Young Arab Leaders workshop seeks to find ways to leverage the networked economy

One was the extension of Injaz initiative that is already present in ten Arab countries and is expected to be announced in the UAE shortly.

Injaz is a non-formal system of education that starts at Grade 8 level and continues till the student leaves University. It builds capabilities and entrepreneurial and leadership skills in the student and prepares him for the job market, under a strong government-private sector partnership model.

The second model that came under discussion was creating a venture capital to provide funding to ICT ideas, while the third initiative dealt with R&D Innovation.

Participants pointed out that Intel and Google began as student initiatives that resulted in the huge commercial success.

'The Informatuion & Communication Technologies Workshop: Creating the Most out of a Networked Economy' was led by Mrs. Nadia Saeed, Former Minister of Information and Communication Technology of Jordan.

The workshop dealt with the issue that despite recent progress, Arab governments and corporations must do more to leverage the benefits of the networked economy.

Questions that were raised included, 'Where does the Arab World stand in global networked economy and where are the biggest regional opportunities? How should governments and private sector split responsibilities to position the Arab World as an ICT Global Leader and how could YAL act as a channel for inducing best practices?