The Second Abu Dhabi Innovation Forum, presented by Abu Dhabi University and Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development, highlighted the importance of free zone areas toward a knowledge-based economy during its last day held at Fairmont Bab Al Bahar.

According to Dr. Ayoub Kazim, Managing Director, Education Cluster of TECOM Investments and one of the speakers at the forum, free zones should move from being a real estate provider into a value-added real estate provider. Free Zones should innovate and create an augmented layer of value-added services to the existing free zone value proposition to be ahead of the high competition in free zones locally and regionally.

In his presentation, ’An Innovative Approach for Dubai Knowledge Village’s (DKV) Free Zone Positioning’, Dr. Kazim presented the innovative approach which DKV has employed to differentiate it from competition and to be positioned as the regional hub in HRM sector. Among the platforms launched were the TECOM SME Builder, and TECOM Sustainability & Support Center.

DKV also has joint-research ventures with its business partners. Currently, DKV has projects that include Business Leadership in the UAE, Best Employer, CEO Mobility, RFID Awareness & Demand, The EQ Survey, Keeping your customers when it matters, and Executive Education in the gulf region.

The forum also presented Wayne Borg, Chief Operating Officer, twofour54, who talked about driving innovation in the media sector; Brendan Rauw, Senior Technology Portfolio Manager, Technology Transfer & Innovatin, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia, who focused on open innovation networks for economic development; and Ashish Tomas, Strategy & Innovation Specialist, Wolff Olins; who discussed whether innovation is skin deep or structural.

Meanwhile, case studies were presented by Dr. Wissam Rabadi, Executive Director, iPark Technology Incubator, El Hassan Science City, who talked about technology incubators as a catalyst for Middle East development; Salim Abdo, Managing Partner and owner, Green Power Generation s.a.r.i., who presented new thinking in energy using green power innovation, and Mohammed Abedin, Founder, FooDog, who discussed innovation for local youth. A workshop was also conducted by Innovabia.

The Second Abu Dhabi Innovation Forum, organised by Aim Events, the events management group of ADU, was held in association with the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA). The forum was also sponsored by Microsoft and Dubai Knowledge Village and the SME Advisor Middle East as the media partner. For more information, please visit www.innovation-abudhabi.com.
 

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