Deloitte joins ICT government and industry leaders to discuss GCC digital maturity at “Huawei Middle East Innovation Day”

Dubai, November 5, 2017 – Leading government and subject matter experts recently gathered in Dubai to address prescient regional issues on digital transformation at Huawei’s second annual Middle East Innovation Day. The leading global ICT solutions provider’s Middle East edition of the global event was themed “Exploration, Lights the Way Forward”, and hosted a high-profile panel of international and regional government and industry representatives.

The event featured several keynote speakers, as well as a panel that included leaders and experts from Dubai Municipality, Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona, GSMA, Dubai Airports, Higher Colleges of Technology and Huawei Middle East. Their discussion focused on role of ICT innovations, openness and perseverance in driving digital transformation and building sustainable knowledge-based economies in the region. The panel also addressed some of the continued challenges and best practices from across the world to address them.

One of Huawei ME Innovation Day key activities was the launch of an insightful new research report titled, “National Transformation in the Middle East – A Digital Journey.” The joint Huawei-Deloitte white paper assesses the digital transformation initiatives being undertaken by government entities in the GCC region in the context of global trends.

The findings of the report estimate that every 20 percent increase in ICT investment results in an over 1 percent growth in a country’s GDP, and that while Middle East government entities are expected to spend close to 15bn USD in 2017 in digital transformation-enabling technologies, even the most advanced countries in the region lag behind other developed economies in digital development.

The paper deep dives into six key themes that are considered of high priority to local policymakers whilst providing global experiences for successfully undertaking digital transformation across these themes. It also provides a roadmap and recommendations for regional governments to effectively overcome the continued challenges faced in the pursuit of digital transformation.

“While there is intense interest and dedication to digital transformation across the GCC, on average, the region still lags behind other developed economies when it comes to digital government. Nonetheless, we are excited by the substantial focus national visions and agendas have put on ICT innovation in the coming years,” said Emmanuel Durou, Partner and Leader for TMT in Deloitte Middle East. “Digital technologies represent an unprecedented opportunity for the public sector across the Middle East to reinvent itself. Through the convergence of technologies like social apps, mobile tech, big data analytics and cloud infrastructure, we see an intense expansion of the digital ecosystem in the coming years.”

“Huawei’s ME Innovation Day was created so that we can bring together experts from across the region and the world to discuss the drivers and challenges around ICT innovation in the Middle East,” said Safder Nazir, Vice President, Digital Industries, Huawei Middle East. “This drive is typified by the research paper we co-generated with our partners Deloitte. Our findings illustrate some of the continuing challenges with digitalization in the region, but also offer hopeful recommendations, identifying the opportunities for developing next generation healthcare, smart government, smart cities, smart tourism, fully automated urban travel, and the classrooms of the future.  We will continue to do our part, along with our partners, both local and global, to contribute to the GCC’s digital transformation journey.”

Other highlights of the event included a keynote speech by HE Dr. Mohammed A. Al Amer, Chairman of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority Bahrain, who brought into light the role government policies serve as key drivers of digital transformation by leveraging their regulatory power in collaboration with the private sector ICT innovation. Ugo Valenti CEO of Smart City Expo World Congress served as the event’s international speaker, highlighting exciting examples of the success of collaborative ICT projects on developing safe, integrated, digitally innovative cities.

Huawei ME Innovation Day is part of a global initiative to address pioneering issues in the world of ICT. The Middle East version continues to be an industry communications platform, accelerate the digitization process and position the Middle East as leading hub of global exploration.

About Huawei

Huawei is a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider. Our aim is to enrich life and improve efficiency through a better connected world, acting as a responsible corporate citizen, innovative enabler for the information society, and collaborative contributor to the industry. Driven by customer-centric innovation and open partnerships, Huawei has established an end-to-end ICT solutions portfolio that gives customers competitive advantages in telecom and enterprise networks, devices and cloud computing. Huawei's 170,000 employees worldwide are committed to creating maximum value for telecom operators, enterprises, and consumers. Our innovative ICT solutions, products, and services are used in more than 170 countries and regions, serving over one-third of the world's population. Founded in 1987, Huawei is a private company fully owned by its employees.

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About Deloitte & Touche (M.E.):

Deloitte & Touche (M.E.) is a member firm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (DTTL) and is a leading professional services firm established in the Middle East region with uninterrupted presence since 1926. DTME’s presence in the Middle East region is established through its affiliated independent legal entities which are licensed to operate and to provide services under the applicable laws and regulations of the relevant country. DTME’s affiliates and related entities cannot oblige each other and/or DTME, and when providing services, each affiliate and related entity engages directly and independently with its own clients and shall only be liable only for its own acts or omissions and not those of any other affiliate.

Deloitte provides audit, tax, consulting, financial advisory and risk advisory services through 25 offices in 14 countries with more than 3,300 partners, directors and staff. It is a Tier 1 Tax advisor in the GCC region since 2010 (according to the International Tax Review World Tax Rankings). It has also received numerous awards in the last few years which include best Advisory and Consultancy Firm of the Year 2016 in the CFO Middle East awards, best employer in the Middle East, the Middle East Training & Development Excellence Award by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), as well as the best CSR integrated organization.

The information contained in this press release is correct at the time of going to press.