Arabic version is being worked on and will be ready soon

ArabNet Digital Summit – 6th Edition

Date
Apr 30, 2018
Innovation was commonplace at the ArabNet Digital Summit as it brought together thought-leaders, executives, young professionals, government leaders and entrepreneurs – all under one roof in the Madinat Jumeirah Conference Center in Dubai, in its sixth edition extending over two days, from 30 April to 01 May 2018.

Keynotes, panel discussions and fireside chats were classified into three forums of specific themes, which ran on parallel lines on each of the two days of the summit as it garnered 1,800 attendees, 115 speakers, 75 exhibitors, as well as more than 100 investors and venture capital firms.

Day one included the ‘Money’, ‘Media’, and ‘AdTech’ Forums, while ‘Real Estate Tech’, ‘Smart Economy’ and ‘Investment’ were the key components of day two.

A fireside chat with an executive from Ripple, as part of the money forum, helped simplify the way ‘Ripple’, a Blockchain payment technology works and how it could transform payment transactions, bringing together the complexities of both legal and technical worlds, in various use cases in the banking industry.

Creative applications of Artificial Intelligence to enhance people’s lives were discussed from various standpoints in a panel discussion which brought together four industry leaders of diverse backgrounds, as part of the AdTech forum.

The speakers emphasized that rather than simply hoping to cut expenses using Artificial Intelligence, marketing & advertising teams need to be customer-centric to achieve long-term goals. It was proposed that despite popularity, the issue of misinterpretation of technical buzzwords has often been overlooked, leading to miscommunications.

Elsewhere, a keynote on the use of Machine Learning in the advertising industry enabled attendees to learn more about creative use cases and pilot projects of IoT and Machine Learning like connected-cars, which could be of help in going beyond customer service to make a brand part of people’s lives, especially in view of upcoming disruptive innovation like autonomous vehicles and flying cars. As Chatbots continue to deliver impressive customer service, discussions called for an efficient implementation of the same, amid intensifying market competition.

Several other sessions followed, on day one as well as day two, complemented by exhibition and networking sessions running simultaneously for attendees to expand their knowledge horizon.

Young Arab Leaders (YAL) is pleased to be a Supporting Partner for the ArabNet Digital Summit, since the values and objectives behind this summit are similar in nature to YAL’s goals of fostering knowledge-exchange and innovation among Arab professionals and youth, for a better tomorrow.

About ArabNet

ArabNet is a leading events, media, and research company focused on digital business and entrepreneurship in MENA. ArabNet organizes major annual conferences in Beirut, Riyadh, Dubai, and Kuwait; publishes news and analysis of the digital sector on its online news portal and print ‘ArabNet Quarterly’ magazine, and creates original research reports about the region’s digital industry.