DCCI organizes a seminar on "Future Industries"

The seminar, which was organized by the DCCI in cooperation with Dubai Trade Point, was attended by Mr. Abdul Rahman Ghanem Al Mutaiwee, Director General of the DCCI, Mr. Nizar Sardast, DCCI's Advisor, Mr. Sultan Majid Lootah, Acting Director of Business Promotion Department in the DCCI, Mrs. Shamsah F. Zainal, Director of Dubai Trade Point, and more than 150 speakers, businessmen, industrialists, investors and owners of a number of industrial corporations operating in Dubai.

In his opening speech, Al Mutaiwee highlighted the importance of holding such economic seminars in the DCCI as one of the Chamber's value added services provided to its members due to its useful information through which the business community in Dubai could grasp and help them in improving their businesses and coping with the economic and industrial advances worldwide.

"Organizing such a significant seminar by the DCCI comes in the line with the Chamber's interest to focus on the importance of the industrial sector and its remarkable role in developing the UAE's national economy. The seminar aims at introducing the participants to the aspects of the future industries which could be established in Dubai and the importance industrial development through opening new opportunities for Dubai business community," said Al Mutaiwee.

He pointed out that the seminar helps highlighting the modern trends of future technologies in the light of the latest developments that occur worldwide, as well as the knowledge acquired through the commitment of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) to promote high technology.

"In the past few years, the industrial sector has emerged as one of the biggest sectors with high potential for development, as industry contributes by 14 % of Dubai's GDP and by 13 % of the UAE GDP," Al Mutaiwee added.

He said: "Our region has many advantages to become an active industrial center which could attract investments from all over the world. We have a huge number of customers in the region from the Indian Sub-continent to North Africa, in addition to that abundance of energy is one of the most important elements for establishing an active industrial sector."

Al Mutaiwee talked about the initiative taken by Dubai to establish the modern Dubai Industrial City (DIC) and its related hi-tech free zones as part of the strategic plan of the emirate to diversify economy and to accelerate the economic growth of the country. He added that the recent developments have caused radical changes in the industrial sector, as new technologies and globalization reduce the importance of various economics and allowed small and medium-sized enterprises to enlarge and compete in the world markets.

He noted that the industrial sectors may include renewable energy, manufacturing and installing devices, generating energy, energy efficiency, installation and maintenance of eco-friendly factories, recycling, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, computing and nanotechnology service industries.

"One of our main goals is to develop a better understanding of the ways in which the industry will evolve over the next decades and what are the most successful business strategies and models that could shape the future industries, as this seminar helped in answering all the questions raised in this concern," Al Mutaiwee added.

A number of the participating top industrialists and United Nations officials talked in the seminar about the concepts and aspects of future industries including Mr. Vladimir Kozharnovich, Program Manager of the Industrial Promotion and Technology Branch of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), who focused in his lecture on the importance of knowledge as the key to determining competitiveness in the 21st century which emphasizes the role of information, technology and learning in economic performance.

"Markets are becoming increasingly global and knowledge-intensive and that the industrial sectors are constantly being reshaped through these global forces and knowledge push, so we can base our competitive advantage on providing the best new products, processes and services in the world only by raising the knowledge capacity of our firms," said Kozharnovich.

He noted that the great challenge which the industrial sector faces will be the use of technology for growth and profitability. He added that businesses must become more responsive to radical advances depending on people who work with their brains instead of their hands. He indicated the emerging of a new economic idiom which is 'The New Economy' which relies on communications technology, innovation, investment and the rapid technological change.

"The new economy brings opportunities, but it also brings challenges to developing countries, and without technology, investment and innovation, they run the risk of becoming increasingly marginalized from the global markets," he added.

Mr. Christopher Curtis, from Fuel Cells Canada, conducted another presentation on some other aspects of future industries such as the use of hydrogen and fuel cells as modern sources of energy, followed by another presentation conducted by Mr. James Hamilton, from British Titanium, in which he spoke of the technology of manufacturing titanium.