Huawei hosts ICT industry leaders

KUWAIT: Huawei Technologies Kuwait, a leading global Information and Communication Technology solutions provider, held Kuwait Huawei Day, a high level forum under the theme 'Leading New ICT: The Road to Digital Transformation' aiming to raise awareness of the role of ICT in driving digital transformation across a number of key industries and showcase Huawei's latest solutions.

Huawei dedicated the day to showcasing the role of innovation, exploration, and openness in creating advanced knowledge-based economies, in line with Kuwait's national development agenda. Industry partners and business experts joined forces to discuss Kuwait's digitization strategy, trends and the future of the ICT sector, innovative solutions for Smart and Safe Cities, Agile Network, Cloud Datacenter, the future of IoT, and best practices for digital transformation in the government and Oil & Gas sector.

Commenting on Kuwait Huawei Day, Trevor Liu, Huawei Kuwait CEO said: "Digital transformation is a government priority and we remain committed to working with government authorities to drive this forward, in collaboration with our partners. Digitization will bring exciting opportunities, as well as new challenges, to all industries and will create new impetus for sustainable growth and enhanced efficiency. Public safety, banking, Oil & Gas, education, government and others are all beginning to feel the full effects of what it means to be better connected and smart, so we must continue to harness the power of emerging technologies. Platforms such as these are imperative to unfold areas of potential partnerships to achieve shared successes.''

The event also served as a platform to announce the winners of Huawei's coveted ICT Skill Competition, a global nation-wide championship launched for the very first time in Kuwait this year, in strategic partnership with KDIPA. Aimed at increasing the digital fluency of the young technological leaders of tomorrow, the ICT competition enables Kuwait's finest ICT talent to learn about the latest technology innovations and compete globally. Zainab Al Baqsamiof Kuwait University, Saad Al Sheetanand Khaled Al-Metairiof American University of Middle East are the Kuwait's finalists who will now compete in the global championship that takes place at Huawei's Headquarters in Shenzhen, China between 23 to 27 December 2017.

Winners of the Kuwait Finals will also be granted traineeship or employment opportunities with Huawei, as part of its Enterprise Business Group, where they will be exposed to a combination of innovative technologies, including cloud computing, Software-Defined Networking (SDN), Big Data, and Internet of Things (IoT) and interact with ICT experts from different industries such as government, oil & gas and banking. All competition winners will be rewarded with Huawei's latest laptops and smartphones.

Kuwait Huawei Day, that took place at Four Seasons Hotel in Kuwait City, brought together senior government officials, industry leaders, business experts, foreign dignitaries and media representatives, including: Mohammed Yacoub, Assistant Director General for Business Development, KDIPA; Qusai Al-Shatti, Acting Director, Central Agency for Information Technology (CAIT);AbdulkarimTaqi, Acting General Manager, Public Authority for Industry; Abdulaziz Alduaij, Manager - Information Technology, Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC), Alaa Ali AliElshimy, Managing Director and Vice President, Huawei Enterprise Business, Middle East Region; Sanjay Kumar Sainani, Vice President, Data Center Solution, Huawei Middle East Region; Hazem Mahmoud Mostafa Bazan, VP Channels & Commercial Sales, Enterprise Business, Huawei Middle East Region; and Trevor Liu, CEO Huawei Kuwait.

The event is a first of a series as Huawei remains committed to encouraging further dialogue with industry partners and government stakeholders about the crucial role of ICT in securing economic growth through advancement of critical industries with the ultimate goal of to enriching societies and achieving Kuwait's vision of becoming a Smart City.