The new Fair City in Damascus hosts on November 12-17-2008 the 14th session of Shaam exposition (Shaamexpo) being mounted annually by the Syrian Computer Society (SCS) to disseminate awareness in the field of IT and how to deal with it.
Shaamexpo became the first in the region regarding the number of participants and visitors. Since last year, it has specialized in organizing expositions under the SCS supervision. 
Head of the SCS Dr.Rakan Razzouq gave on November 5,2008 the following interview to the Shaamexpo website:

• Shaamexpo 2007 was successful in respect of organization , participation and visits. In your opinion what is the next step in Shaamexpo 2008 ? and have you really started to prepare for Shaamexpo 2009?
• It is known that if the period of preparation is long , organizers can contact more regional and international companies. In 2007, the experience was somewhat  prosperous  and the big IT companies had obstacles to come to Syria. However, in Shaamexpo 2008, foreign companies' participation is slightly better. Honestly, We hope to increase the participation of Arab, regional and international IT companies in the expo. Concerning  preparation for Shaamexpo 2009, we actually have started and we are contacting the big IT companies to encourage them to take part in it.
• Software Industry Forum was convened under the SCS auspices in the previous expositions,   how you will back it this year?
• Previously we gave a good reduction for participants in the forum at the cost of subscription in the exposition and the forum. The participant equips the place , decorates it, …..etc. This year, we slightly enlarged the area of the software industry stand . We wish them success in showing their products.
• The SCS 's projects are concentrating now on development, help students and small IT companies besides the main task of spreading  IT. Is this the society's new strategy  or completion of the tasks?
• Those who review the Society's process can notice that the past 15years focused on widely spreading IT, and we (as a society) believe that we reached our goal. So, we have now to concentrate on specific training and activities of public or private institutes. I see that the project of  Telecommunication and IT incubator is very important, and this year we are showing 18 projects within this framework.
• You (the society) have launched al-Kendi contest in cooperation with the General Secretariat for Celebrating Damascus as the Capital of Arab Culture 2008 besides "Sawaeed" programme in cooperation with  Mohammad  Bin Rashed  Institute, is this a new trend ? and what is your viewpoint about adopting such activities ? 
• We are interacting with events taking place in Syria. For example, within the framework of celebrating Damascus as the capital of Arab culture we have the activity of Arabic Language  empowerment which means to use the Arabic language everywhere and to increase the Arab digital content. The Society will give three prizes (al-Kendi prize)  in this regard .
• The 1st al-Kendi prize is for the best  Arab cultural scientific writer.
• The 2nd al-Kendi prize is for the best Arab IT researcher.
• The 3rd al-Kendi prize is for the best Arab cultural website in eloquent Arabic language.
• The goals, as I said, are to increase the Arab content on Internet in eloquent Arabic language and to honour intellectuals who write in Arabic language. Each qualified person has the right to take part in this contest and a committee for each prize will be formed including stars from Syria and the Arab world to name the winners.