The Palestinian Information and Technology Association (PITA) is a non-profit organisation founded in 1999 by a group of Palestinian entrepreneurs with the objective of advancing the interests and the positive societal impact of Palestine’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector.

PITA organises an annual event called ‘EXPOTECH’ in the West Bank and Gaza. It succeeds to gather more than 20.000 visitors each year. The objective of the EXPOTECH is to promote the ICT sector in Palestine and to serve as a vehicle for discussing state of the art technological trends both locally and globally. The main components of this event are the ICT Exhibition and the IT Conference Days. In addition, there are a Business and Technology Forum, Multinational Days, a boot camp for ICT graduates from the technical and vocational education and training (TVET) and many more activities.

The Palestinian ICT exhibition welcomes more than 45 Palestinian professional companies that are specialized in the field of ICT. It is designed to demonstrate the exceptional growth of the ICT industry in Palestine by showing the latest technologies, innovative solutions and services from Palestinian national suppliers. This ICT event gives the exhibitors and the audience both the opportunity to meet new ICT companies in the market and to see the latest updates from market experts.

Several recent studies show the high growth potential of the ICT sector in Palestine. Taken into account the current level of youth unemployment, the further development of the ICT sector will significantly contribute to a decrease of youth unemployment. This employment potential is not limited to jobs for university students but encompass also TVET graduates with an ICT training.

Therefore, the Belgian Development Agency (BTC) is actively participating in the Expotech 2016, both in the West Bank and in Gaza. In Gaza we focus on the benefits of employing graduates from the TVET sector in ICT companies. Expotech offers a unique forum to promote the high employment potential of TVET in ICT, to improve the perception of the potential of TVET and to strengthen the relationship between the private sector and TVET institutions in the ICT sector.

In the West Bank our focus is mainly on stimulating entrepreneurship among young people. It is important that young people realise they have the potential to create their own job, by focusing on self-employment opportunities. Therefore, BTC tries to enhance the entrepreneurial mind-set amongst recent graduates.