Huawei MENA Industrial Digital Transformation Summit 2021 hosted at Dubai

Huawei hosted public and private sector executives from around the Middle East and North Africa region during the Huawei MENA Industrial Digital Transformation Summit 2021, held in Dubai, UAE, with the theme “Dive into Digital,”

The summit explored how digital technology can better integrate with business scenarios and industry know-how to address critical business challenges and how stakeholders can work together more effectively to develop an open industry ecosystem for shared success.

Steven Yi, Supervisory Board Member & President for the Middle East and Africa Area, Huawei, gave a welcome speech at the summit and noted: “At Huawei, we believe deeply in the power of innovative solutions and strong cooperation with our customers and partners. We are confident that we can innovate to support the businesses of tomorrow and assist nations in achieving their national development visions.”

David Shi, President, Enterprise Business Group, Huawei Middle East, discussed how enterprises and governments can truly ‘Dive into Digital’ in practice and make digital transformation a reality. He said: “Digital transformation requires forward-looking willingness and determination, strategic planning, and the ability to facilitate the implementation of digital transformation in three areas: business transformation, digital capabilities and transformation partner alliances.”

Ahmad Yahya, Group CIO and COO, American Hospital Dubai, was also one of the key speakers at the summit, where he discussed how patient experience can be enhanced with digital healthcare transformation. Speaking at the summit, Yahya said, “The pandemic has resulted in an acceleration in digital transformation in all industries with healthcare being at the forefront. Patients demand choice and control over their care and Providers must ensure the patient experience is a focus by adopting these digital technologies. We have embarked on an ambitious digital transformation journey together with an ecosystem of technology partners like Huawei.”

Huawei thinks that there are significant prospects to enable digital transformation and build the future digital economy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The summit emphasized that the Middle East is a digital transformation leader and that digitalization in Africa is accelerating, with specific goals to reduce the digital infrastructure and connectivity gap.

Indeed, the summit takes place during a pivotal era in which digital transformation has exploded across all industries. More than 170 countries have included digitization in their national development objectives, indicating that turning digital is no longer a choice but rather a requirement.

Commenting on the acceleration of digital transformation in the MENA region, Jyoti Lalchandani, Group Vice President & Regional MD, Middle East, Turkey & Africa, IDC, noted that over 63% of CIOs in MENA have brought forward their digital roadmaps by one year or more, and organizations will need to spend more time delivering upon strategic mandates, and converged technology, data, and business ecosystems will be required to run the “digital enterprise” of the future.

It is an iterative process to enter the digital world. The focus has switched from whether or not to go digital to how to go digital as digital transformation has become an industry consensus. Huawei highlighted main areas of focus for digging into digital to enable enterprise clients to develop models, increase quality and efficiency, enhance the experience, and reinforce resilience.

Several Huawei top officials from the global and regional leadership teams spoke at the summit’s keynote sessions, in addition to industry analysts, customers, and partners. During the summit, themes such as digital government transformation, cloud for enterprises, cybersecurity best practices for a secure digital world, and technology solutions to accelerate digital transformation in the education sector were discussed in breakout sessions and roundtables. 

Huawei has long worked with partners and clients throughout the world at all phases of digital evolution to support their digital transformation fully, leveraging sophisticated ICT capabilities and years of industry experience. Huawei will continue to assist customers in increasing their distinctive value, making the strong stronger.

During GITEX Global 2021, Huawei showcased the expanding importance of digitalization to national economies from October 17 to 21. During this time, Huawei hosted a number of summits and events, including the Huawei MENA Industrial Digital Transformation Summit.