| 17 May 2010 |
|
Local forum seeks to bolster Jordan's tech sector
- Text size
AMMAN - Business and technology experts have created a forum to share ways of enhancing Jordan's technology sector and bring innovative technological ideas to the Kingdom.
Held on the first Tuesday of every month, Amman Tech Tuesday (AmmanTT) is an informal gathering where participants from various parts of the sector can exchange knowledge and ideas, according to organisers.
"The idea came from seeing a gap in our local community. We need to fortify ties within the local tech eco-system and allow ourselves to learn from each other, share information and celebrate our successes," AmmanTT founder and local business technologist Fouad Jeryes told The Jordan Times.
"You can come up with your idea, share it, get others excited about it, and perhaps you will find your next partner or investor there," Jeryes said.
Composed of three to four sessions per meeting, the event brings together experts, engineers, businesspeople, tech marketers and students to share their projects and ideas.
"There are several tech groups that typically don't communicate much in Amman, such as Open Source groups, mobile and telecommunications, social media, digital arts and others," he explained, and AmmanTT is a place to create that communication.
"Amman is a small city, but it is a growing market and the opportunity to build an industry and become significant is clear," the forum founder said.
"We have the right mindset, education and determination. We are world class and can produce something differentiated on a technological level."
The first forum was held at the Princess Sumaya University for Technology on May 4.
"Arranging such an event was a very creative idea that demonstrated our youths' interest in raising awareness of the importance and use of the web these days," quality assurance engineer Rand Sawalha told The Jordan Times.
More than 300 people attended the inaugural session, and it attracted more than 450 live streaming viewers from around the world, according to Jeryes, who noted local and international technology experts were invited to take part in the event as guest speakers.
"The three sessions were delivered by Omar Al Taweel, a local lawyer, Ibrahim Manna from wheels-express.com, and Usama Fayyad, the executive chairman of d1g.com and former executive vice president and chief data officer at Yahoo!" Jeryes said.
These experts talked about topics ranging from Arabic content on the Internet to challenges facing e-commerce in the Arab world and the legal tech developments in Jordan, such as the new cyber-crime laws, according to Jeryes.
"Innovation comes from an open and seamless exchange of information, not the hoarding of it," he pointed out.
"Maintaining that philosophy will determine our strength, motivation and commitment to becoming what we hope to be, which is a bustling technology eco-system."
By Lubna Ali
© Jordan Times 2010
Zawya is a distributor (and not a publisher) of content supplied by third parties and subscribers. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers, or other information or content expressed or made available by those third parties, including information providers, subscribers or other users of the Service, are those of the respective author(s) or distributor(s) and not of the Company. The Company neither endorses nor is responsible for the accuracy or reliability of any opinion, advice or statement made on the Service by anyone other than authorized Service employee spokespersons while acting in their official capacities. The Company is not responsible for any infringement of intellectual property rights or breach of any applicable law or regulation, including regulation in relation to financial services or the distribution of financial products, defamation, data protection, telecommunications (including regulations relating to excessive use, spamming or other abusive activities) or obscene, offensive or illegal content). Under no circumstances will the Company be liable for any loss or damage caused by a member's reliance on information obtained through the Service. It is the responsibility of member to evaluate the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information, opinion, advice or other content available through the Service. Please seek the advice of professionals, as appropriate, regarding the evaluation of any specific information, opinion, advice or other content.
Read the full Member Agreement
http://www.zawya.com/legal/NewsLetter.cfm?name=disclaimer
Loading ...
Post a Comment
1.1 Contain any material which is libelous or defamatory of any person, is obscene, offensive, hateful or inflammatory or causes damage to the reputation of any person or organisation.
1.2 Promote sexually explicit material, violence, discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age or any illegal activity.
1.3 Be made in breach of any legal duty owed to a third party, such as a contractual duty or a duty of confidence.
1.4 Be threatening, abuse or invade another's privacy, or cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety.
1.5 Be used to impersonate any person, to misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person, or be likely to deceive any person.
1.6 Give the impression that they represent Zawya.
1.7 Advocate, promote or assist any unlawful act such as (by way of example only) copyright infringement or computer misuse.