DUBAI
About 4,100 companies from more than 70 countries are taking part in the 37th Gitex Technology Week to be held at Dubai World Trade Centre from Sunday, with the main focus being on start-ups.
The co-located start-up event — Gitex Future Stars — is to welcome first-movers, game-changers and dream-makers from around the world to share in a vision of a technology-enabled future.
Entering its second edition, the start-up event has grown over 65 per cent since its launch last year. It will see the latest in emerging technology from 700 start-ups that may be scouted by one of the 250 venture capitalists including Andreessen Horowitz, Candace Johnson from SES & the European Angel Investor Network in France, and Mo El Bibany from the Rising Tide Fund in the US on site searching for the next-big-thing in technology.
Trixie LohMirmand, Senior Vice-President for Events Management at Dubai World Trade Centre, organisers of the show, said that the event aims to inspire corporations and innovators to be bold in their strategy, adopt new technology and be first-movers in their industries.
To win in a disruptive economy, she said that businesses must understand that the emerging technology of today will mean valuable opportunities in the future. The week is dedicated to education, innovation and sharing of technology and ideas that will shape the businesses of tomorrow.
The start-up event is set to offer entrepreneurs from across a chance to win both funding and opportunities to spur innovation through a targeted series of hosted competitions, innovation cups and corporate pitch opportunities, she said.
Fadi Ghandour, Executive Chairman of Wamda Group and founder of Aramex, said that there is no better time than now to be a part of the Middle East entrepreneurial landscape. The start-up ecosystem is thriving not just with ideas, but also with innovative start-ups and investors looking to help businesses scale up and expand.
There should no longer be any debate about the impact of digital on the way organisations can reinvent their businesses across all industries. The event is an opportunity for leaders and experts across government, transport, health care, marketing and education to understand how digital can benefit them, said Omar Boulos, regional managing director for Accenture in the Middle East and Turkey.
The UAEs Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) will showcase publicly for the first time its soon-to-be-launched self-flying taxis. Khaled Al Awadhi, Director, Automatic Collection Systems, RTA, said that with the evolution of technology, how we travel is changing rapidly.
French start-up Seabubbles will showcase a 100 per cent electric flying water taxi at the show.
Frontier technologies will be on show at the event, with VR (virtual reality) film studio GigaWorks demonstrating its 360 camera technology on Gitexs dedicated AR/VR platform XLabs and Dubais official Blockchain City Advisor, ConsenSys, giving insight into the future of blockchain technology in the region.
Nikitas Glykas, President of HTC MEA, said that the region is accelerating its adoption of digital platforms, and todays virtual reality technologies are already making radical changes to the way that business sectors operate and how individuals collaborate with one another.
About 4,100 companies from more than 70 countries are taking part in the 37th Gitex Technology Week to be held at Dubai World Trade Centre from Sunday, with the main focus being on start-ups.
The co-located start-up event — Gitex Future Stars — is to welcome first-movers, game-changers and dream-makers from around the world to share in a vision of a technology-enabled future.
Entering its second edition, the start-up event has grown over 65 per cent since its launch last year. It will see the latest in emerging technology from 700 start-ups that may be scouted by one of the 250 venture capitalists including Andreessen Horowitz, Candace Johnson from SES & the European Angel Investor Network in France, and Mo El Bibany from the Rising Tide Fund in the US on site searching for the next-big-thing in technology.
Trixie LohMirmand, Senior Vice-President for Events Management at Dubai World Trade Centre, organisers of the show, said that the event aims to inspire corporations and innovators to be bold in their strategy, adopt new technology and be first-movers in their industries.
To win in a disruptive economy, she said that businesses must understand that the emerging technology of today will mean valuable opportunities in the future. The week is dedicated to education, innovation and sharing of technology and ideas that will shape the businesses of tomorrow.
The start-up event is set to offer entrepreneurs from across a chance to win both funding and opportunities to spur innovation through a targeted series of hosted competitions, innovation cups and corporate pitch opportunities, she said.
Fadi Ghandour, Executive Chairman of Wamda Group and founder of Aramex, said that there is no better time than now to be a part of the Middle East entrepreneurial landscape. The start-up ecosystem is thriving not just with ideas, but also with innovative start-ups and investors looking to help businesses scale up and expand.
There should no longer be any debate about the impact of digital on the way organisations can reinvent their businesses across all industries. The event is an opportunity for leaders and experts across government, transport, health care, marketing and education to understand how digital can benefit them, said Omar Boulos, regional managing director for Accenture in the Middle East and Turkey.
The UAEs Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) will showcase publicly for the first time its soon-to-be-launched self-flying taxis. Khaled Al Awadhi, Director, Automatic Collection Systems, RTA, said that with the evolution of technology, how we travel is changing rapidly.
French start-up Seabubbles will showcase a 100 per cent electric flying water taxi at the show.
Frontier technologies will be on show at the event, with VR (virtual reality) film studio GigaWorks demonstrating its 360 camera technology on Gitexs dedicated AR/VR platform XLabs and Dubais official Blockchain City Advisor, ConsenSys, giving insight into the future of blockchain technology in the region.
Nikitas Glykas, President of HTC MEA, said that the region is accelerating its adoption of digital platforms, and todays virtual reality technologies are already making radical changes to the way that business sectors operate and how individuals collaborate with one another.
Al Nisr Publishing LLC 2017. All rights reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).
