GITEX Technology Week and GITEX Future Stars, brought together a world-class gathering of industry innovators, government leaders, technology creators, and future-forward thinkers at Dubai World Trade Centre. With a spotlight on frontier technology that will transform corporations into global powerhouses, visitors experienced the latest in blockchain, artificial intelligence, robotics, and the Internet of Things at the 37th GITEX Technology Week.
In a regional first, Dr Werner Vogels anchored the event with a keynote on day one that focused on how Amazon has scaled growth to transform from a bookstore, to one of the world’s fastest growing enterprise IT providers. This disruptive company is on-track to achieve a market capitalisation of US$1 trillion, by 2027.
Building on its unprecedented success last year, GITEX Future Stars has seen a 65 percent increase in participating innovators this year. Startups at GITEX Future Stars are on the cutting-edge of the technology development field, with water-powered flying taxis, avatars that can translate speech into sign language, and smart palm trees designed to boost public WiFi access, as only a few of the many innovations on showcase at the event.
Throughout the week, GITEX Future Stars provided providing innovators with once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to accelerate their products and startups with access to AED 1.2 million in cash and prizes through competitions that are running over the course of the week. Startup hopefuls have also been able to engage with startup success stories, investors and fellow entrepreneurs at fireside chats, workshops and challenges.
GITEX Technology Week 2017 is the most ‘global’ to-date, attracting over 4,100 exhibitors from over 70 countries, and with businesses from Finland, Georgia, Guatemala and Syria making their debut this year. Spread over 1.4 million sq. ft., this year’s welcomed over 100,000 visitors, with country delegations including China, Nigeria, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Bahrain, Oman, KSA and UAE.
“Our ambition for the 37th edition of GITEX Technology Week, and the second year of GITEX Future Stars, has been to create a holistic innovation ecosystem with a focus on enabling the future of technology. The technologies on display at our show, have unlocked opportunities for the businesses of tomorrow. We are delighted to host partners, visitors, investors, and disruptors, from the UAE and around the world, who are leveraging innovation to achieve first-mover success,” said Trixie LohMirmand, Senior Vice President, Events Management, Dubai World Trade Centre, organisers of GITEX Technology Week.
Emerging technology were on show throughout the week, from startups that are testing the boundaries of technology, to multinational firms unveiling their latest equipment and technology solutions. Artificial intelligence, AR/VR, robotics and other frontier technologies have also taken centre stage throughout the week.
“Artificial Intelligence has evolved to a stage where it can offer simple solutions to sophisticated problems. Today, AI is being used in a myriad of ways across diverse industries like automotive, manufacturing and even retail—a development that was unfathomable a few years ago. We expect AI to take an increasingly central role in many organization’s digital presence – companies must therefore embrace this technology, and their competency in this discipline, seriously,” explained Mike Sutcliff, Group Chief Executive of Accenture Digital.
GITEX Technology Week’s Vertical Days Conferences featured over 126 speakers throughout the course of the week, across 230 individual sessions. These global experts are from eight key industry verticals that cover health, retail, smart cities, finance, transport, logistics, education and digital marketing.
GITEX Technology Week and GITEX Future Stars 2017 took place from 8th October until 12 October 2017 at the Dubai World Trade Centre.