Committee vice-convener Annabel Goldie and Duncan MacNeill will be meeting a range of organisations who are at the forefront of innovation in developing e-commerce in the IT and communications sector.

The Committee aims to find out to what extent Scotland is equipped to deal with the challenges of the new global economy.

Members of the Committee will meet a number of locally based firms and the local enterprise companies.

The full programme is as follows:

Monday, 28 August

Members of the Committee will be met at Rothesay by Ken Abernethy, Chief Executive of Argyll & the Islands Enterprise. At 11.00am they will visit the Telecom Service Centres, where they will be met by Managing Director Lennie Moffat. After a working lunch at Fowlers, Winter Gardens with Lennie Moffat and Peter Timms, MD of Flexible Technology and Director of AIE, they will visit Flexible Technology at 2.00pm.

Tuesday, 29 August

The Committee members will arrive in Stornoway at 10.10am where they will be met by Donnie Morrison, Western Isles Enterprise’s IT adviser. A busy morning schedule will include a visit to WIE’s office in Stornoway at 10.15am, a visit to Criticall at 10.45am, followed by a visit and working lunch at the ICT Advisory Service. Afternoon visits will include Lasair Information Services at 2.15pm, Cisco Academy at 3.00pm, and Iomart Group plc at 4.00pm.

Wednesday, 30 August

The Committee members will arrive in Inverness at 9.30am where they will be met by Ken MacTaggart, Head of Knowledge, Information and Telecommunications at HIE. At 10.30am they will visit Calico Ltd, Cromarty, followed by a visit to Chanonry Point, Fortrose at 11.45am. After lunch, they will visit New Museum of Scotland’s multi-media unit in Dingwall at 2.45pm. The Committee members will depart Inverness at 3.45pm.

No formal media arrangements have been made, however both MSPs will be happy to accommodate any requests for brief interviews / photos on arrival at the respective venues.

A full, detailed programme is available by contacting Nicola Edwards at the Media Relations Office, tel: 0131 348 5604

BACKGROUND NOTES

The Committee will be undertaking four case studies in its inquiry – Aberdeen (Oil and Gas); Borders (Traditional Industries (Textiles)); Livingston (Electronics and Software); and remoter areas (Western Isles, Moray Firth, Rothesay).

The Committee will take formal oral evidence during the autumn with a view to completing the inquiry by November 2000.