Top ministers and decision makers are set to meet at Saudi Arabia's largest and most exclusive digital gathering to-date next week in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

 

ArabNet Riyadh 2015 will run from December 14 to 16 at the Four Seasons Hotel Riyadh.

 

Under the patronage of Prince Dr Turki Bin Saud Al Saud, president of KACST, a ministerial panel with key ministries and dignitaries will take place entitled 'Vision 2030: Moving the Kingdom Towards the Knowledge Economy.' 

 

The distinguished panel will be preceded by a keynote by Prince Dr Turki bin Saud Al Saud, president of KACST followed by a keynote speech by STC Group chief executive officer Dr Khaled H Biyari.

 

The event will feature distinguished high-calibre individuals, ranging from ministers and decision makers to business leaders and market experts. 

 

More than 30 key talks and sessions have been planned for the kingdom’s largest and most exclusive digital gathering to date, discussing Saudi and global e-business (mobile banking, online travel), digital media, digital Islamic economy, native advertising, entrepreneurship and investments in the technology.

 

ArabNet Riyadh 2015 will feature more than 1,000 participants, 80 speakers, and 50 exhibitors from Saudi Arabia, the region and the world. 

 

It will tackle the needs and interests of the Saudi market in-depth, answering to the increasing regional and international demand to take part in one of the largest markets in the Middle East. 

 

Omar Christidis, Arabnet's chief executive officer, said: “You cannot win in the MENA region without winning in Saudi Arabia.”

 

A pre-event conference workshop day, the Design and Code Day, will boast more than 15 workshop hours and will be dedicated to designers and developers.

 

The event will feature four competitions, the StartUp Demo, the Ideathon, Battle of the Games and Lightning Talks, which will also take place with promising innovators, entrepreneurs and game developers.

 

More than 50 exhibitors, including STC, Inspire U, Digital Media Services (Choueiri Group), KAUST, Uturn, Talabat.com, Nabad, Souq.com and many more, will be part of The TechFair boasting 1,200-sq-m of corporate display and business-to-business (B2B) meetings in the hundreds.

 

The MatchUp will be an exclusive, invitation-only initiative to facilitate connections between business executives and ArabNet competition finalists and runners-up. Women Mentoring Women is another initiative designed to engage female attendees with regional and international women leaders.

 

Meanwhile, ArabNet will be launching the second ArabNet Business Intelligence Report on the state of investment in the region. This report has aggregated more than 400 investments taking place in the region in the past three years, into the most comprehensive data report about investing in tech startups in the Middle East: The Arab Investment Report will be launched during the event. 

 

Christidis highlighted the fact that 'the data is essential to anyone wishing to understand and invest in the Middle Eastern tech industry.' - TradeArabia News Service