Dubai:
Top leaders and decision makers from some of the largest information and communication technology companies in the world converge in Dubai on October 20 for a five-day showcase that will encourage almost 130,000 conference attendees from 150 countries to seek innovation and redefine the future.
Now in its 33rd year, Gitex Technology Week is widely regarded as one of the world’s top three international information and communication technology (ICT) events and biggest in Middle East, Africa and South Asia.
“We are proud that the event has enabled and influenced many public and private business and industries, and helped create a new digital ecosystem in the country. Gitex has succeeded in providing unmatched return on investment,” Helal Saeed Al Merri, director general of Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) and CEO of Dubai World Trade Centre, said at a press conference.
Mideast’s IT spend to rise
According to Gartner, IT spend in the Middle East is expected to rise 5.5 per cent this year to $193 billion compared to $183 billion last year.
The biggest spending is coming from devices (mobile phones, media tablets, PCs, and printers) which are expected to grow by 7.7 per cent this year to $29.6 billion, followed by 7.1 per cent growth in software spending to $3.4 billion.
The software segment will be driven by security, storage management and customer relationship management sectors. Next year, markets aligned to big data and other information management initiatives, such as enterprise content management, data integration tools, and data quality tools will begin to see increased levels of investment.
The largest spending market still continues to be the telecom services, representing 77 per cent of the total spending this year.
Al Merri said that the region offers lucrative growth opportunities for investors and global companies in a rapidly expanding industry.
He said that exhibitions contribute around 2.5 per cent to Dubai’s gross domestic product.
“The total leased space to the exhibitors stands same as last year at 76,000 square metres despite adding new sectors this year. We are utilising the space to the maximum,” said Trixee Loh, senior vice-president of exhibitions and events management at the Dubai World Trade Centre.
She said that more than 3,500 companies from 61 countries are taking part. The new participating countries are Belarus, Brazil, Finland, Kenya, Lithuania, Serbia, Slovenia, Tunisia and Ukraine.
More than 816 new firms are taking part this year.
Loh told Gulf News that around 30 per cent of the total companies are from the UAE.
Dubai Smart Government occupies the largest exhibiting space with 70 entities. Around 65 per cent of the companies are international.
“We have registered a 26 per cent growth in international companies this year,” she said.
“We have seen Gitex as a big reference in the region also competing with big names in the industry,” said Abdel Wahed Bendaoua, head of enterprises, emerging market EMEA, Google.
“We will focus on Google enterprise and AdWords. Cloud technology has exceeded analysts’ expectations, both globally and in the Middle East, and many governments have started embracing it,” said Bendaoua.
“We expect to drive more partnerships and ventures between Serbia and key stakeholders at the event, transforming Serbia into one of Europe’s technology leaders,” said Slobodan Markovic, ICT advisor at Serbia Investment and Export Promotion Agency.
Serbia is the official country partner of Gitex Technology Week.
