His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, was provided with a strategic update of the future plans of Dubai Internet City (DIC) during his visit to the ICT cluster’s pavilion at GITEX Technology Week 2008.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed was accompanied by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Executive Council, along with senior ministers and high-ranking officials.

Malek Sultan Al Malek, Executive Director of Dubai Internet City, highlighted DIC’s focus on attracting new Business Partners while helping drive the growth of its existing clientele.

During his visit, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed was escorted to the booths of Google and DIC’s sister entity SmartCity on the DIC stand, where both partners highlighted their recent achievements.

Dubai Internet City marked a strong presence at GITEX Technology Week 2008, generating an overwhelming response from industry peers, trade visitors, and the media, with DIC’s Business Partners reporting significant business leads from the event.  

As part of its continued commitment to the ICT sector’s growth in the region, DIC sponsored the ACN Arab Technology Awards on 20 October, recognizing Sun Microsystems as Best Enterprise Vendor and the National Bank of Abu Dhabi as Best CIO of the Year.

It was a proud moment when Dubai Holding walked away with the coveted IT Department of the Year Award, and DIC’s sister entity eHosting Datafort (EHDF) won the prestigious award for Best Service Provider of the Year.

As pioneers of major initiatives and projects for nearly a decade, Dubai Internet City has continuously played a vital role in driving the growth of the region’s ICT industry. The cluster recently commissioned the region’s first ever ICT White Paper study to analyse the immense opportunities that lie in the IT service market for small and medium sized enterprises (SME) in the region today, especially in the hardware and packaged software segments.

Titled ’The IT Market - A Middle East Perspective: An Overview of Business Opportunities for Innovative New Companies’, the White Paper will be officially launched on 22 October at the Westin Dubai Mina Seyahi Beach Resort & Marina.

As part of its commitment to aiding small and medium businesses (SMB), Dubai Internet City also hosted a series of workshops at its stand in GITEX 2008 on the role of venture capital in the ICT sector.