On the RUSSOFT Delegation Visit to Japan
Oct 27, 2004
RUSSOFT has organized a visit of a delegation, composed of managers of several Russian software development companies, to Japan on October 11-13, 2004. The delegation was part of the official mission of the Governor of St Petersburg Mrs.Valentina Matvienko to Osaka, where Mayors of both Cities have opened celebrations devoted to 25th Anniversary of establishing sister-cities relations.
Alexey Sukharev (Auriga), Michael Khitrov (Speech Technology Center), Boris Sharov (Doctor Web) and president of RUSSOFT Valentin Makarov - have taken part in the official program of the Celebrations and have also visited offices of leading Japanese software companies and IT Associations.
On October 12 the delegation of RUSSOFT has been received by the Kansai Information System Industry Association (KISA) in the head-quarters of Contec Inc, the manager of which is the KISA president, Mr.Ryo Yoshinaga.
During half a day more than 20 representatives from leading IT companies from Kansai region have been listening presentations of Russian counterparts and exchanging ideas of cooperation.
The Board members of KISA and RUSSOFT delegation have resumed negotiations in the evening, before official reception in the Mayor Office of Osaka. With common interest to develop business relations between our two Associations - both sides decided to arrange a larger event in September 2005 in Osaka. It will take place within the frameworks of the "Global Venture Forum" (GVF) which is being annually held in Osaka since 1997. KISA Board members have expressed willingness to provide large assistance to participation of RUSSOFT delegation in the GVF next year. This reflects the mutually accepted readiness of profound studying of existing business and investment opportunities in the field of software development between Russia and Kansai region.
During the official reception RUSSOFT and KISA representatives have had a discussion with the Governor of St Petersburg and with the Mayor if Osaka who have unanimously expressed their full support to development of cooperation between two Associations.
On October 13 the RUSSOFT delegation has also visited the head-quarters of JISA (Japan Information Technology Services Industry Association). The RUSSOFT delegation was received by JISA president Mr.Norishiri Kono and by members of the JISA Secretariat. Vladimir Fedorov (SPIRIT Corp) has also joint our delegation at this meeting.
After a very productive exchange of views, JISA secretariat has arranged visits of RUSSOFT delegation to the head-quarters of NEC Software and of NTT Data - two famous Japanese software companies.
Presentations of Russian participants there were followed by presentations of Japanese companies and by informal discussions in both cases.
General feeling about results of the visit:
- Japanese IT business has very limited information about opportunities of cooperation with Russian software developers. Their interest is primarily related to a very high estimation of skills and creativity of Russian engineers. Japanese IT leaders are keen to learn better what Russians could offer to their market, particularly in the areas where strong R&D abilities and profound scientific knowledge is needed. Outsourcing of cheaper coding is being considered by Japanese as more appropriate to give to Chinese developers, who have the same written language as used in Japan.
Even though we should pay attention to communication problems, the prospects of cooperation with Japan in software development seam to be quite promising. Success of SPIRIT Corp and Doctor Web in the Japanese market prove once more that IT Globalization is not a myth. Good combination of highly skilled developers and Japanese speaking staff will surely come to good results on that 2nd biggest World market. The prospects are particularly good if we take into consideration a relatively cold attitude of Japanese IT business to our competitors from India who are being largely considered as "having cultural barriers regarding organization of business".
RUSSOFT (www.russoft.org) - the largest Association of software developing companies from Russia, Ukraine and Byelorussia. It includes up to 70 companies with total export turnover around $160 Mio.
KISA (www.kisa.or.jp) - Association of over 400 IT companies from Kansai region (that is the leading region of industrial production in the World).
JISA (www.jisa.or.jp) - the largest Association of IT companies in Japan with over 700 members, including all biggest Japanese systems integrators. JISA is representing Japan in the World IT and Service Alliance (WITSA) where they cooperate with APKIT who represents Russia there.
Alexey Sukharev (Auriga), Michael Khitrov (Speech Technology Center), Boris Sharov (Doctor Web) and president of RUSSOFT Valentin Makarov - have taken part in the official program of the Celebrations and have also visited offices of leading Japanese software companies and IT Associations.
On October 12 the delegation of RUSSOFT has been received by the Kansai Information System Industry Association (KISA) in the head-quarters of Contec Inc, the manager of which is the KISA president, Mr.Ryo Yoshinaga.
During half a day more than 20 representatives from leading IT companies from Kansai region have been listening presentations of Russian counterparts and exchanging ideas of cooperation.
The Board members of KISA and RUSSOFT delegation have resumed negotiations in the evening, before official reception in the Mayor Office of Osaka. With common interest to develop business relations between our two Associations - both sides decided to arrange a larger event in September 2005 in Osaka. It will take place within the frameworks of the "Global Venture Forum" (GVF) which is being annually held in Osaka since 1997. KISA Board members have expressed willingness to provide large assistance to participation of RUSSOFT delegation in the GVF next year. This reflects the mutually accepted readiness of profound studying of existing business and investment opportunities in the field of software development between Russia and Kansai region.
During the official reception RUSSOFT and KISA representatives have had a discussion with the Governor of St Petersburg and with the Mayor if Osaka who have unanimously expressed their full support to development of cooperation between two Associations.
On October 13 the RUSSOFT delegation has also visited the head-quarters of JISA (Japan Information Technology Services Industry Association). The RUSSOFT delegation was received by JISA president Mr.Norishiri Kono and by members of the JISA Secretariat. Vladimir Fedorov (SPIRIT Corp) has also joint our delegation at this meeting.
After a very productive exchange of views, JISA secretariat has arranged visits of RUSSOFT delegation to the head-quarters of NEC Software and of NTT Data - two famous Japanese software companies.
Presentations of Russian participants there were followed by presentations of Japanese companies and by informal discussions in both cases.
General feeling about results of the visit:
- Japanese IT business has very limited information about opportunities of cooperation with Russian software developers. Their interest is primarily related to a very high estimation of skills and creativity of Russian engineers. Japanese IT leaders are keen to learn better what Russians could offer to their market, particularly in the areas where strong R&D abilities and profound scientific knowledge is needed. Outsourcing of cheaper coding is being considered by Japanese as more appropriate to give to Chinese developers, who have the same written language as used in Japan.
Even though we should pay attention to communication problems, the prospects of cooperation with Japan in software development seam to be quite promising. Success of SPIRIT Corp and Doctor Web in the Japanese market prove once more that IT Globalization is not a myth. Good combination of highly skilled developers and Japanese speaking staff will surely come to good results on that 2nd biggest World market. The prospects are particularly good if we take into consideration a relatively cold attitude of Japanese IT business to our competitors from India who are being largely considered as "having cultural barriers regarding organization of business".
RUSSOFT (www.russoft.org) - the largest Association of software developing companies from Russia, Ukraine and Byelorussia. It includes up to 70 companies with total export turnover around $160 Mio.
KISA (www.kisa.or.jp) - Association of over 400 IT companies from Kansai region (that is the leading region of industrial production in the World).
JISA (www.jisa.or.jp) - the largest Association of IT companies in Japan with over 700 members, including all biggest Japanese systems integrators. JISA is representing Japan in the World IT and Service Alliance (WITSA) where they cooperate with APKIT who represents Russia there.