King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), represented by Badir Program for technology incubators and accelerators has partnered with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for developing several innovation and entrepreneurship projects.
The agreement was signed by Turki bin Saud bin Mohammed Al-Saud, president of KACST, and Houlin Zhao, secretary-general of ITU. It was signed at the CITC headquarters in the presence of Abdullah Al-Swaha, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, and Dr Abdulaziz Al-Ruwais, Governor of Communications and Information Technology Commission.
Under the said cooperation agreement, Badir Program will chair and host the annual meetings of the Arab Technology incubators and Techno Parks Network in the Arab Region (ARTECNET) for three years from 2019 to 2021.
The programme is aimed at facilitating the exchange of ideas and visions on the most successful ways to promote the Arab incubator industry, the utilization of experiences, information and experiences to improve the performance of incubators and the setting of ambitious plans and programs to improve the performance and enhance the role of emerging companies in the Arab world.
Badir Program, in cooperation with ITU, will prepare and organise workshops and training programmes to facilitate the exchange of experiences and scientific and practical information between the Arab business incubators, the decision-makers and the related bodies; to raise awareness and enhance the role of small, emerging and innovative companies in ICT sector; to encourage the spread of digital innovations in the Arab region; and to launch a website for the project.
Turki bin Saud bin Mohammed Al-Saud applauded the efforts exerted by ITU to develop ICT entrepreneurship, stating that KACST aspires to build, in partnership with ITU, a digital environment embracing, developing and attracting the skilful minds in digital transformation and to contribute to the support of entrepreneurship to achieve economic sustainability, entrepreneurship and innovation at the Arab level.
“We will work to make this event an important milestone for overcoming the challenges faced by emerging companies in the Arab region. Moreover, it is also a real opportunity to meet and interact with the sector players to build and promote entrepreneurship in the Arab countries.”
