Gitex: Today the world logs in to Dubai

Gitex Technology Week –the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia region’s top ICT event– opens tomorrow, Sunday October 20, with the world’s leading brands revealing new products and services, and the industry’s key decision makers driving thought leadership on the industry’s opportunities and challenges across the region.

The Middle East continues to be a booming market for the ICT industry with total spend projected to increase 5.5 per cent from 2012 to $192.9 billion in 2013, according to IT research firm Gartner Inc.

The 33rd edition of Gitex Technology Week will be held at the Dubai World Trade Centre from October 20-24 under the theme ‘Lets Create, Disrupt and Re-imagine Together’, with Dubai Internet City as a strategic partner.

More than 130,000 ICT professionals from 150 countries are set to attend the 2013 edition, with 80 per cent of the world’s leading ICT brands present.

Trixie LohMirmand, Senior Vice President, Dubai World Trade Centre, said: “ICT trends like mobility, the cloud, and big data are commonly used industry buzzwords, however, Gitex Technology Week is the Menasa region’s only event that offers visitors an in-depth understanding of these concepts as well as knowledge on how they can be used to deliver enhanced ROI.”

This year there will be substantial numbers of international exhibitors and visitors - new country participants hail from Belarus, Brazil, Finland, Kenya, Lithuania, Serbia, Slovenia, Tunisia and Ukraine.

The official country partner of the Week is Serbia, under the auspices of the Serbia Investment and Export Promotion Agency (SIEPA), as the Eastern European country looks to boost trade ties with its rapidly-growing ICT-related companies.

Big Data Conference

Supported by Diamond SponsorAccenture and Platinum Sponsors Commvault and Huawei, the event is the first stand-alone session on what is one of the ICT industry’s most compelling and challenging trends.

Awards
The Cloud Awards Will put a spotlight on cloud computing’s contribution to the business community, while the Gitex Hot Stuff Awards is the largest consumer electronics gadget competition in the region. 

Adding to this competitive spirit is the Student Lab competition, which is sponsored by the UAE Ministry of Presidential Affairs (MoPA) and held in association with Google.

Smart Sessions

A new exposure-enhancing and knowledge-sharing platform set to make an impression are the free to attend Smart Sessions. Sponsored by Kaspersky, a dedicated theatre will provide a powerful showcase for anyone with innovative solutions and insight.

Featured activities include panel debates, discussions and interactive presentations. Smart Session topics include mobile apps solution trends, SME entrepreneurship, cyber security, social media and cyber security.

GSM Exchange

Also new at GITEX this year is the GSM Exchange, a specialised international trading platform for mobile phone distributors, wholesalers and retailers. The organisation is representing a wide range of mobile distributors and showcasing mobile products from across the region at Gitex.

Cloud Confex

As ever, Cloud will feature heavily. Now in its fourth year and taking place on October 22, Cloud Confex, which is supported by Diamond SponsorEtisalat and Platinum Sponsors Accenture and F5, is the largest and most influential event of its kind in the Middle East. Regional appetite for the emergent technology suggests it will be a big draw.

Digital Strategies Forum

Also returning by popular demand is the Digital Strategies Forum on 23 October, which is sponsored by Gemalto and focuses on how the rules of business are being upended in a new, consumer-empowered era.
Sponsored by the UAE Ministry of Finance, the Government Sector continues to attract the highest government participation of any trade event in the region.

Consumer Tech feature

This brings its usual eye-catching array of entertainment and leisure hardware, software and accessories, whereas the Network and Security Sector is looking forward to welcoming the world’s top names dealing with biometric technologies, anti-virus/anti-spam solutions, security tools and services.
 

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