Under the patronage of the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB), BBK has inaugurated the Digital Economy Forum & Expo 2020, in collaboration with the Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance (BIBF) as a Knowledge Partner.
The forum focused on investigating how the economy can benefit from the growth potential of the digital revolution of today, and its impact on the national economy: not just through survival, but further development and progress.
Under the theme “Transforming Businesses & Society through Digitisation”, more than 500 senior representatives from various sectors participated to unlock the potential of Bahrain’s digital economy and address the opportunities of digital transformation in the Kingdom.
Opening the event with keynotes were Jeremy White, Executive Editor at WIRED Magazine (UK) providing a glimpse of the future technologies used to propagate economies; meanwhile, H.E. Mohammed Ali AlQaed, Chief Executive of the Information & eGovernment Authority highlighting the achievements of the government in the Cloud-First policy.
The forum also presented a ministerial panel on the current state of the digital economy in Bahrain and the future potential that can be realized to enhance businesses, featuring H.E. Engineer Kamal Bin Ahmed, Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications and H.E. Mr. Zayed R. Alzayani, Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism.
Featuring some of the brightest minds and respected industry leaders from around the world, the forum discussed how the national economy is affected by the major pillars of digital transformation within the forum’s six tracks: Leadership & Culture, Innovation, Customer Experience, Jobs of the Future, Women in Technology, and Startups.
The forum also highlighted various sectors that have a direct impact on the economy, some that include but are not limited to Health, Banking, Financial Services, Government, Education, Oil & Gas, Telecom and Architecture.
The forum presented panel discussions focusing on trending topics that address the opportunities digital can bring to develop and improve the national economy.
The Governor of the Central Bank of Bahrain H.E. Rasheed Mohamed Al Maraj stated, “The Kingdom of Bahrain has recently rolled out regulations that support the Kingdom’s digital transformation including a Personal Data Protection Law. Our role as regulators is to inspire, lead and overcome challenges to innovation, and to foster the growth of the digital economy and FinTech ecosystem in Bahrain.”
Chairman of BBK, Mr. Murad Ali Murad shared his perspective by saying, “BBK is known for its leadership in deploying technology-enabled services and in retaining that position, understanding how imperative it is to have a digital environment that supports innovative, customizable and rapidly deployed products based on trending topics in the digital field with the aim of enhancing customer experience. It is a way of life for us at BBK to continuously enhance products and other functionalities to further contribute towards the digital transformation journey in the Kingdom of Bahrain.”
On this occasion, BBK Group Chief Executive, Mr. Reyadh Yousif Sater stated, “We are very pleased to launch this prestigious forum with the participation of a number of high-profile figures, reflecting the strong belief in the importance of a digital economy in optimizing processes and production, reducing transaction costs, and transforming supply chains and presenting new opportunities for entrepreneurship and job creation.” He also added, “The backbone of the digital economy is hyper-connectivity which means growing interconnectedness of people, organizations, and machines that results from transactions run over the Internet and mobile technology.”
On his part, the BIBF Director, Dr. Ahmed Al Shaikh said, “In light of technological evolution, the Kingdom of Bahrain is progressing towards the transformation of a digital economy, and it is now vital to emphasize how the entire economy can benefit from digital transformation, as it can have significant competitiveness and productivity-boosting opportunities related to access to digital products and services.”
Alongside the main event, an international expo was also held to showcase digital applications & solutions by international providers from various sectors. For more information, please visit the event website: bbkdigitaleconomy.bibf.com.