The importance of the Internet has come under the spotlight at this year's Venturefest 2000, writes Zahra Akkerhuys.

Seminars and workshops at the two-day international fair for entrepreneurs - taking place at the Wheatley campus of Oxford Brookes University - were aiming to focus on the rise of e-commerce and the impact it can have on small firms and businesses.

The new millennium has seen a fundamental change in the way business is now conducted.

And billions of pounds move across the globe each day as more and more transactions are completed over the Internet. Its advent has changed the face of the business world and firms across the globe have found they ignore the new technology at their peril.

On-line shopping as well as on-line trading means that there are endless opportunities for businesses and individuals to cash in via the new technology.

Five years ago 50 million websites existed. That figure now stands at more than one billion and it is rising daily.

E-commerce experts and entrepreneurs at the event were looking at the phenomenon of dotcom companies which have turned many of their young founders - such as the Oxford-born founder of on-line travel agent lastminute.com Martha Lane-Fox - into millionaires overnight.

Lance Dorman, director of the Internet company OXLink, was one of several speakers who talked at the event about e-commerce and the impact of new technology on the business world.

He says: "It is such a fast-moving world at the moment. It is now easy to buy on the web because the technology is there to take money from people and sell products to people. I will be looking at what the main problems are. Running an on-line firm is very different to opening a shop in the high street.

"Yes, you have all the same business issues to think about - such as keeping accounts and registering for tax but there are so many other things involved. By setting up an on-line company you are not just selling to whoever walks by your shop. You are working on a global level and as such the implications are far wider." Mr Dorman cites customs regulations and import/export restrictions as well as problems with delivery and distribution as major difficulties for newly-established on-line firms.

He says: "People naively think that setting up something on the web will be straight forward but there is more to it than meets the eye.

"An event such as Venturefest can highlight those problems and help people understand their importance so that it inspires confidence in the customer."

Mr Dorman also spoke about the importance of firms having a website to raise the company's profile. Even if people are unable to order directly through the website they are an invaluable weapon in today's competitive market.

He says: "E-commerce is not just about selling products over the web, it is also about generating business for the future as well. Creating a websites is an easy way of getting people to realise what your company can do. Many firms are spending money on conventional advertising - on billboards or in newspapers - to attract people's attention to their websites.

"The whole thing has exploded in the past couple of years."

Steven Drobny, chief executive officer of Exchange 24.7, a business to business site that raised $1m in six days, also spoke at the event.