ArabWeeks

Government ICT investment is transforming Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s innovation economy, enhancing development, business growth and productivity according to experts attending GITEX Technology Week.

Overall IT spending in the Kingdom – the Middle East’s largest IT market – is set grow by 23 percent from US$ 11.5 billion in 2014 to US$ 14.2 billion in 2017 according to IDC’s report ‘Saudi Arabia Vertical Markets 2013-2017 IT Spending Forecast’.

Government will be the fastest-growing vertical in this period, with a compound annual growth rate of 12.9 percent, according to IDC. Guiding investment is the Kingdom’s Ninth Development Plan, which projects a 27 percent increase in government spending from SAR 150 billion in 2009 to SAR 191 billion in 2014.

With the Kingdom ranked No. 6 in the world in government ICT usage according to the World Economic Forum’s Networked Readiness Index 2014, government-led ICT investment in e-services and infrastructure investment is fuelling Saudi’s knowledge-based economy growth.

Illustrating the demand for best practices in ICT, more than 500 of the Kingdom’s public and private sector technology organisations attended GITEX Technology Week 2013, with event organisers Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) expecting another strong turnout in 2014.

Among the Kingdom’s leading exhibitors at GITEX Technology Week are Saudi Telecom Company (STA), Al Elm Information Security and the Saudi Export Development Authority (SEDA).

The Kingdom hosts one of the world’s youngest technology and social media-aware populations, with half the population below 25 years of age and 40 percent of Arab Twitter users hailing from the Kingdom according to the Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government’s 6^th Arab Social Media Report.

This young, tech-savvy population is forcing businesses to offer a wider range of services across a variety of online platforms. The Saudi mobile phone market is the largest in the Middle East, with 53 million subscriptions by 2013, according to the Kingdom’s Communication and Information Technology Commission, a mobile penetration rate of 181.6 percent – almost two subscriptions per individual.

“Saudi Arabia’s innovative use of ICT to deliver development and business improvement is key to the Kingdom’s economic transformation plans,’’ said Trixie LohMirmand, Senior Vice President, DWTC.  “GITEX Technology Week is an unparalleled opportunity for more than 500 of the Kingdom’s organisations to share insights into the potential of technology.’’

Running under the theme ‘Re-Imagining our Future’, GITEX TECHNOLOGY WEEK 2014 is set to attract more than 142,000 ICT professionals, 25,000 C-level executives and over 3,700 exhibitors from 61 countries. The show will be held from 12-16 October at DWTC. For more information visit: www.gitex.com.

Schneider Electric, a global specialist in energy management, today announced that Merck, a leader in healthcare and pharmaceuticals, has launched Energy University™ to educate its employees around the world on energy efficiency.

“Whether an employee is interested in simply learning more about energy efficiency, or would like to take advantage of new opportunities in the energy management field, Energy University offers tools and information for everyone – at no cost,” said Tom Pagliuco, Director, Global Energy & Sustainability Center of Excellence, Merck.

Energy University is a free online program, featuring more than 350 educational courses that provide product-neutral information and guidance for improving energy efficiency within an organization. Merck will first use Energy University as an internal training tool for its Global Energy Network for Improvement in Usage and Supply (GENIUS) teams, with the goal of educating employees to make smarter choices in energy efficiency. The online courses can help Merck’s 70,000 employees realize more than 30 percent energy savings within their building, facility or private residence.

The Energy University program will also provide employees with the opportunity to become certified as a Professional Energy Manager (PEM), an industry recognized certification provided by the Institute of Energy Professionals.

Within the Energy University learning platform, Schneider Electric has created four distinct development paths for Merck with different courses for specific groups of employees:

•  Basic Training is a baseline path for GENIUS Team Leaders to first identify opportunities for energy efficiency;
• Advanced Training provides an expanded understanding of energy management and energy system and equipment principles for GENIUS Team Leaders, facility managers, engineering managers and site utility operations and maintenance personnel;
• Site Energy Team Member Training is an introductory course designed for Site Energy Team Members and any other employees interested in learning more about energy efficiency standards;
• “Treasure Hunt” Participant Training offers basic fundamentals to help employees find energy efficiency opportunities, measure waste and calculate savings during the three-day, cross-functional team event, which has been conducted at ten facilities worldwide and enabled Merck to identify more than $27 million in savings and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 88,000 metric tons.

These customized development paths enable GENIUS Team Leaders to develop and implement energy efficiency strategies that will reduce usage and emissions in their buildings or facilities. Each site will be represented by an Energy Champion, who is responsible for leading a cross-functional team in finding and implementing energy efficiency improvements.

“The best resource for reducing an organization’s energy usage and costs is its employees,” said David Reed, Energy Services Director, Buildings Business, Schneider Electric. “Our Energy University program provides the necessary tools to support companies from every industry in their efforts to effectively grow employees’ sustainability knowledge and skills. This will not only benefit the environment, but an organization’s bottom line as well.”

Launched in 2009, Energy University is providing energy efficiency education courses free-of-charge to more than 400,000 professionals in 180 countries and 13 languages. Energy University is available on-demand atwww.MyEnergyUniversity.com. For more information about Schneider Electric or its integrated solutions, visit the Schneider Electric website at www.schneider-electric.com

Celebrating its 50^th year of delivering leadership in global IT advisory services, IDC today launched the 4^th edition of its hugely influential Saudi Arabia CIO Summit, held under the patronage of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. Hosted at Riyadh’s Four Seasons Hotel, the annual event represents the largest social network of CIOs, IT thought leaders, and vendors in the Kingdom and is focused firmly on exploring the pivotal role of the CIO in the new business world of technology transformation.

The Saudi ICT market is currently a hotbed of activity, particularly in the government, finance, and oil and gas sectors, where unprecedented budgets are combining with the emergence of exciting new technologies and a desire from many organizations to leapfrog previous generations. But this dynamism is not just restricted to these three sectors, with businesses all across the vertical spectrum gearing up to push themselves on to the next level. While some organizations are still building their infrastructures, others are surging forward, implanting cutting-edge technologies that disrupt traditional business and work models while creating opportunities in lines of business and in the optimization of workflow.

“Saudi Arabia’s public sector was allocated its largest ever budget in 2014, and with a focus on improving egovernment maturity, the coming years will be a fascinating period for the development of the Kingdom’s ICT market,” says Abdulaziz Al-Helayyil, regional director for IDC Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Bahrain. “Meanwhile, the emergence of new channels is transforming the Saudi banking sector, with investments in Internet and mobile banking, mobile apps, and ‘omnichannel’ banking spurring extremely strong IT spending growth. And the rise of real-time analytics and the ‘Resilient Oilfield’ is driving a similar performance in the oil and gas sector, while the increasingly complex threat landscape in the region is uniting all three of these major verticals in their promotion of IT security as a major priority.”

Sitting at the heart of all these developments is the emerging 3rd Platform — or what IDC refers to as the four pillars of technology: enterprise mobility, Big Data and analytics, cloud computing, and social networks. With this in mind, the CIO Summit’s agenda explored strategies for enhancing public safety though the use of smart technologies, implementing new approaches to information security, and embracing the evolving IT delivery and service provider ecosystem. Underpinning all of these were discussions on effectively managing the transformation to the 3rd Platform, with Steven Frantzen, IDC’s managing director for CEMA, explaining the transformative power of these technologies, for both businesses and customers alike, and outlining his vision of what this new IT landscape will look like in 2020.

The delegates in attendance represented a broad range of industry sectors, including banking and financial services, government, oil and gas, construction and real estate, utilities, and healthcare. As a consequence of this remarkably broad vertical representation, IDC customized the learning experience by introducing a series of industry-specific sessions that deal with the unique challenges faced by CIOs operating in these individual sectors. IDC also enabled a more formal structure for the unrivalled networking opportunities available at the Summit, facilitating CIO-to-vendor meetings, CIO-to-analyst meetings, and CIO-to-CIO meetings across both days.

IDC is committed to ensuring the very latest technology developments were covered at the Saudi Arabia CIO Summit 2014. In addition to the Ministry of Communications and Information’s participation as Strategic Partner, IDC secured partnerships with some of the world’s foremost ICT vendors, including EMC, Awal, IBM, and Software AG as Summit Partners; Awal as IT Services Partner; VMware as Cloud Partner; F5 and HP/Intel as Datacenter Partners; Schneider Electric as Smart City Partner; Cognizant, BlackBerry, CA Technologies, Informatica, and Fortinet as Gold Partners; Innovative Solutions as Silver Partner; Cyberoam and iDashboards as Exhibition Partners; Centrify, Seclore, and CSC as Lunch Partners; and Future Systems as Gala Dinner Partners.

We are proud to announce the first National Final of Get in the Ring: Saudi Arabia, STC Challenge. On the 24th of September eight of the most promising startups in Saudi Arabia will battle in the Four Seasons Hotel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The goal of Get in the Ring is to put startups in the spotlight, giving them a global podium from which to connect with investors and create a fan base.

In four battles two startups literally face off against each other in the ring. During five brief rounds they present their startup to a jury of Champion investors, and an audience of potential investors and fans, in a competition that can result in a potential investment for the winner. Their goal? Become the National Champion of Get in the Ring: Saudi Arabia. Do you want to be part of this unique experience? Scroll down, and reserve your spot in the audience!

Programme

Registration: 15:30
Opening Remarks by host: 16:00
Introducing Jury & keynote: 16:10
Battle 1 & 2: 16:40
Short Break: 17:20
Battle 3 & 4: 17:40
Final Battle & Voting: 18:20
Announce Winner: 18:40
Networking: 19:00
End event: 20:00
About STC Challenge

“It is very exciting to partner with the Get in the Ring initiative. I am certain it will prove equally exciting for young start-ups with innovative concepts and sound plans. We truly hope this competition will help fuel the passion for achievement and innovation among more people in the region,” said STC’s Senior Vice President of Technology and Operations, Dr. Khaled Biyari, on the recent partnership with Get in the Ring. “The Middle East region offers unlimited potential to the global economy. Through this competition, we can demonstrate our value on a global stage.”

To register as visitors from this link

https://www.eventbrite.nl/e/get-in-the-ring-saudi-arabia-stc-challenge-registration-12655848985?err=29

If you are a startup and ready to face off other promising startups in Saudi Arabia?

First, Read this information carefully before you register :

Application Criteria

Startup has an innovative and scalable business model/idea
Startup exists no longer than 5 years
Entrepreneur is proficient in the English language
Startup is seeking an investment (money, time, advise)
Selection Criteria

Team qualifications and experience
Achievements
Scalable and innovative business idea and/or model
Market opportunities
Investment proposition and fundability (Most important criteria!)
Prizes National Final (worth up to €2.5k)

National Title of Get in the Ring: Saudi Arabia STC Challenge
A spot in the Regional Final of Get in the Ring: Middle East STC Challenge
Equidam Startup Valuation Report
Regional exposure for your startup

Now if you are ready to register startup  from this link

Note : Registration Deadline: September 21st, 2014

http://getinthering.co/events/register-saudi-arabia/

The Saudi Telecommunication Group provides integrated mobile, fixed and broadband communications services to over 160 million customers globally. The company is Headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Telecom Company (STC) is the largest telecommunications company by market capitalization, total revenue and number of employees in the Arab State region. In the last few years, STC has moved beyond its domestic borders into the international markets, forming a network of businesses and investments in a number of GCC countries, Asia and Africa. The company is now present in Kuwait, India, Malaysia, Turkey, South Africa and Bahrain, enabling STC to serve a greater number of customers internationally.