File of draft papers submitted for the Conference marking 50 years since the first major job was run on LEO, "The World and Business Computing in 2051". The conference took place at the Guildhall in London, and the proceedings were published in a special edition of the Journal of Strategic Information Systems  Vol 12, Issue 4 (Dec 2003).  Full texts of the published versions of the papers are therefore available online:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/the-journal-of-strategic-information-systems/vol/12/issue/4

The submitted typescripts present in the file are:

annotated 'NCC Paper 2', [Philip Virgo], "Envisioning the Global Information Society";  

'NCC Paper 3', Chandra S. Amaravadi  "The World and Business Computing in 2051" ; 

'NCC Paper 4' Philip Ein'Dor  "From LEO to RUR?"; 

'NCC Paper 5'  Ernest Schell, "The World and Business Computing at Mid-Century"; 

'NCC Paper 8' Jonathan Cape & Malcolm Hunter, paper written as dialogue between Arthur Dent and Marvin the Paranoid Android from Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series.

Each paper is annotated with brief comments and scores, probably by David Caminer, as they were being considered for a National Computing Centre Prize.

Research comments: The Guildhall event to celebrate the 50th anniversary of when LEO first began to produce meaningful for Lyons was entitled '50 Years of Business Computing' and took place on 5-6 November 2001. Some of the particularly prescient topics covered by the programme included:

• Company infrastructure for the e-world
• What hardware and software strategies should companies adopt?
• Globalisation in the e-world
• What will happen? What are the potential benefits and risks?
• Knowledge sharing
• What practical steps are needed for the short term? And the long term?
• Lessons of the dot.com fallout
• What should entrepreneurs do differently in the future? And venture capitalists? And investors?
• Security risks and precautions
• What are the risks? What should be done about them, and by whom?
• Transition of an old world business into the e-world
• What business strategy should an established organization adopt for the transition?
• Virtual organizations
• What new synergies, business structures and types of alliance can we expect?

Papers presented included:

Information management and the future of London
Judith Mayhew, Chief Executive, Corporation of London

Knowledge management and digital information
John Ashworth, Chairman of the Board, British Library

Crystal ball 2001-2051
Panel discussion

The Chief Executive's view
Michael Grade, Chief Executive, First Leisure Corporation and Chairman of Hemscott Net

The annual IEE Pinkerton lecture

LEO and the computer revolution
David Caminer OBE, Systems and Programming Manager, LEO project, from 1949

Business computing - consequences

Panel discussion - economic and social consequences and public policy
The panel will include Professor Subhash Bhatnagar (World Bank), Alastair Macdonald (President, British Computer Society) and Ian Taylor MP

Information technology investment - the opportunities and threats
A leading City of London figure

The prize for the best paper on 'The World and business computing in 2051' was £5,000, sponsored by the National Computing Centre. (LM)

Provenance :
From David Caminer's papers.