With the participation of 11 countries, Smart Cities Summit concluded yesterday

29 March 2017

Under the patronage of H.E. Sheikh Al Fadhil Bin Mohammed Al Harthy, Secretary General of the Council of Ministers, the first edition of Smart Cities Summit was launched on Tuesday at Oman Convention and Exhibition Center in the presence of a number of excellences, high officials and diplomats.

The summit was attended by delegations from Dubai, Qatar, The Republic of Korea, KSA, USA, Belgium, Singapore and India that have different experiences in information technology, telecommunication, infrastructure, real estate and manufacturing.  

The Sultanate is hosting the Smart Cities Summit through a joint strategy sponsored by ITA, Oman Broadband Company, Omran Company, the Smart Cities Council- as a supporting partner- and the Fiber Optic Board for homes in the Middle East and North Africa region, as an associate organization. The summit was characterized by the attendance of some speakers, leaders and experts from more than 25 countries who presented a number of case studies from different parts of the world. The scope of the studies covered namely Sweden, UK, Siri Lank, Lebanon, Oman, Bahrain, UAE and KSA. 

The first day of the summit commenced by two main speakers who talked about the global and regional vision of smart cities and touched upon the different ways leading to the construction of successful smart cities, the initiatives that promote smart capabilities in the Sultanate and the major role of communication operators in implementing smart cities vision.  The first day was concluded by a session entitled “Smart Cities Preparedness Guide” and reviewed the benefits offered to consumers. 

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The second day of the conference contained a session presided over by chief executive officers who discussed the concept of smart cities and the major role of the national digital vision in boosting economy. The second session explored the regional vision of infrastructure and its significance to information technology and telecommunication in smart cities as platforms for innovation, and the main benefits that could be gained by smart cities. This session was concluded by a discussion focused on specific aspects of smart cities and the digital vision.   

Commenting on the summit agenda, Mr. Tariq Ali, General Manager of Exhibitions at Oman Trade and Exhibitions Company, said, “The Smart Cities Summit seeks to commend the efforts and initiatives launched by the Sultanate years ago to establish modern internet and telecommunications infrastructure. It is the time for us to explore different opportunities that have economic feasibility when it comes to the economy of the country, provide new horizons for economic and public services to the public. In the presence of a group of speakers at this summit, we offered complete tools to know each other and have educational experience at the highest standards to build a strong foundation for future growth, which contributes to the creation of new trends that boost the economy and build new business opportunities. “

The summit was an opportunity for all participants to meet each other and discuss topics pertaining to smart cities. Leading smart cities companies offered recent global ideas and technologies for the conference participants and local business community in order to increase their knowledge by the summit discussions held in COMEX2017 at Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The summit was supported by a number of prominent supporters in the field of information technology and telecommunications such as Ooreedoo, as a diamond sponsor, Omantel and Oman Fiber Optic, as gold sponsors, and Mohsin Haider Darwish Company, as a silver sponsor. There were some entities taking part in the summit as exhibitors such as Tawasul, Integrated Smart Technologies, Spectral Link Business Solutions and Al Jissr Communications. 

-Ends-

About
ITA is a Public Authority created by Royal Degree 52/2006. ITA endeavours to consolidate and implement the Digital Oman strategy to transform the Sultanate of Oman into a knowledge-based economy for the achievement of social and economic benefits to Omani society. ITA’s vision is ‘Transforming Oman, Empowering You’. For more information, visit www.ita.gov.om or email to [email protected].  

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Sumaiya Humaid Al Kindi
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Information & Awareness Division
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© Press Release 2017