promote the IT sector in Macedonia, and they contribute to the development of domestic IT companies to foster their innovation, and additionally have a positive impact on attracting foreign companies to invest in Macedonia. The initiative of the Chambers of Commerce was prepared short-term ICT Strategy 2016 – 2017 with the support of the Swiss Embassy, and given the proposed measures by the private sector for faster and more dynamic way to transform knowledge of graduates.
In this regard we believe that the following measures should be undertaken:
- Outsource of the ICT services.
- Subsidies for making WEB.
- Production of electronic teaching aids.
- Preparation of a program for ICT infrastructure in secondary vocational education.
March 16, 2016
