Innovation Arabia 12 Agenda Unveiled in Dubai Today

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 18 February 2019: Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and President of Hamdan bin Mohammed Smart University (HBMSU), the 12^th edition of Innovation Arabia Conference and Exhibition will be held from the 25^th to the 27^th of February, 2019, at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre, under the theme ‘Building Smart Communities: Balancing Innovation, Change and Transformation’.

This was announced during a press conference held earlier today at Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University Campus in Dubai, which was chaired by Dr. Mansoor Al Awar, Chancellor of Hamdan bin Mohammed Smart University and Chairman of Innovation Arabia’s Higher Committee, and Eng. Anas Al Madani, Vice Chairman and Group CEO of INDEX Holding in the presence of a number of dignitaries, officials and media representatives.

Dr. Mansoor Al Awar, said, “We are honored to organize the 12^th edition of the Innovation Arabia Conference and Exhibition, which aims towards exploring the prospects of building smart communities based on standards and guidelines aimed at balancing innovation, change and transformation, under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and President of HBMSU. We are delighted to have a fruitful partnership with INDEX, which reflects an advance step towards enabling Innovation Arabia to reach out to a wider global perspective and in line with our relentless pursuit of excellence and leadership, further inspired by the insightful vision of our wise leadership. We look forward to launching the next session of the event, which is being presented as an important addition to the national efforts aimed at fostering a culture of innovation while also setting out to become strong pillars for the advancement of business, health, environment, smart learning and artificial intelligence sectors, based on innovation and entrepreneurship.”

From his side, Eng. Anas Al Madani said, “We are indeed very proud to organize the 12^th edition of Innovation Arabia Conference and Exhibition in strategic partnership with Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University -HBMSU. The UAE is leading the Middle East in the field of innovation and has made significant progress in advancing its position among the fastest growing innovation driven countries in the world. In line with UAE’s vision to include innovation as a key pillar in all development policies and strategic plans adopted in various sectors, UAE’s standing in many global platforms and global performance indices has consistently improved, making it a regional and global economic powerhouse and a role model for the rest of the region and the world to follow.”

He added, “Keeping this in mind, Innovation Arabia 12 is featuring a rich comprehensive agenda involving interesting discussions on success stories in various sectors of the economy, latest scientific breakthroughs in various fields and new business models which are revolutionizing the economic landscape in the Arab world. In addition, Innovation Arabia 12 Conference will bring together leading technology providers, world renowned academicians, thinkers and key decision makers in numerous fields, who will share their experiences with all attendees.”

This year, Innovation Arabia 12 conference agenda comprises a series of panel discussions and debates on a number of topics of huge significance under 4 parallel tracks such as ‘Quality and Business Management’, ‘Health and Environment’, ‘Smart Learning’ and ‘Artificial Intelligence’, which is being introduced for the first time in the conference.

Under the ‘Quality and Business Management’ track a panel discussion will be held entitled ‘Breakthrough Innovations and Quality Management; Do They Align’ while the University of Fujairah Panel Discussion will include a conversation on ‘University Education in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution’. Moreover, a panel discussion will be held on under the ‘Health and Environment’ Track titled ‘Real World Experiences of Smart Health to Keep us Healthy’.

Furthermore, a key workshop will take place under the Artificial Intelligence Track on ‘Artificial Intelligence: The Next Wave of Disruption’ which will be presented by Dr. Souma Alhaj Ali, Director of Center for Excellence and Governance, Acting Dean of School of Artificial Intelligence, while another workshop will be held under the ‘Smart Learning’ track on ‘Future Career Path Planning” by Wissam Steitie and Prof. Hamdy Abdelaziz.  In addition, the conference will include a debate under the Artificial Intelligence Track, entitled ‘Artificial Intelligence: A Blessing or a Curse for the Future of Human Existence’ while under the ‘Quality and Business Management track a key debate will be held on ‘The Ambiguous Perception of Quality in Entertainment’. The conference agenda also includes the HBMSU Research Seminar where experts will discuss ‘Case Research and Development in Harvard Tradition’.

The main keynote speaker will be Marc Sanz Lopez, Head of Google for Education for South of Europe, Middle East and North Africa, who will present a session entitled ‘Will Schools exist 50 years from now?”.

While H.E. Olli-Pekka Heinonen, Director General, Finnish National Agency for Education, Finland, will be speaking under the ‘Smart Learning Track’ on his topic ‘Learning Systems for Tomorrow: Experiences from Finland’, H.E. Dr. Eng. Ali Mohamed Al Khouri, The Advisor to the Council and Chairman of the Arab Federation for Digital Economy, UAE will be speaking under the Artificial Intelligence Track on the topic of ‘Exploring the Future of AI in Smart Communities’. In addition, Dr. Rana Hajjeh, Acting DPM, Director, World Health Organization (WHO), will be speaking under the ‘Health and Environment Track’ on her topic ‘Smart innovations to achieve sustainable development in health and environment.’

Finally, Prof. Stephen Murgatroyd, from Collaborative Media Group Inc., will be speaking under the ‘Quality and Business Management Track’ on his topic “Using Strategic Foresight to Reimagine the Future – Work, Organizations and Change”.

Additionally, Innovation Arabia 12 agenda features a number of scientific and educational activities for visitors and participants such as ‘Innovation Arabia Hub’ which provides startups, entrepreneurs and SME’s a great opportunity to showcase new creative ideas that can help revive the economy while the ‘Youth Circle’ will include a series of debates and discussions on innovation to inspire students and young leaders to embrace new ideas and brainstorm about the latest advancements in various fields.

Running parallel to the 3-day conference, the Innovation Arabia exhibition will offer leading brands in Business, Artificial Intelligence, Smart Solutions and Health and Environment sectors an opportunity to showcase how their advanced technologies and solutions are creating new opportunities for businesses to grow in this highly competitive global economy.

Furthermore, Innovation Arabia 12 encourages the regional academic community including the teaching faculty, administrators and students of various universities and colleges by rewarding their achievements in many fields with special awards such as: Harrington Best TQM Thesis/Project Award, Parasuraman Service Excellence Prize, Kondo Research Prize: People and Organizational Culture Perspective and HBMSU e-learning Excellence Awards which includes, The Best Research Paper for Smart Learning Implementation, The Best Designed Smart Learning Course Award, Outstanding Individual Achievement in Smart Learning Award, The El Baz Award for Excellence in Organizational Sustainability and Conti research Prize for Systems Thinking and Organizational Capability.

Innovation Arabia 12 is organized by INDEX Conferences and Exhibitions – a member of INDEX Holding, in partnership with Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University – HBMSU.