Widely considered one of the Region's foremost Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and Information and Communications Technology Enabled Services (ICTES) industry events, the biennial MENA ICT Forum 2010 will be held in Jordan under the Patronage of His Majesty King Abdullah II, on October 10 and 11, 2010 at the Business Park in Amman. The Forum will present several keynote and panel speakers, who together with attendees, will tackle the MENA Region's most pertinent and pressing ICT concerns of today through a number of carefully planned and specialized sessions.

An ambitious and comprehensive one, this year's agenda boasts an array of topics that are crucial to opening the doors to the growth and advancement of the ICT and ICTES sectors in the Region. In addition to addressing such frequent topics as current global and regional ICT trends, mobile technologies and applications, MNCs and outsourcing opportunities in the MENA, and the Arabic content crisis, the Forum agenda contains additional new and high-priority topics. Through two dedicated sessions; "MENA Ecosystem, Entrepreneurship & Start-ups" and "MENA Ecosystem, Education", the Forum will discuss open ICT ecosystems, and the underlying factors to be aligned so as to facilitate such an efficient and robust ecosystem on a regional level, particularly with regards to education and entrepreneurship.

Through the session entitled MENA Ecosystem, Entrepreneurship & Start-ups, discussions will take place on the accessibility of ICT financing in the Region, the challenges that entrepreneurs and business seeking capital face, existing initiatives to promote financing of ICT and ICTES businesses, government interventions in this area, and what financing institutions, MNCs, and investors are doing to address the financing needs of ICT and ICTES in the Region.

In addition, the session will put forth recommendations on how to move forward and build connections and synergies between all relevant supporting institutions and expertise, and what can be done to make these key sectors in the Region more attractive to external funding.

The session will feature Mr. Fawaz Zu'bi, CEO, Accelerator Technologies Holdings (ATH); Mr. Habib Haddad, CEO, Yalla Startup; Mr. Karim Kawar, Angel Investor; Mr. Maher Kaddourah, VP and Managing Director, Meydan Jo; Mr. Moh'd Bariq Sirag, CEO, Malaz Capital; Mr. Laith Al Qasem, Chief of Party, SABEQ; and Ms. Deirdre M. Coyle, Co-Founder, AllWorld Network.

The MENA Ecosystem, Education session will focus on the convergence of education and technical skills as enablers of innovation and progressive ICT sectors throughout the Region. It will highlight the impact of government policies with regards to ICT in education, bringing together stakeholders from the private and public sectors, academia and civil society organizations, to address where the Region stands today in terms of ICT education, regional ICT education plans vis-à-vis national ICT policies and national education development objectives, the education sector planning process, and the restrictions faced by the sector, among other related issues.

The session will feature Mr. Jarrallah Al Ghamdi, Ministry of Education, KSA; Mr. Walid Tahabsem, President and CEO, Integrated Technology Group (ITG); Ms. Randa Ayoubi, CEO, Rubicon; Mr. Rich Goldman, VP and CEO, Synopsys; and Dr. Deidre Butler, Chairman, Microsoft's Partners in Learning International Advisory Council.

The Forum's specialized sessions have been titled and devised to allow for interaction, discussion, and debate, and provide an arena for global knowledge sharing. The Forum aims not only at sharing the collective knowledge and experience of global and regional experts and key industry players, but will also serve as a venue through which industry players can meet to work out productive partnerships that will lead to further growth, ensuring that the Region is in-line with the strategic directions of the global ICT industry.