Under the aegis of Prince Dr. Turki Bin Saud Al Saud, president of KACST, a ministerial panel with key ministries and dignitaries entitled "Vision 2030: Moving the Kingdom Towards the Knowledge Economy" is to be held in the 4th edition of the exclusive ArabNet Riyadh 2015 on Dec. 14-16. The distinguished panel will be preceded by a keynote by Prince Dr. Turki, followed by a keynote speech by STC Group CEO Dr. Khaled H. Biyari. The event features distinguished high-caliber individuals, ranging from ministers and decision makers to business leaders and market experts. Over 30 key talks and sessions are planned for the Kingdom's largest and most exclusive digital gathering to date, discussing Saudi and global e-Business (mobile banking, online travel), Digital Media, Digital Islamic economy, Native advertising, Entrepreneurship and investments in the technology. ArabNet Riyadh 2015 will feature over 1,000 participants, 80 speakers, and 50 exhibitors from Saudi Arabia, the region and the world. For the fourth consecutive year, ArabNet Riyadh tackles the needs and interests of the Saudi market in-depth, answering to the increasing regional and international demand to take part in one of the largest markets in the Middle East. "You cannot win in the MENA region without winning in KSA", states ArabNet CEO, Omar Christidis. A pre-event conference workshop day, the Design and Code Day, boasts more than 15 workshop hours and is dedicated to designers and developers. Four competitions, the StartUp Demo, the Ideathon, Battle of the Games and Lightning Talks will also take place with promising innovators, entrepreneurs and game developers. 50 exhibitors, including STC, Inspire U, Digital Media Services (Choueiri Group), KAUST, Uturn, Talabat.com, Nabad, Souq.com and many more, will be part of The TechFair boasting 1,200m? of corporate display and B2B meetings in the hundreds. 80 key speakers will be coming from around the world, including Ben Maher (executive director of advertising EMEA at Mashable), Benjamin Ampen (head of revenue MENA, Twitter), Nikolas Woischnik (business development EMEA, Amazon Web Services), Alex Morriss (director of affiliate partnerships EMAF, Expedia) and Dominique Corradi (MENA Digital FS Leader Middle East, Ernst & Young) amongst many others. The MatchUp is an exclusive, invitation-only initiative to facilitate connections between business executives and ArabNet competition finalists and runners-up. Women Mentoring Women is another initiative designed to engage female attendees with regional and international women leaders. ArabNet will be launching the second ArabNet Business Intelligence Report on the state of investment in the region. This report has aggregated over 400 investments taking place in the region in the past three years, into the most comprehensive data report about investing in tech startups in the Middle East: The Arab Investment Report will be launched during the event. Omar Christidis highlighted the fact that "The data is essential to anyone wishing to understand and invest in the Middle Eastern tech industry." ArabNet is the hub for Arab digital professionals and entrepreneurs, creating online and offline platforms for them to connect and learn. ArabNet's vision is to grow the web and mobile sectors in the Arab region. It also aims to build business bridges across the MENA, stimulate the growth of the Arab knowledge economy, and support the creation of new businesses and job opportunities for youth through conferences, partnerships, and competitions.
