Now in its sixth year, IA09 has moved venue again. From The Metropol in Brighton, via the Embankment Plaza in Vauxhall, it has ended up in the heart of Westminster at The Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, off Parliament Square.
Spread over all six floors of this labyrinthine castle which makes the Barbican seem easy to navigate your way around, the event was more popular than ever with 850 people signed up for the two days. Our new pop-up stand featuring the hopefully very familiar Portcullis logo took its place amongst the others in the exhibition space. We sent three delegates to make the most of the packed agenda of speakers and in addition to some impressive plenary sessions with people like Sir Gus O’Donnell, John Suffolk and Facilitator Edward Stourton, yes the one who got curiously sacked from the Today Programme.
There was also a plethora of break out sessions deposited all around the building. So one’s boy scout orienteering skills came in very handy. On the Monday evening, at a gala dinner, the delegates were treated to a brilliant after dinner speech by Rory Bremner, all paid for by the dear old sponsors and exhibitors. Watch this space to see where we’ll be for IA10.
IA09 - what was it all about?
The Strategy for 'Transformational Government, Enabled by Technology', was launched by the Government in November 2005. It embodies three key transformations:
* services, enabled by IT, must be designed around the citizen or business
* Government must move to a shared services culture
* there must be broadening and deepening of Government's professionalism in terms of planning, delivery, management, skills and governance of IT-enabled change
These transformations depend on the assured availability, integrity and confidentiality of information within and between Government departments, authorised agencies and commercial partners. Information risks are real and must be understood and managed with the same rigour accorded to the management of other risks.
In our role as National Technical Authority for Information Assurance, CESG has created the Information Assurance series of annual events to explore the challenges laid out in the Transformational Government Strategy.
IA08 presented a powerful platform for the principal decision makers and influencers from the public and private sectors to debate the priorities and opportunities for shaping the UK strategy for Transformational Government.
Through this debate, IA08 contributed to the development of the Government’s National Information Assurance Strategy, which was launched to coincide with the event.
The authors of the National IA Strategy used this event to debate how best to deliver their vision, identifying opportunities for improving the effectiveness and tempo of its implementation.