Penza, 14 March 2014. PenzaNews. The sixth regional conference of software developers “Secon-2014” was held in Penza high technology park “Rameev” on Friday, March 14. The initiator and organizer of the event, which was attended by about 600 people from the Penza region and other regions of Russia, was the association of software developers “Secon.”

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In addition, for the first time in 2014, the partner and co-organizer of the conference was JSC “Center of cluster development” of the Penza region.

Opening the event, the leader of Penza association of software developers Maksim Semenkin thanked everyone for their curiosity and noted that annually more IT-specialists become the participants of “Secon,” one of the reasons of which is the required modern infrastructure.

“Our association members often say that there is no need to look for any other place to bring their ideas to life rather than Penza. In addition, in the nearest future we may have our own house where the programmers will work together, share experiences, and young companies will be able to realize their startups, so I invite everyone to join our association,” he said.

In turn, the chairman of the government of the Penza region Yuri Krivov stressed that it is the IT cluster which should be a model of self-organization for other industries in the region.

“It is always a pleasure to support those who are self-organized and moving forward. We, as the regional authorities, would like the created infrastructure for the support of our innovative entrepreneurship to be filled with new projects and new teams, and the Penza region to win fame of the territory which not only gives birth to the projects, but also gives opportunities for businesses to cooperate and receive synergistic effect that we all crave for. I wish that we all had as many reasons to be proud of what we do as possible,” the chairman of the regional government said.

According to the speaker of Ulyanovsk Dmitry Vislov, both his hometown and Penza have strong IT-communities.

“I am glad to be here and to see that our colleagues from Penza have everything organized at a good level. Such events are, first of all, knowledgediffusion. Experience can be acquired on one's own, but it will take a lot of time and one would have to fail numerous times, and if one join in a positive and open community, one will benefit as well as the rest of the community,” Dmitry Vislov told in an interview with news agency “PenzaNews.”

The speakers of the conference were divided into four tracks, two of which were devoted to technology, one to management, and another one to startups. In addition to previously announced performances anyone could set the topic and discuss it with interested parties in terms of specially prepared areas “BarCamp” located on each floor of the high technology park.

The speakers arrived from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Chelyabinsk, Ulyanovsk and Taganrog. Also, everyone willing could attend a free 4-hour training organized by RIS Ventures “StartinGarage,” which was conducted by the specialists from Naberezhnye Chelny.

“I have never come across a training the level of “StartinGarage” carried out free of charge in Moscow. I'm surprised,” the project manager of partnership with CERN in “Yandex” Andrei Ustyuzhaninhared his impressions.

At the same time the metropolitan guest emphasized that trainings, workshops and barcamps certainly contribute to the development and self-improvement of the participants, but they must be held repeatedly not necessarily for free, and do not once a year.

“Specialists should have a platform for conversation and mutual enrichment,” he said.

The same opinion was expressed by the co-organizer of “Secon-2014,” the representative of “Bit.Games” Vladimir Rozov. He explained that in Penza, there is a permanent IT- laboratory in one of the business incubators, and in the nearest future a variety of activities for the participants of IT-cluster, such is master classes and workshops, will be held.

“This year our association started working closely with the Center for cluster development of the Penza region. In particular, the center helped us organizing “Secon-2014,” first of all, with the location, as well as financing. And in general, through the Centre of cluster development we started to work more closely with the authorities,” Vladimir Rozov said.

Talking about the features of the organizational process, Vladimir Rozov noted that the biggest problem was the inability of the participants to travel to Penza by plane from any other region, but Moscow.

“As it turned out, Pensa can be reached by plane from Moscow only, which is why one of the participants from St. Petersburg did not manage to come — he travels by planes only,” the agency interlocutor pointed out.

He also said that at the end of each of “Secon” conferences the organizers hold a survey among the participants to evaluate the reports, as well as to allow them express their wishes and concerns.

“Of course, all the guests of the conference are mostly very satisfied with its results. This is evidenced by the annual growth of the number of participants: two years ago, the event was attended by only 150 people, but this year around 600 registered to participate, moreover, I see now judging by the nametags, many of those who came did not register beforehand,” Vladimir Rozov pointed out.