THE Myanmar Computer Industry Association will begin accepting entries this week for the Third Myanmar National ICT Awards competition.

The winners will be eligible to enter the Asia Pacific ICT Awards 2004 competition, to be held in December in Colombo, Sri Lanka, said U Thein Htun Pe, the secretary of the association.

He said the Myanmar competition will help boost the country’s ICT sector and encourage participants to develop innovative technologies.

Entries will be accepted in 11 categories: education and training, health, e-government services, industrial applications, business applications, e-commerce, tourism, student applications, communication, entertainment applications, and research and development applications.

Entries must be submitted by July 31.

The results will be announced before the Sixth ICT Exhibition in the Tamadaw Hall, Dagon township, in October.

The prizes will be awarded at the exhibition, U Thein Htun Pe said.

Prize winners will be selected by the 21 members of the association’s executive committee.

The association organised its first ICT competition in 2002. The seven winners were sent to the Asia Pacific ICT Awards that year in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Five winners from the second competition travelled to the Asia Pacific ICT Awards 2003 in Bangkok, where one, Ko Pye Sone of Myanmar Computer Company, Ltd won the special prize for e-government applications.

U Thein Htun Pe said the competition benefits the participants because they have a chance to gain experience in the international ICT sector.

The MCIA, one of the three affiliated associations of the Myanmar Computer Federation, has also been holding a series of training courses at MICT Park to support the development of human resources in the ICT sector.

The basic, intermediate and advanced level courses are each of a month’s duration.

The first basic level course, from April 26 to May 24, attracted 24 trainees, U Thein Htun Pe said.

The intermediate and advanced level courses begin in June.

The basic and intermediate courses are for employees of ICT companies. The advance course is limited to senior executives at ICT companies.