The World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT 2019) opens in Yerevan and will last three days from October 6 to 9 (PHOTOS).

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is expected to attend the opening session. 

WCIT is the signature event of the World Information Technology & Services Alliance (WITSA). WITCA is the consortium of ICT associations of 83 countries, representing 90% of the  IT industry.  For 40 years, technology leaders—CEOs and investors, policy makers and government officials, academics and technologists—have joined in this annual event to discuss the state of the industry, where it is headed, and what it means for our future.

In previous years, WCIT was hosted by Brasília, Brazil's capital city, Taipei and India’s Hayderabad.

Over 2,500 from 70 countries are participating in this year’s Congress. This year, WCIT will address The Power of Decentralization: Promise and Peril and explore how information and communications technology is transforming our lives for better and for worse, and its impact on profits and prosperity, safety and security, democracy and humanity.

The Congress is hosted by Armenia with the support and under the high patronage of the Government of the Republic of Armenia, and the main organizing body is the Union of Advanced Technology Enterprises (UATE).

The Congress is comprised of keynote speeches and panel sessions that bring together several speakers. World famous Kim Kadashian-West, Alexis Ohanian, GIPHY founder Alex Chung, VaynerMedia president Gary Vaynerchuk, Serj Tankian, Acer founder Stan Shih, famous CNN journalist Ricahrd Quest and many others are participating in the event.

The opening of the Congress was marked by a concert at Republic Square on October 6.The WCIT Orchestra, composed of 100 musicians from 15 countries, for the first time performed on stage the music composed by AI in real time. Grammy award winning DJ Armin Van Buuren performed during the concert.

NEWS.am, an official online media partner of WCIT, will provide live coverage of the events, as well as exclusive interviews with global IT influences and reports from the venue. Stay tuned to NEWS.am to discover WCIT 2019 with us.