By Shunli Wang, Vice President of Huawei Middle East
Increased investment in the digital economy, cybersecurity and advanced technologies has set the Middle East on an accelerated path toward knowledge-based economies. A recent report by the World Bank indicates that fully digitalizing the MENA economy could lead to a rise in GDP per capita of at least 46% over 30 years, or at least $1.6 trillion in long-term gain. The report estimates that the region's GDP per capita gain would be almost $300 billion during the first year.
Innovations in 5G, cloud, AI and other 4IR fields are driving this shift. The Middle East is ahead of many other regions in this respect. Because of the fast roll-out of 5G, some regional countries are a reference point for how technology can help to advance the development of all industries, especially when integrated with technologies such as cloud and AI. Now the region stands to be among the first beneficiaries of the next evolution in connectivity, 5.5G. Huawei first proposed 5.5G in 2020 and F5.5G (or fixed 5.5G) earlier this year. Since then, the industry has been simmering with new ideas and best practices. 5.5G will deepen the region's digital and intelligent transformation and upgrade network capabilities.
Cloud is key to unlocking this digital world and is the foundational technology for other 4IR technologies such as IoT, AI, blockchain and more. Huawei's new cloud strategy, Everything-as-a-Service (XaaS), envisions a future where all devices, sensors, and all things will be connected, and all infrastructure and applications will be cloud-based. Huawei believes all applications we can run on the cloud should be migrated to the cloud. Additionally, we need to embrace AI and let data play its part in supporting operational decision-making. When facing the intelligent world, the right strategy should be all-digital, all-cloud, AI-driven, and everything as a service, including Infrastructure as a Service, Technology as a Service and Expertise as a Service. An XaaS strategy incorporated into industry solutions in four dimensions – government and enterprise, public cloud, partner cloud and the ecosystem – will bring unprecedented change to all of society.
Applying these innovations at scale in campuses and cities will help bring digital to every person and enterprise. More specifically, emerging ICT technologies, such as cloud computing, IoT, big data, and AI, address challenges to traditional campuses, such as low efficiency, poor service experience, energy waste, and high operational costs. Additionally, Smart City technologies enable smart governance, improve public wellbeing, and support smart industry development. Huawei Smart Campus Solution implements digital transformation of campuses, fuels innovative industry development, and enhances service experience. For cities, Huawei applies Smart City best practices and more than 30 years of experience in the ICT industry to overcome technical and operational barriers and help city managers improve service quality and efficiency.
While we unlock the digital economy, we must ensure progress does not come at the expense of our environment. In fact, technology is key to accelerating the region's sustainability goals. A recent World Economic Forum survey revealed that 40% of top business leaders believe digital technologies are already positively impacting their sustainability goals. To help accelerate decarbonization goals, Huawei's latest digital power innovations enable partners to slash the carbon footprint of an increasingly energy-hungry world, which can revolutionize nature conservation and address climate change. The integration of digital technologies and power electronics technologies powers clean energy development and energy digitalization.
However, a fully digital Middle East is only possible with an effective talent development pathway. While regional universities have expanded their ICT offerings, the demand for ICT skills is growing exponentially while new technologies are emerging daily. Therefore, enabling solid capacity-building for the youth in ICT is a prerequisite in today's digital world, as is upgrading and upskilling for experienced hires or anyone considering a mid-career switch.
As a leading global ICT solution provider, Huawei advocates for an open and shared ICT talent ecosystem that benefits all parties, and we will continue to invest in ICT talent development in the region. Through our Seeds for the Future CSR initiative, Huawei ICT Competition, Huawei Innovation Competition, Joint Innovations Centers and joint labs with universities, government authorities and many others, we promote collaborations between public and private sector entities, educators and technology companies to develop talent. In the Middle East, Huawei has set up 163 Huawei ICT Academies, and more than 3,500 students have participated in the global flagship program Seeds for the Future, while over 37,000 students have obtained Huawei certification. Overall, we have trained over 120,000 ICT talents for the Middle East.
As a long-term ICT partner to Middle East enterprises, SMEs, carriers and the government, Huawei is aligned with these regional initiatives. With our largest-ever participation at GITEX GLOBAL 2022, where Huawei is the Diamond sponsor, we are reaffirming our continued commitment to the region. Under the theme of "Unleash Digital," Huawei will showcase the newest end-to-end products, solutions and advanced ICT technologies focusing on 5.5G, cloud, AI, digital power, cybersecurity and industry applications designed to meet the needs of various industry scenarios and sectors. These include government, utilities, oil and gas, transportation and finance, all of which help address the government’s national digital transformation goals.
Two other events parallel GITEX in adding new value to the regional ecosystem. Huawei Innovation Day returns for the third year under the theme of "Collaboration to Unleash Innovation for Sustainable Digital Future" in collaboration with the Arab ICT Organization (AICTO), where leading regional and global experts in government, academia, regulators, industry analysts as well as Huawei's senior leadership team will share their expertise and knowledge over keynote speeches and panel discussions. Meanwhile, the Huawei Connect series of global events will be held in Dubai for the first time, where Huawei will discuss the direction industry digitalization is taking, the opportunities that brings and how technologies like the cloud, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and 5G are already being applied in the real world, uncovering new value across all industries.
Our ultimate target is to build a comprehensive ecosystem for open collaboration and shared success, and we look forward to exploring this further with our customers and partners during GITEX and beyond. Huawei remains committed to bringing technological advances to even more industries and creating new value by helping governments and enterprises go digital while operating more intelligently and achieving sustainability.
