Alfredo Sarich
Pioneering the Electronic Trade Data Interchange (EDI) and e-Commerce Revolution


Alfredo Sarich


Mottos:
"For each innovator there are ten detractors"

"Pioneers have a habit of dying in the desert with a knife in their back"
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Summary

Alfredo Sarich, a native Italian and a successful visionary serial entrepreneur, received his Bsc (Hons) degree in Computer Science at Portsmouth university (UK) in the early 1970s. After a brief period of employment with Rank Xerox, Texas Instruments and Coopers & Lybrand (at the time one of the big six accounting firms) he joined, early 1978, the European Commission (EC) Information Technology Task Force (ITTF) where he was tasked with the development of cooperative, cross-European, IT-based projects in end-user industrial sectors. In 1979, once formally agreed by the European Council of Ministers of the European Communities (EC), his part of the programme was budgeted at some 3 million ECUs (now Euros). Sarich promoted foundational projects that spanned EC Member States’ External Trade Departments (ETDs), Chambers of Commerce (COCs), Customs, Ports, Shipping, Transport, and others, and that led, in the following years, to the emergence of Electronic (trade) Data Interchange (EDI) and Electronic Commerce.

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Professional milestones

1969-1977

Portsmouth University (UK) Bsc (Hons) Computer Science Employment at Rank Xerox, Texas Instruments, Coopers&Lybrand

1978

Joined the European Commission (Brussels) IT Task Force (ITTF)

1979

The European Council of Ministers Releases Funding For the IT&T (Information Technology & Telecommunications) Work Program

1983

Sea Technology Europe conference. Opening EDI event

1984

Emergence of leading EDI driven consortiums (Odette, EDIFICE, CEFIC....)

1985

Sarich launches Euromatica SA (Belgium)

1985

First international EDI conference: COMPAT '85 (Computer Aided Trade) London, UK

1986

Publication of first-ever “the Businessman's Guide to EDI”
Second international EDI conference : COMPAT '86, Paris, France

1987

Publication of new updated version of “the Businessman's Guide to EDI”
English and Italian versions
EDI Italia '87 – First EDI Italian conference

1988

Launch of IDEA(Brussels), the International Data Exchange Association
Third international COMPAT conference, The Hague, The Netherlands
Sarich elected Secretary General

1989

IDEA and the Economic and Social Committee of the European Union (ECOSOC) organize the “EDI 1992 and beyond” conference (Brussels)
Fourth international COMPAT Conference run by Blenheim UK, Munich, Germany

1989

IDEA and the Economic and Social Committee of the European Union (ECOSOC) organize the “EDI 1992 and beyond” conference (Brussels) Fourth international COMPAT Conference run by Blenheim UK, Munich, Germany

1992

Preparatory work leading to the Commerce 2000 initiative

1994

Commerce 2000 conference. Organized by ECOSOC and co-sponsored by the European Commission. Opening the gate to electronic commerce through practical successful examples from industrial and commercial players

1997

Launch of ECE: the Electronic Commerce Europe Association