2nd Annual edition of Huawei Innovation Day discussed how collaboration can unleash innovation for a sustainable digital future in Middle East and Africa
Sustainable development, ICT talent cultivation and empowering women in technology was a key highlight of Huawei MEA Innovation Day 2022 Jawad Abbasi, Head of MENA, GSMA, highlighted how mobile connectivity and technology solutions can enable global savings of around 11 gigatonnes of carbon emissions by 203.
Pakistan (Muhammad Yasir) Huawei, a leading global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices, today held the second annual Huawei Innovation Day with customers, partners and technology experts from the Middle East and Africa. Held in parallel with GITEX GLOBAL 2022, the Huawei MEA Innovation Day 2022 was organized in partnership with the Arab ICT Organization (AICTO) under the theme of “Collaboration to Unleash Innovation for Sustainable Digital Future”. The annual event gathered the region’s government leaders from different sectors, industry analysts, ICT ecosystem partners and international standardization, and Huawei’s senior leadership team. Jeff Wang, Global President of Public Affairs and Communications Huawei, delivered the opening keynote speech to highlight Huawei’s commitment to supporting the MEA digital transformation and ICT sustainability future. “Today, we have heard from customers and partners from the Middle East and Africa who are leveraging our technologies to enable new business models, boost competitiveness and spur sustainable economic growth.” Wang said, adding, “We also heard amazing stories of how technology is being applied to solving some of the greatest challenges facing humanity such as climate change, energy transition, inclusion and women empowerment. Such outcomes inspire us to continue innovating to power a better future for all.” H.E. Eng. Mohamed Ben Amor, Secretary General of the Arab ICT Organization (AICTO), the event partner, delivered the keynote speech, highlighting the importance of collaboration between various regional stakeholders and global partners to build an integrated ICT ecosystem for a sustainable digital economy. “We are delighted with this collaboration with Huawei around an insightful topic increasingly becoming the keystone for sustainable technological development,” H.E Ben Amor stated, adding, “If “innovation” was always and will remain the engine of economic and social progress with a profound transformational impact on our lives, technological innovation will be, without any doubt, the compulsory way towards a better digital future. Therefore, we highly trust that technological innovation will help transform challenges into opportunities and shorten the path to achieving our common goals. This requires, in particular, a strong regional and international cooperation framework to strengthen national and regional innovation systems and models leading to innovative and sustainable technological initiatives.” Steven Yi, President of Huawei Middle East & Africa, added: “We are honored with the distinguished audience in our Innovation Day MEA 2022. Our mission remains to bring the broadest ICT ecosystem together to inspire change and deliver socioeconomic growth. We are hopeful the lessons we take from the event today will help bring us closer to an open, intelligent world that has been our mission from Day 1.” Additionally, various keynotes were also delivered by H.E. Zhang Yiming, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to UAE, H.E. Dr. Fadia Kiwan, Director General of Arab Women Organization, H.E. Dr. Khaled Wali, Director of the ICT Department at the League of Arab States, H.E. Eng. Mohamed Ben Amor, Secretary General of the Arab ICT Organization, , H.E. Dr. Mohammed Al-Ohali, President of KFU (King Faisal University) and Jawad Abbasi, Head of MENA, GSMA. From his side, Jawad Abbasi, Head of MENA, GSMA, said, “Mobile connectivity is bringing endless potential to all business sectors and also making possible partnerships between sectors. From automotive to aviation, education to entertainment, manufacturing to the metaverse, mobile connectivity has a massive enablement effect. In climate action, last year at COP26, the GSMA called on business leaders and policymakers to start using smart technology to achieve net zero by 2050, and limit global warming to 1.5C. For example, if four main sectors (energy, transport, buildings and manufacturing) expand their use of mobile technology solutions, this would enable global savings of around 11 gigatonnes of carbon emissions by 2030; equivalent to roughly 40% of the total required reduction!” .
