An initiative by	In partnership with	International partner	In collaboration with

Governmental Partner

Arab Startup Competition

Join us on March 29 in Hilton Habtoor Grand Hotel Beirut to celebrate 12 years of Innovation and Technology

Arab Startup Competition

Join us on March 29 in Hilton Habtoor Grand Hotel Beirut to celebrate 12 years of Innovation and Technology

Registration and Startups Exhibition

2.00 - 3.00 pm

Conference

3:00 - 6:00 pm

Welcome Remarks

3:00 - 3:30 pm

Panel Discussion | Role of Governments in Fostering Growth of Digital Economies

Moderator: Amira Mourad

Panelists: Nashwa Hussein Aly, Dr. Simon Galpin, Ferid Belhaj

3:30 - 4:15 pm

Keynote Address | How Deep Learning is Shifting Digital Economies

Huma Abidi

4:15 - 4:45 pm

Coffee Break

4:45 - 5:00 pm

Panel Discussion | Building on AI in Education to Prepare Tomorrow’s Workforce

Moderator: Prof. Bernard Ghanem

Panelists: Hanan Salam, Dr. Sana Farid, Rob McCargow, Dr. Teresa Escrig

5:00 - 5:40 pm

Panel Discussion | The Role of Fintech in Advancing Digital Economies

Moderator: Anthony Hobeika

Panelists: Rami El-Dokany, Mirna Sleiman

5:40 - 6:00 pm

Break

6:00 - 6:30 pm

Award Ceremony

6:30 - 8:30 pm

Keynote Speech By Naguib Sawiris

6:30 - 6:45 pm

Keynote Fireside Chat

Panelists: Charbel Farhat, Hala Fadel

6:45 - 7:00 pm

Fireside | Battling Global Competition and Prospects for Growth

Moderator: Philip Bahoshy

Panelists: Elie Habib, Ibrahim Manna

7:00 - 7:45 pm

Announcement of Winners

7:45 - 8:30 pm

Networking Reception

Starting 8:30

Speakers

Prof. Bernard Ghanem

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

Associate Professor, Electrical Engineering, Visual Computing Center

Ibrahim Manna

Careem

Managing Director - Emerging Markets

Charbel Farhat

Stanford University, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Chairman

Anthony Hobeika

MENA Research Partners

Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Teresa Escrig

Accenture

Ai Global lead of Cognitive Computing and Computer Vision

Dr. Sana Farid

Munfarid Consulting Co.

X-Reality and Ai Strategist

Hanan Salam

Women in AI

Co-Founder and Head of Education and Research

Huma Abidi

Intel Corporation

Director - Machine Learning, Deep Learning Software Engineering

Ferid Belhaj

The World Bank

Vice President, Middle East and North Africa

Dr. Simon Galpin

Bahrain Economic Development Board

Managing Director

Amira Mourad

IDAL

Head of Business Support Unit for Startup

Declan Deasy

European Commission

Director of information Systems and Interoperability Solutions

Hala Fadel

MIT Enterprise Forum Pan Arab

Chair

All Speakers

About The Competition

MIT Enterprise Forum Arab Startup Competition (ASC) is a yearly competition initiated by the MIT Enterprise Forum Pan Arab since 2006. This annual competition is designed to empower entrepreneurs and foster an eco-system of innovation and entrepreneurship in the Arab Region. ASC pits entrepreneurs in three different tracks: Ideas, Startups and Social Entrepreneurship Track. The winning teams are awarded 160K USD in equity free fund and benefit from a range of other activities including top tier trainings, mentorship, coaching, media exposure and great networking opportunities.

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