Awards honour Chief Information Officers (CIOs) across industries for commitment to driving business value within their organisations in three distinct ways

INSEAD, the leading international business school, in partnership with CIOnet, will host the first annual European CIO Awards at the CIO City Conference in Brussels on 24 & 25 March 2011. The awards will recognise and celebrate CIOs that have made their organisations more successful and competitive by using Information Technology (IT) to operate more efficiently, and to innovate new products, services and business models.

INSEAD eLab, the school’s Centre of Excellence for research on the global knowledge economy, and CIOnet will collaborate to select three winners from a field of 15 prominent finalists which includes: Claudia de Andrade, City of Amsterdam; Pascale Avargues, Mairie de Bordeaux; Egil Brækken, Hafslund; Paolo Capodanno, Elettronica Spa; Marcello Cordioli, Permasteelisa; Sabine Everaet, The Coca-Cola Company; Federico Flórez, Ferrovial; Stella Kuin, Kadaster; Daniel Lebeau, GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals; Idoia Maguregui, Bankinter; Gerry Pennell, Olympics 2012; Jan Erik Ressem, Lånekassen; Lineke Sneller, of Tele2; John Suffolk, UK Government; and Luigi Vassallo, Matrix Spa.

In addition to the awards, INSEAD and CIOnet will release the results of an in-depth report which surveyed 130 CIOs from seven European countries on strategic priorities in their roles leading IT within organisations. The report will also feature profiles of each of the 15 finalists for the European CIO of the Year Awards.

‘Today’s most successful, high-performing organisations rely on Information and Communications Technologies to accomplish a variety of strategic benefits, and so the role of the CIO has become central to organizational success,’ said Soumitra Dutta, The Roland Berger Chaired Professor of Business and Technology and Academic Director of INSEAD eLab. ‘The alignment between business and IT has become even more critical and CIOs are embracing that now more than ever before.’

The top three CIOs will be selected by a panel of judges from INSEAD and CIOnet in the following categories: Technology-Driven CIO, Business Process-Driven CIO, and Client-Driven CIO. The CIOs will be rated on specific qualities, including their ability to adjust IT strategy to meet the needs of the organisation, deploy team members, and determine priorities.

‘The role of IT within organisations has grown immensely in the last decades and we are seeing a pronounced shift in how business and IT are working together to drive growth,’ said Hendrik Deckers at CIOnet. ‘We are honoured to be partnering with INSEAD on this important ICT initiative which will recognise the outstanding leadership of some of Europe’s most notable CIOs.’

‘The European CIO of the Year is the first set of awards that honour different types of CIOs based on the value they deliver to their organisations,’ said Bruno Lanvin, Director of INSEAD eLab. ‘Our partnership with CIOnet provides a knowledge network for CIOs and their teams to drive innovation and strategic change within the industry.’

Nils Olaya Fonstad, Associate Director of INSEAD eLab, added: ‘A clear understanding of how the strategic roles of CIOs are evolving and expanding enables leaders from business, academia, and government to better anticipate and coordinate their resources to build the skills that will be key to future global competitiveness.’

For more information on the European CIO of the Year 2011 Awards, please visit: http://europeancio2011.com.

About CIOnet

CIOnet is Europe's leading and largest network for CIOs and IT Directors, operating in the UK, Spain, France, Italy, Norway, The Netherlands and Belgium. More than 2,500 IT leaders have joined CIOnet in the last six years to share knowledge and experience, to build new contacts and to learn from each other.

CIOnet offers it's members a very powerful, hybrid networking experience. The online social network is a private and invitation-only 'Facebook for CIOs', where IT executives build a professional profile, develop new connections and contribute in active discussion and information sharing forums.

Offline, CIOnet organizes more than 40 face-to-face networking events and seminars on an annual basis in major European cities such as London, Paris, Milan, Amsterdam, Brussels, Madrid and Oslo, where members exchange real life experiences on IT Management topics and build strong relationships with their peers.

A series of European surveys and studies are executed each year - in collaboration with high profile business schools and industry organizations - on topics such as social media, cloud computing, value creation and other IT management challenges. In 2011, CIOnet launched CIO CITY (www.ciocity.com), its first international conference on the topic of IT Leadership.

More information about CIOnet can be found on www.cionet.com or blog.cionet.com.

About INSEAD, The Business School for the World

As one of the world’s leading and largest graduate business schools, INSEAD brings together people, cultures and ideas from around the world to change lives and to transform organisations. A global perspective and cultural diversity are reflected in all aspects of our research and teaching.

With campuses in Europe (France), Asia (Singapore) and Abu Dhabi, and a research centre in Israel, INSEAD’s business education and research spans three continents. Our 145 renowned Faculty members from 36 countries inspire more than 1,000 degree participants in our MBA, Executive MBA and PhD programmes. In addition, more than 9,500 executives participate in INSEAD’s executive education programmes.

In addition to INSEAD’s programmes on our three campuses, the INSEAD-Wharton Alliance delivers MBA and co-branded executive education programmes on Wharton's U.S. campuses in Philadelphia and San Francisco. In China, we award a joint Executive MBA with Tsinghua University, and in Brazil, our executive education association with Fundação Dom Cabral has existed for 21 years.

Last year, INSEAD celebrated 50 years as a pioneer of international business education based in Europe. This year we celebrate another milestone in our history - the 10th Anniversary of our Asia campus in Singapore.

Around the world and over the decades, INSEAD continues to believe in conducting cutting edge research and innovating across all our programmes in order to provide business leaders with the knowledge and sensitivity to operate anywhere. These core values have enabled us to become truly "The Business School for the World."

More information about INSEAD can be found at www.insead.edu

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Contacts for press:

INSEAD Press Contacts

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CIOnet Press Contact

CIOnet Press Contact

Mic Adam
Conversation Manager
CIOnet International
Tel : +32 478 50 41 35
Email mic.adam@cionet.com