HUW EDWARDS is making a welcome return this year as host of Techn-ology Wales '05 which will be held at Cardiff Inter-national Arena on May 13.

The BBC broadcaster hosted the '03 event with great aplomb but was replaced last year by his colleague Fiona Bruce.

Ms Bruce supplied the looks but not the waspish wit or grasp of how technology has changed our world so radically over the last 30 years. And with a Grand Slam to celebrate (hopefully), the West Walian should be in fine form.

Until now, Technology Wales's organiser, Howard Events, of Cwmbran, has chosen the Celtic Manor Conference Centre for the event.

This year, in pursuit of a bigger, more flexible space, managing director Trisha Howard has opted for the CIA.

On the plus side, she's expanding and raising the event's profile in the capital; on the downside she's losing the security of being one of Gwent's biggest business events.

This year's event will be launched with a business breakfast at 7.30am. An audience of 200 business people from across South Wales will hear guest speakers from Microsoft and the Assembly's Broadband Wales initiative.

At 9am, the Technology Wales exhibition will be opened to the public to view a myriad new technology-based products and services.

One of the major attractions for fledging firms is said to be the opportunity to book a free appointment with up to 18 organisations eager to assist with business development and funding issues.

These include Business Eye, Entrepreneur Action, the Assembly, HSBC and Clay Shaw Thomas.

Running alongside the exhibition will be a series of seminars with speakers from technology organisations such as IBM, UKBI, the Patent Office and Xenos.

A "Hot Shot Gallery" has been introduced allowing individuals and organisation the opportunity to address the audience for five minutes to demonstrate a new technology-based product/idea or a novel approach to a business solution.

The audience will vote for the top two presentations via the software used for the ITV game show Who Wants To Be a Millionaire.

More than 200 guests will be invited to hear presentations from IBM and French IT supplier/management consultancy Capgemini.

The latter firm is sponsoring the careers pavilion which will offer companies with technology and IT-based vacancies the opportunity to source new employees at the event.

There will also be an interactive area in the exhibition offering visitors hands-on exposure to the latest technology.

The area has been designed to offer a bit of light relief to visitors and should keep "gadget man" happy for hours.

A cyber caf with meeting lounges will offer free wireless access throughout the day.

Visitors to the lounges will be treated to live broadcasts direct from the seminar theatres via a live web stream link. This has been organised by the IT firm Sequence.

The cyber caf will also feature Maltron adaptive keyboards designed for people with special needs to enter computer data much more easily than with conventional keyboards.

Able-bodied users will also find the keyboards comfortable as they've been developed to reduce repetitive strain injury (RSI).

Exhibitors will enjoy free WIFI access to help with presentations, courtesy of wireless specialist Torspoal.

When the exhibition closes the CIA will be transformed to host the Technology Wales Awards.

Six hundred guests are booked to attend a national celebration of technological achievement across 11 award categories.

This is where Huw Edwards will earn his corn.

The awards are being sponsored by O2, HSBC, BT and Morgan Cole Solicitors.

A prize of a free stand at TW06, worth £1,600, will be presented to all 11 winners by Trisha Howard.

The Welsh Development Agency will also use the evening to announce the winner of its national Technium Challenge award.

Guests will be treated to an interactive quiz, utilising technology from Cardiff-based Cat and Mouse company which created the software for "Millionaire" and works on a number of other national quiz programmes.

Trisha Howard said: "Some businesses view technology as a barrier to getting things done.

"We want to help them understand how they can use it to their advantage to win new business, become more efficient in dealing with customers, to save money and become more productive."

To find out more about the event, or to register to attend it, go online at www.technologywales.co.uk