Abu Dhabi: Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Inventor of the World Wide Web and Director, World Wide Web Consortium, will deliver the opening address at this year’s Abu Dhabi Media Summit that begins on Tuesday.
Held under the patronage of General Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, the three-day summit at Yas Viceroy Hotel on Yas Island will host several key influencers from the global media industry.
Berners-Lee, a pioneer and advocate of the internet age, will speak via satellite about the state of the digital planet at the session hosted by Matthew Garrahan, from the Financial Times, Los Angeles Bureau.
“This is a key moment for countries in the UAE and the Middle East region to determine how they can make the best use of the internet and take advantage of all the opportunities it offers,” Berners-Lee said.
“It is with great pleasure that I have accepted the invitation to participate remotely at the Abu Dhabi Media Summit, a digital global meeting of minds, where I am looking forward to discussing the potential of the internet and its positive benefits to humanity with such a digitally connected audience,” he added.
“Tim Berners-Lee is a digital pioneer and entrepreneur and we are delighted that he will be opening this year’s summit under the theme of ‘Leveraging the Digital Age’,” Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Media Summit and Chairman of twofour54, said.
Emerging market expansion
In addition to Tim Berners-Lee, the opening day of the summit will also host a session with Andy Bird, Chairman, Walt Disney International, who will speak about the art of emerging market expansion and story telling in a global marketplace.
The summit from October 22-24 will examine the latest trends and challenges in the media sector, with a focus on leveraging opportunities in the digital age.
The invitation-only event will analyse the rapid transformation of the media industry and how the industry can capitalise on opportunities in a fully-networked, media-centric world.
The summit, which will bring together top global media, technology, venture capital and creative industry players and their emerging-market counterparts, features a combination of high-profile public sessions, off-record forums and private conversations.
Bridging the gap
Selected entrepreneurs and start-up companies are also featured, bridging the gap between established industry leaders and disruptive entrants.
Speakers at this year’s event will also include: Mark Hollinger, President and CEO, Discovery Networks International; Shailesh Rao, VP, International Operations, Twitter; Anant Agarwal, President, edX; Konstantin Wolff, Founder, payleven; Dean Kamen, Founder, DEKA; Eric Gertler, Head of NYCEDC; Dan Senor, Author StartUp Nation; Nart Bouran, Director of News, Sky News Arabia; Ahmad Al Alfi, Founder and Chairman, Sawari Ventures; Tareq Al Kazzaz, CEO and Founder, Qsoft Group; Khalid Al Mufti, Head, ELibya; and Usama Fayyad, Executive Chairman, Oasis500.
This year the summit will also feature new sessions that focus on e-learning, social gaming and give local and regional media entrepreneurs and start-ups unprecedented access to venture capital investors via key sessions and a new competition in association with Orange and Oasis500.
