Tuesday, Sep 20, 2011
Gulf News
Dubai Internet City launched its first ICT (information and communications technology) incubator aimed at promoting entrepreneurship in the technology sector yesterday.
The Majid Bin Mohammed Innovation Centre which was formed under the direction of Shaikh Majid Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, will be open to any local or international entrepreneur in the industry.
According to Malek Sultan Al Malek, managing director of Dubai Internet City and Dubai Outsource Zone global, local statistics show a lot of potential in the establishment of incubators.
In 2010 there were 7,000 incubators worldwide, 80 per cent of which are located in developing countries, 2,000 in the US, 1,800 in Europe and more than 750 in China.
Between 1980 and 2007 500,000 jobs were created through the incubators initiative in the US alone.
In the UAE, where 90 per cent of all businesses are SMEs, investments in start-up IT companies are growing and are predicted to reach 50 per cent of the total expenditure of the industry by 2015.
The mission we are striving to have is to foster and drive the development of ICT establishments by extending the right environment and the right products for those entrepreneurs, said Al Malek.
Success story
Some of the local success stories in the ICT industry include cobone.com, gonabit.com, souk.com. maktoob.com and bayt.com.
Mohammad Gawdat, managing director of emerging markets, EMEA, Google said the constant evolution of the ICT industry means there is always need for innovation and start-ups.
The industry is going through a new transformation thats where we see the convergence of services. There is a lot of opportunity for companies who can move from one technology to the other, creating a hybrid environment, said Gawdat.
According to Charbel Fakhouri, vie-president of sales, marketing and services, Mena region for Microsoft Corporation, because the industry is so young, the main thing entrepreneurs lack is hindsight.
If you grow up in the US and you are 30 years old, you have lived the Bill Gates legend. You dont have that here. The reality is that most start-ups would suffer from small mistakes that would run them out of resources just a few steps away from success.
We have quite a few people on the project who have experiences and have hindsight about what could go wrong. I think that helps people to save resources, said Fakhouri.
ICT start-ups are vital to the economy because they are needed in the progression of all industries said Nasser Rafi, CEO of Emaar Malls Group.
Within the last 10 years you see the landscape of technology and how people are using it has changed dramatically.
Strong focus
In the retail industry there is a strong focus on user applications and social media. We believe in this new direction because we need to better understand our demographics and consumers, he said.
The incubator will be up and running by the first quarter of next year and has a capacity to support more than 80 entrepreneurs annually.
By Aya Lowe, Staff Reporter
Gulf News 2011. All rights reserved.
