Over 1600 attendees, 120 speakers, 60 exhibitors and 100 international and regional investors have gathered for the fifth edition of ArabNet Digital Summit, to discuss the latest trends and opportunities in the UAE and the region. The event is held in strategic partnership with the Smart Dubai Office and Publicis Media

The opening ceremony featured the launch of the Dubai Data Economic Impact Report, by H.E. Dr. Aisha BintButti Bin Bishr, Director General of the Smart Dubai Office and Younus Al Nasser, Assistant Director General of the Smart Dubai Office and CEO of the Dubai Data Establishment. The report, led by the Dubai Data Establishment that operates under the Smart Dubai Office to oversee and implement the Dubai Data Law, sheds light on the potential economic impact of open and shared data in Dubai.

“At Smart Dubai, we are not looking to simply keep pace with data-related projects taking place around the world. We are, instead, seeking to play a pioneering role in this sector, and setting a precedent for cities around the world to follow. Dubai is taking the lead on the open and shared data front with the bold and comprehensive Dubai Data initiative,” said Dr Aisha

“Abiding by the Dubai Data Strategy, we, at Dubai Data, continuously work to drive the publication and exchange of all relevant data to integrate and harmonize the services provided by federal and local government agencies, and improve their decision-making process, enabling them to effectively process data, develop policies, and implement strategic initiatives,” Mr Al Nasser added.

On the sidelines of the Summit, ArabNet hosted government and corporate leaders from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Lebanon, Morocco, Egypt and the USA – in an two-day Digital Policy Forum – to explore the role of government programs in effectively stimulating digital innovation, entrepreneurship and the smart economy.

The first roundtable on May 16 tackled entrepreneurship and SMEs, innovation, and youth policy, while the second roundtable – scheduled for May 17 – will look into the topics of digital economy, digitization, smart cities and smart government.

This year, the Digital Summit was reshaped to include four separate forums: AdTech, Digital Commerce, Smart Economy, and Innovation & Investment.

Day one featured the AdTech Forum – sponsored by Publicis, and tackling the latest advertising and media technologies, from analytics, to content distribution, programmatic, native, bots and automation. The forum also featured the AdTech Showcase, focused on improving campaign effectiveness and ROI, as well as an announcement by FoxPush about the opening of their Dubai office to serve as their customer service regional Hub.

On the same day, the Digital Commerce forum explored the emerging trends and opportunities in ecommerce, e-tail and payments in MENA. It also dived into the digital transformations taking place in the banking sector, and the fintech innovations that are changing the financial services industry.

The ArabNet Digital Summit continues for another day, featuring its Smart Economy Forum, Innovation & Investment Forum, roundtable 2 of the Digital Policy Forum ‘Fostering Digitization and the Smart Economy’, as well as the Regional Startup Championship and Smartpreneur competitions.