Smart City Malta and TECOM Investments Education Cluster Host Networking Event in Dubai
Dubai-UAE: 10 December, 2011 - SmartCity Malta and TECOM Investments' Education Cluster, comprising the business parks of Dubai Knowledge Village and Dubai International Academic City, organised a networking event for educational and training companies looking to expand their business interests through partnership with overseas institutions.
Held on 7 December at the Dubai Knowledge Village (DKV) Conference Centre, the event was attended by companies from Dubai and the Republic of Malta.
The networking event included forums and one-to-one meetings between companies with common business interests. Education companies keen on global expansion explored partnership opportunities in student exchange programs, licensing of teaching expertise, and developing courses currently unavailable in the region.
Dr Ayoub Kazim, Managing Director of TECOM Investments' Education Cluster, said: "Education providers around the world, including business partners of Dubai Knowledge Village and Dubai International Academic City, are keen to forge partnerships to expand their operations. With the objective of creating new values for our business partners, we have brought together companies from the Republic of Malta and our business parks to explore the potential for collaboration."
Fareed Abdulrahman, Chief Executive Officer, SmartCity, said: "The international exposure afforded through the networking event served as a platform to maximize the Maltese educational institutes' potential in new markets and discover new horizons for growth from SmartCity's global network. The participants also benefited from the expertise and resources of the companies at Dubai Knowledge Village and Dubai International Academic City."
Dr Charles Theuma, Principal, St. Martin's Institute of Information Technology, said: "We were offered excellent hospitality in Dubai while our meetings were well organised. It has been a pleasure interacting with Dubai-based educational institutes to share our vision and ideas. Both countries are similar in the fact that Dubai is the hub of the Middle East and Malta of the Mediterranean. We look forward to a fruitful and sustainable relationship between the two regions and hope to provide educational, training and consultancy services that contribute to mutual growth."
The event drew the participation of Maltese educational institutions that have a presence in Cyprus, Libya, Greece and the UK. In addition, leading Maltese companies engaged in training and education for foreign language skills, IT and telecommunication, beauty and therapy, media/marketing, finance, and human resource management marked a presence at the Dubai event.
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About SmartCity
SmartCity is a conglomerate promoted by Dubai Holding member, TECOM Investments, to develop and manage Knowledge Industry Townships Worldwide.
The vision of SmartCity is to create a global network of self-sustained business townships to foster the knowledge economy.
SmartCity utilizes TECOM's specialised expertise, in the creation and management of knowledge based industry clusters to create an infrastructure and environment catered to the requirements of knowledge based companies and knowledge workers.
SmartCity has a significant impact on the economies in which it is established and creates vibrant knowledge economy communities which are anchored by leading global, regional and local names in the industry to facilitate knowledge transfer and job creation.
SmartCity is based on the successful models of Dubai Internet City, Dubai Media City and Dubai Knowledge Village and provides state-of-the-art infrastructure, environment and support systems that promote the growth of knowledge-based companies.
SmartCity also creates a global network to assist its business partners to tap into various markets, opportunities and talent. SmartCity Kochi, along with SmartCity Malta, are the first two projects to be part of the global network of knowledge-based industry townships that SmartCity seeks to develop. This global network fosters productive linkages and taps into synergies between knowledge-industry centres worldwide.
About SmartCity Malta
SmartCity Malta is a self-sustained industry township for knowledge-based companies located in the Ricasoli Estate in Malta.
To be developed by SmartCity, in partnership with the Government of Malta, SmartCity Malta will be home to a vibrant knowledge-economy community anchored by leading global, regional and local companies. SmartCity Malta is set to become the leading ICT and Media cluster in the heart of the Mediterranean and the first European outpost of the global SmartCity network.
With a minimum investment outlay of US $ 300 million, SmartCity Malta will transform Malta into a state-of-the-art ICT and Media business community based on the successful clusters of Dubai Internet City, Dubai Media City and Dubai Knowledge Village.
SmartCity Malta is the largest ever foreign direct investment in the ICT and media sectors ever made in Malta. SmartCity Malta will create the infrastructure to develop a self-sustaining knowledge-based township comprising office space, residential and lifestyle elements. The project is expected to generate 5,600 jobs and create a total of 158,830square meters of office space to host ICT and Media operators.
The first deliverable of the project comprising of 12,000 square metres office space was released on 10.10.2010.
About Dubai International Academic City:
Dubai International Academic City (DIAC) is the world's only Free Zone dedicated to Higher Education. Established in 2007 as part of TECOM Investments, DIAC aims to develop the region's talent pool and establish the UAE as a knowledge-based economy.
DIAC is the premier destination for Higher Education in the region, located on a fully-appointed 18 million sq ft. campus with state-of-the-art modern facilities. DIAC currently has 27 Academic institutions from 11 countries.
The DIAC campus is host to over 18,000 students from more than 100 nationalities. DIAC students also have access to over 300 Higher Education programmes.
DIAC Phase III achieved a "Green" status and was awarded Silver LEED certification. DIAC provides an established educational environment for academic institutions and caters to students from around the world.
DIAC is also ranked top 10 in the Middle East under "Best Transportation" category and top 25 in the Middle East under "Best Overall" category according to 2010 Financial Times Rankings.
For further information, please call:
Zeba Ahmad
APCO Worldwide (JiWin Public Relations)
Tel: +9714 361 3590 (direct)
+9714 361 3333 (switchboard)
Fax: +9714 388 8001
E-mail: zahmad@apcoworldwide.com
© Press Release 2011
