23 October 2016
Under the patronage of Hamdan bin Mohammed

Al Tayer: Successful Projects Management is the catalyst for corporate organizational objectives

Roads and Transport Authority – Mohammed Al Munji:

Under the patronage of HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince and Chairman of the  Dubai Executive Council, the 3rd Dubai International Projects Management Forum (DIPMF) will kick start tomorrow (Monday) 24th October 2016 at the Conventions Center, Madinat Jumeirah. The event, which is organized by the Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) in collaboration with the Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA), Emaar Properties, and Projects Management Institute (PMI), has attracted 35 international speakers comprising ministers, chairmen of public entities, top executives of mega businesses as well as an elite bunch of international experts & specialists of  the Projects Management (PM) industry. PM is considered a key pillar of development and modern management science as it has considerable impact on defining success in various fields.

HE Mattar Al Tayer, Director-General, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the RTA, welcomed the participants to the DIPMF held under the theme ‘Shaping the Future’ in keeping with the UAE Strategy for the Future. The key objective of the Forum is to identify early opportunities & challenges in various vital sectors across the nation, analyze them, and map out long-run proactive plans spanning all fields in a bid to achieve deliverables that serve the interests of the nation.

“Staging the 3rd edition of the Forum is an outcome of the existing cooperation between the RTA, DEWA, Emaar, and the PMI. It also emulates the huge successes achieved from the past two editions of the forum. The event stems from Dubai’s keenness to play a leading role in driving the development in the region,  with the right ingredients for expediting this process at the highest global standards & practices. This can best be achieved by attracting globally reputed experts & competent specialists to world-class events to be utilized as effective knowledge transfer platforms. Dubai is also keen to act as a communications link contributing to the transfer of expertise, concepts and visions between international gurus of various fields in line with its identity as an Arab city with an international profile.

“PM is crucial to the implementation of plans, programs and projects as it helps realize the organizational objectives of each public or private entity. This role requires an institutional system for managing projects, programs and projects portfolios as well as competent PM staff. Examples of these include program managers, project managers, and project offices’ managers who have the right skill & leadership attributes to play an effective role in fostering a robust & sound PM environment that constitutes no burden to the organization.

“The Forum features new topics carefully selected as a result of conducting surveys, screening views of respondents, and analyzing deliverables as well as lessons learned. There will be a session about PM for Youth focusing on the principles and success enablers of PM, implementation of PM practices in various projects, and the successful models of young project managers to share their modern experiences. There will also be a workshop to discuss the best educational tools of teaching PM sciences as part of under or post-graduate studies. A closed session will examine rail PM in order to identify the best practices of managing rail projects.

“Topics of the Forum have been divided into four panel discussions, six parallel sessions and five specialist training courses. Panel discussions will cover PM issues in the fields of sustainability, future cities, PM in academic programs (knowledge management) and business leaders. The training courses will discuss project time charts management, project costs management, projects quality management, projects risks management, and business analysis. Concurrent sessions will debate issues related to governance, corporate PM, leadership in multicultural environment, maximization of project benefits, public-private partnership, mega projects management, and talents management. At the sidelines of the Forum, a number of field and technical visits will be made to iconic projects such as Burj Khalifa and the recreational cities & resorts project (Dubai Parks & Resorts).  

Keynote Speakers

The DIPMF will host a lineup of top international speakers highlighted by Mr. Bill McDermott, CEO and Board Member of SEB International. Based in Walldorf, Germany, SAP is one of the leading business software firms worldwide. Its key product branded Mysap is an enterprise Resource Planning software expanded to incorporate e-commerce, thus enabling linking corporate transactions comprising purchase orders, invoices. The system serves more than 38,000 businesses in more than 120 countries.

Bill has more than three decades of experience in business technology under his belt. He has steadily risen to his current role as Chief Executive Officer. Before joining SAP, he served in senior executive roles with Siebel Systems and Gartner, Inc. He launched his business career at Xerox Corporation. Bill is a regular speaker in topics related to leadership. In 2014, he was the keynote speaker of Leadercast; an organization focused on developing leaders to follow. In addition to SAP, Bill serves on the Boards of Directors of Under Armour and ANSYS, Inc. He regularly contributes original content to major international publications and blogs on topics ranging from innovation to the future of business. 

Leading Experiences

The list of speakers also include H.E. Sheikh Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Nuaimi, Environmental Advisor of Government of Ajman; H.E. Eng. Suhail Al-Mazrouei, UAE Minister of Energy; H.E. Dr. Thani Al-Zeyoudi, UAE Minister of Climate Change and Environment; H.E. Mohamed Alabbar, Chairman of Emaar Properties; and H.E. Saeed Al-Tayer, Managing Director & CEO of Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA). Speakers also include HE Mark Langley, President and Chief Executive Officer of Project Management Institute (PMI) which has more than 700 thousand corporate & individual members across the globe; and Dr. Harold Kerzner, Sr. Executive Director for Project Management, International Institute for Learning (IIL). Speakers list also includes James Franz, Vice President - Global Operations, Toyota Way Academy, who is also an expert in Lean Leadership, and an award-winning co-founder of Toyota Way Academy. Other speakers include Ms. Ilya Espino de Marotta, Executive Vice President for Engineering and Programs Management, Panama Canal Authority; Brad Bigelow, Principal Technical Advisor, NATO; and Ms. Theresa Schnider, Program Manager of IBM Project Management Center of Excellence, who is responsible for improving project management potentials for about 17 thousand project managers in one of IBM’s business units. Speakers on the list also include Miguel Santana, City Administrative Officer, City of Los Angeles who directly oversees an $8.8 billion budget and boasts of more than 25 years of experience managing numerous fiscal, legislative, political, and community issues. Others include Trevor Jones, Vice President - Project Delivery, DHL - UK & Ireland and an accredited project management expert with vast experience in the entire supply chain & the European Business Unit. Among the speakers is Michael Flynn, Programme Director, Transport for London who has 28 years of experience in rail and energy sectors and currently oversees the new London Metro Programme costing £16.5 million; Ms. Isabel Aguilera, Expert Consultant in Competitive Leadership; and Manuel Gonzalez, Chief Executive Officer of Scrum Alliance.

Forum Program

The DIPMF discusses a host of topics relating to PM, and spotlights various types of PM practices & studies. Dubai’s experience features high in the Forum as it has the right ingredients of a global success story and an example to be emulated not only in the region, but also worldwide. The Forum will also discuss an array of important topics highlighted by sustainable project management, academic PM, entrepreneur PM, flexible PM, youth PM, enterprise PM, leadership in multi-culture environment, maximizing project benefits, public-private partnership, talent management, and mega project management.

Coherence

The slogan of the 3rd DIPMF of ‘Shaping the Future’ is consistent with the UAE’s Strategy for shaping the future. The theme of the Forum “Future Cities” also echoes the UAE's Strategy in education, health, transport infrastructure and water resources, as well as water & food security sectors. Such a strategy is replicated in developing strategic plans for shaping the future of such sectors, identifying the anticipated transition, challenges, and skills development required to tackle such challenges. The sustainable PM and Public-Private Partnership themes also echo the UAE's strategy in other sectors such as energy, minerals, water resources, sustainability, environment and climate change. These are reflected in charting out strategies for the anticipated challenges and overcoming them in order to make these partnerships a success and at the same time ensure project sustainability.

The theme of the Youth PM Forum replicates the UAE's strategy for the economic and commercial security sector as well as the human capital and innovation sector in terms of shaping the future of the population & young people and identifying their impact on the economy and the labor market since the theme is also associated with the economic security. The theme of the forum about leadership in multicultural environment is associated with the UAE’s strategy in the positive & happy life environment sector, electronic security sector, as well as international, political and security relations which jointly contribute to nurturing an environment conducive to tolerance, co-existence and embracing multi-cultures prevailing in the UAE. The theme of talents management echoes the UAE’s strategy in human capital and innovation sector as well as the sustainable community development sector. This is reflected in envisaging and shaping future trends and identifying their impact on the development of community, besides honing talents and leveraging efficiency in a way that ensures sustainable community development.

Objectives

Through organizing the DIPMF, the RTA intends to shed more light on the Emirate of Dubai as a leading player in the PM industry. Its successes in this field reflect on the adoption of the highest international standards in a series of mega projects that command huge global attention such as Burj Khalifa, Dubai Metro, Dubai Airports, giant ports and unique projects with iconic designs to name a few. The successes of Dubai were topped by winning the honor of hosting the World Expo 2020; the largest and deeply rooted global showpiece that will have a massive economic impact directly or indirectly. Studies indicate that hosting Expo will generate more than 277 thousand jobs in the UAE, as well as sustaining 50 thousand jobs in the surrounding region extending from South Asia to Arab countries. During its six-month duration, Expo is expected to attract 25 million visitors 70% from overseas. Expo is bound to create additional investments prospects in the region and the world over, especially in the infrastructure needed to accommodate massive number of expected visitors.

Hamdan Awarad

The 2nd edition of the DIPMF saw the launch of the Hamdan bin Mohammed Award for Innovation in PM with a total purse of  AED Two million (about US$550,000). The Award consists of three categories; the first is Individuals Award with a purse of US$30,000; which comprises two categories: The Innovative Project Manager Award, and the Innovative PMO Manager Award. The second category is the Innovative Team Award for which a prize of US$40,000 is allocated. The third category is the Innovative Ideas of Organizations Award for which a sum of US$450,000 is offered. This category comprises three awards: The Innovative PM Idea (US$100,000), The Innovative Program Management Idea (US$150,000), and the Innovative Portfolio Management Idea (US$200,000).

-Ends-

© Press Release 2016