The Qatar Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC) concluded its virtual forum on “New Technologies and Digital Transformation”, organized by MoTC’s Digital Industry Department in cooperation with the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA).
The event which attracted over 240 attendees, highlighted the role of the new technologies, especially artificial intelligence (AI), in accelerating the digital transformation in the country. Further, the forum discussed the concepts, challenges, socioeconomic impact of digital transformation as well as the best regional and global practices for developing relevant plans and policies.
The forum which was conducted in three sessions concentrated on areas including digital transformation, AI application cases in Qatar and the digitization of small and medium-sized enterprises in the Arab region.
Reem Mohammed Al Mansoori Assistant Undersecretary Digital Society Development MoTC
“The world is living in the era of digital transformation where brand-new technology trends are grabbing headlines such as machine learning, IoT and big data and one of those key technologies is artificial intelligence, which is becoming one of the most powerful drivers of digital transformation. AI is helping in transforming businesses in almost all industries and when it comes to SMEs, it helps to increase business efficiency, save time and effort, increase productivity and improve customer experience.”
Over the past three years, MoTC has made significant efforts in digitally transforming the SMEs and the program developed for it has offered more than 400 workshops to over 8000 enterprises in various sectors with an aim to increase the awareness of using, adopting and benefiting from the potentials of digital technology.
The Regional Advisor on Technology for Development at UN-ESCWA, Dr. Mohamed Nawar Al Awa, stated that digital platforms have become a major pillar in administrative and institutional work with their ability to reach out to the society and to reduce bureaucracy and corruption.
The forum also explained the new initiative developed by ESCWA and its Center of Entrepreneurship for digitizing SMEs which aims to create awareness and support regional innovations.
In addition to Dr. Al Awa, the forum also featured key local and international speakers including Kareem Hassan, Executive Director of ESCWA Technology Center and representatives from MoTC and TASMU Smart Qatar Program.
