Dubai’s DIC and DOZ record 15% growth in 2012

Dubai Internet City (DIC), the Mena region’s largest IT cluster, and Dubai Outsource Zone (DOZ), the world’s first freezone dedicated to the outsourcing industry, this week announced growth of 15 per cent as 160 new companies registered in the business parks throughout 2012.

Key sectors that saw new additions within Dubai Internet City in 2012 include internet and multimedia software, telecommunication and IT services.

More than 60 business partners including Fortune 500 companies MasterCard, GE, Qualcomm, EMC and Google significantly increased their presence in DIC owing to the high quality of services and infrastructure that DIC provides.

Malek Al Malek, Managing Director of Dubai Internet City and Dubai Outsource Zone, said: “2012 was a particularly strong year for our cluster. Not only did we welcome some of the industry’s biggest players such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Interglobe, we also saw the expansion of existing partners.’’

DIC has been one of the forerunners in carrying forward Dubai’s vision of transitioning into a knowledge-based economy with its access to an extensive talent pool from all over the world. Throughout 2012, DIC has also increasingly turned its attention to supporting and nurturing small and medium sized businesses (SMEs), and encouraging the development of innovative ideas.

Al Malek added: “The support and nurturing of SMEs and entrepreneurs has also been a key area of focus for us in 2012 and will continue to be in 2013. We are extremely optimistic about the ongoing growth of the SME sector in the region. Since the year 2000, Dubai Internet City has successfully developed a prosperous ecosystem for technology companies. We have created incentives, eliminated the barriers for SMEs to set up, and through In5 , an innovation hub which aims to foster and promote entrepreneurship, and FirstSteps business centre, we have striven to ensure entrepreneurs get the support they need to take their ideas to market.

“Our latest report, the ‘Role of Entrepreneurship and Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) in the Development of the ICT Industry’ reveals that, going into 2013, the UAE is one of the few countries in the Middle East and North Africa that is truly investing in innovation via its various incubation programmes and funding tie-ups with international governments and private equity firms.”

The year witnessed the development of the in5 innovation hub. Hosted in DIC, In5 aims to foster and promote entrepreneurship and innovation in order to develop a technology start-up ecosystem in Dubai. The hub provides infrastructure, support and a dynamic and engaging working environment to entrepreneurs from the early stages of idea creation through to idea implementation and the commercial launch of a product or service.

Dubai Outsource Zone (DOZ) also witnessed growth throughout 2012.

A recent DOZ industry report titled ‘Outsourcing in the Mena Region,’ reveals that Dubai now counts for 90% of the UAE’s outsourcing industry, and unlike other outsourcing hubs around the world, DOZ is a cross-sector zone catering to all types of outsourcing processes. The business park is comprised of shared services organisations such as airlines, banks and hospitality companies; business process outsourcing (BPOs) and pure outsourcing third party companies. This unique structure allows companies to base in all their outsourcing activities in one centralised community.

In late 2012, DIC was also one of the parties that signed the UAE eCommerce Working Group Memorandum of Understanding with the Executive Office of the Government of Dubai at the event which aims to propose solutions and policy recommendations to create a more conducive environment to help existing UAE-based business become eCommerce capable.

Showcasing their commitment to ICT and outsourcing industries in the UAE and the wider region, both DIC and DOZ participated in several industry events in 2012 including GITEX, 3rd Annual 2012 Global Entrepreneurship Summit, Microsoft Open Door, Datacenter Technologies Academy 2012, 5th Annual Managed Services Growth Markets event and Middle East Call Center 2012.

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