News | Ministry of Transport

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

MoTC Announces Winners of Entrepreneurship Zone Awards

Doha – QatarThe Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC) has announced the list of winners of the Entrepreneurship Zone Awards held on the sidelines of the Qatar IT Conference & Exhibition (QITCOM 2019) from October 29 to November 1 at the Qatar National Convention Center (QNCC) in Doha.The Entrepreneurial Zone Awards comprised of three distinct awards: the "Programming Camp" (Codecamp), the "Creative Ideas Camp" and the "Startup Hub" awards.Five teams - Hey Qatar, BareMetal, Beyond Barriers, Cereal Killers and NAZARIYA - won the CodeCamp Award out of 47 teams that came up with smart solutions to challenges put forward by companies and institutions such as the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC), Ooredoo, Mada, Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), Qatar Airways, and Hamad International Airport (HIA). Each team received a cash prize of QR 25,000.The “Creative Ideas Camp” award went to Retail AR (1st place), Educarso (2nd place), Skip Cash (3rd place), Smart Shuttle (4th place), while Noor ranked fifth. The winners were awarded cash prizes of QR125,000, QR100,000, QR75,000, QR50,000 and QR25,000 respectively.About 50 companies out of about 200 innovative ideas, who initially applied, were selected to compete in the camp. The Creative Ideas Camp included a series of workshops, training sessions and coaching programs over a period of six weeks, delivered by 20 international experts and mentors to help participants develop their ideas.In addition to the cash prizes, technical and operational support will also be provided to the winners of the Creative Ideas Camp, as well as a free workspace to enable them to transform their digital ideas into reality.The results of the voting-based "Startup Hub" award were as follows: the first place went to "Carts" from Qatar with 964 votes, the second place to "Bleems" from Qatar with 410 votes, and the third place to "UpSales" from Sudan with 369 votes. Live Caller from Georgia was fourth with 351 votes and Wastezon from Rwanda came fifth with 297 votes.The five winners were selected from 100 companies out of the initial 675 applications. The 100 companies had the opportunity to present their ideas and plans to investors and entrepreneurs at the Innovation Theater, opening opportunities for building partnerships and investment bids.Commenting on the occasion, Her Excellency Reem Al Mansoori, Assistant Undersecretary for the Digital Society Development Sector at the Ministry of Transport and Communications, said: “Entrepreneurship is a key component in building a vibrant ICT sector and building a knowledge-based economy. We are therefore keen to promote a culture of innovation, learning and entrepreneurship. This year, we have received very appreciable and high-quality participation from aspiring developers and entrepreneurs. Some winning companies and teams have had opportunities to receive incubation and finance as well as build strong relationships with potential partners. We congratulate all the winners and encourage them to continue to innovate and excel."Duha Ali Al Buhendi, Digital Incubation Center Manager said: “This year, the Innovation Theater has attracted more people and achieved more results than the previous edition. It has become an integrated platform that brings together entrepreneurs, experts and investors to showcase ideas, connect, build relationships, encourage innovation and share experiences. All entries were outstanding, and we hope this years’ experience will spur further innovation.”The Innovation Theater zone provided an opportunity for the audience to listen to a panel of experts in the field of digital entrepreneurship and learn from their experiences. It featured start-up presentations and speeches by keynote speakers, as well as serious discussions on the latest smart solutions that will further Qatar's digital transformation.The zone encouraged startups and entrepreneurs to develop their innovative ideas, projects, prototypes and digital solutions that Qatar's smart future requires. It also supported startups to work on their ideas through hackathons, coaching programs, business reconciliation sessions, and brainstorming sessions.

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

MoTC Announces Next Phase of Digital Transformation Program at QITCOM 2019

DOHA- QATARThe Digital Transformation for Small and Medium Business Enterprises (DTSME), an initiative of the Ministry of Transport & Communications (MoTC) has today announced the digital accelerator program - the next phase of its digital transformation objective of transforming businesses in Qatar. The announcement took place on the sidelines of the Qatar IT Conference & Exhibition (QITCOM 2019), which wrapped up at QNCC on Nov. 1, under the theme “Safe Smart Cities.”The digital accelerator program will be an enriched version of the DTSME program, with a realigned focus on sector, business establishment segments and technology domains. It is targeted at increasing the overall ranking of the country in utilizing Emerging Technologies, such as: Internet of Things, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligence. The program will commence in early 2020 with a niche focus on business maturity levels and approaching the transformation of SMEs in Qatar through both physical in-site transformations as well as online.With the extension of the DTSME programme, MoTC further aims to strengthen the ecosystem of business establishments through digital empowerment in key sectors by creating value for all stakeholders in Qatar's digital economy.Officially launched in 2018, the DTSME program enabled technology partners to connect with SMEs easily over a set of interactive sessions detailed on the online portal www.GoDigital.qa. The program’s portal served a dual purpose of transferring knowledge, tools, and opportunities; and it also provides a physical and virtual space for businesses and SMEs to network. The program has executed around 250 interactive sessions till date.Partners of the DTSME include the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Qatar Development Bank, Communications Regulatory Authority, Ooredoo and Microsoft. All partners are committed to delivering the importance of Digital Transformation to SMEs through offering digital solutions utilizing the support of over 40 service providers. Since its launch, DTSME has empowered SMEs to optimize their business models through digital solutions and facilitate digital partnerships between SMEs, government entities and technology enablers.The ecommerce domain workshop organized by the program guided SMEs in utilizing different platforms to ease the process of payments online. One of the workshops - “Collect payments efficiently: An Efficient and Quick Way for Business Owners to Get Rid of the Hassle of Payments Collection” - was executed by MaktApp, a DTSME’s local service providers, to support SMEs in collecting their payments online using the cloud based invoicing platform. Other eCommerce service providers and payment integrators in Qatar were constantly executing sessions throughout the duration of the program. Some key service providers in the ecommerce domain are: DohaBank, QPay, Tess Systems among many others.A set of different interactive sessions on Web Enablement and Cloud were also executed to support SMEs with the process of building websites and integrating Automated Intelligence (AI) in their business models with the use of cloud platforms. Sessions include: “Creating an Unforgettable Customer Experience” conducted by the service provider “Bright Information Systems W.L.L” which provided a transformative experience for SMEs by showcasing why customers are businesses’ top priority. A wide range of service providers also supported in delivering the required tools and platforms for businesses to adopt to cloud and have an online presence like: Deloitte, Cisco, NewWaves, BlueLynx, Excelledia, LEDD Technologies, Advanced Computing Company, SAP and among many others.Commenting on the occasion, Her Excellency Reem Al Mansoori, Assistant Undersecretary for the Digital Society Development Sector at the Ministry of Transport and Communications, said: “The Digital Transformation of SMEs will support Qatar’s digital economy by enhancing the level of digital maturity through digital enablement, innovation and incubation. We believe that SMEs are one of the engines of a thriving digital sector in Qatar, and for this reason we are focusing our efforts to enable them with the right technology tools.”She also added, “We are proud to announce that the execution of the DTSME workshops has led to reaching 6000 unique SMEs and digitally transforming over 600 SMEs across all three focus domains of web enablement, ecommerce and cloud. We are humbled to witness constant increase in market demand for digital transformation workshops as well as an increase in formed digital partnerships. With the current target reach of businesses in the digital field through the networking platform ‘Godigital.qa,’ we are extending our support to the digital ecosystem with the end-to-end digital transformation of the business value chain”The DTSME program has created positive impact on the overall business community in Qatar through fresh initiatives and series which enabled the business community to understand and appreciate the digital ecosystem and trends globally. The first of these is a series launched as the Emerging Tech Series, which focused on discovering and exploring the best and most innovative technologies newly available in the market and how businesses can benefit from such tech. The use of Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and other trending technologies in the industry were explored with the support of speakers and professors from different companies and universities such as: Texas A & M University, PwC, A101 and others. The series event on “AI and Machine Learning” had speakers from Microsoft, QCRI, IBM & Integration XPERTS introduced businesses in different sectors like Retail, Energy, Transport and Healthcare to different emerging technology platform and showcased how those technologies can be utilized as a developmental tool. The Arab Women in Tech Series, the first of its kind in Qatar, focuses on successful women leaders in technology who shared their experiences and insights which has been well appreciated by the Qatar business community. The Arab Women in Tech was launched earlier this year in partnership with the Digital Incubation Centre (DIC) - an incubator under the purview of the Ministry of Transport and Communications. The series kicked off with IBM CTO and Microsoft Country Manager as panellists, shedding light on opportunities for women in the technology field.“The relaunch of the program will support the initial vision of promoting digital innovation, competitiveness and growth of business establishments to enhance Qatar’s digital ecosystem in key sectors through digital enablement, furthermore creating value for all stakeholders in Qatar’s digital economy,” added Ms. Noor Al Malki, the Project Manager.

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Ministry Holds ISPS Code Self-Assessment, Audit Training Workshop

Doha – QatarThe Ministry of Transport and Communications has organized the ISPS Code Self-Assessment and Audit Training Workshop that was attended by specialized professionals in maritime industry from Qatar and some brotherly Gulf countries, as well as the maritime transport sector’s employees from MOTC.Delivered by maritime security specialists from the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the workshop focused on best practices and the application of the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code.This training workshop is unprecedented in Qatar in terms of empowering women to work at sea and a real practical initiative in training and developing women’s skills and qualifying them technically for employment in the maritime sector. The event was attended by several female professionals specialized in maritime work in Qatar.Empowering women to work in the maritime industry is one of the key topics promoted by IMO. It offers stakeholders an opportunity to work on achieving sustainable development goals, particularly Goal 5, which calls for an environment where women have access to professions in maritime industry at the administrative level, at ports or at training institutes, thus encouraging more discussions in relation to gender equality in the sector.The workshop is also a part of a series of workshops MOTC has been organizing in association with IMO, in addition to other workshops MOTC will organize on self-assessment and audit in such a way that helps develop the skills of maritime sector professionals, toward achieving Qatar National Vision 2030’s human development goal.Following the workshop, the participants had a tour at Hamad Port and got a closer look at operations and commercial vessel movements at container and general cargo terminals. Port officials also briefed them on the port and its future plans.

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Over $6 million invested into tech startups at QITCOM

Doha – QatarInternational investors have injected QAR 22.6 million ($6 million) in start-up companies from Qatar, India, Turkey and the US at ‘Make the Deal’, the startup investor matchmaking event, held on the sidelines of Qatar IT Conference & Exhibition (QITCOM) 2019, organized by Ministry of Transport and Communication.Out of 228 startups – 143 local and 85 international - who pitched their companies, 15 walked away with up to QR 22.6.The investors, 79 international and 31 local, included IDA capital, Globvestor and Partners, Alfa Ventures and Turk Telecom.Duha Al Buhendi Digital Incubation Center Manager, commented. “We would like to extend our heartfelt congratulations to all our winning startups, and thank the investors for their belief in these budding projects. In this third edition of Make the Deal we are delighted to bring together startups and investors from so many countries across the globe. Beyond the financial investments made to these young innovators, we were also pleased at DIC to provide mentoring and guidance in the lead-up to the pitching phase. We look forward to working with those entrepreneurs who decide to become incubated at DIC to harness emerging technologies and create innovative products, solutions, or services that will contribute to Qatar’s digital economy.”The highest investment of $2 million went to Avanti Learning Centres, an Indian company that takes over small schools, installs learning technologies and trains teachers on them. According to Director and Co-Founder Akshay Saxena, the company started off ten years ago as a charity, working to help students in India get into college. In 2014 they registered as a company, creating machine-assisted learning algorithms that helped students improve their achievements rates by 30%.“We’ve licensed our product to the Indian government and reached 60,000 students around India. Our goal is to reach 100,000 in 5 years, and that is what we will put this investment to,” commented Saxena.Driven by MoTC’s Digital Incubation Center (DIC), the third edition of Make the Deal forms an integral part of the Entrepreneurship Zone of QITCOM 2019, held this week at the Qatar National Convention Center (QNCC).The programme aims to cultivate a spirit of entrepreneurship and investment and is an opportunity to connect high-impact technology startups with local, regional and international investors. Before the event, all shortlisted participants were individually mentored by global experts on pitch presentations. The final business pitches were made to investors at the QITCOM Innovation Theatre, where the winners were awarded with investment deals and incubation offers.Held under the theme ‘Safe Smart Cities’, QITCOM 2019 dedicated an Entrepreneurship Zone to boost investor-startup relationships, inviting innovators and professionals to learn about digital entrepreneurship. Around 300 entrepreneurs participated in the Entrepreneurship Zone activities this year, with 100 local, regional and international startups showcasing their products and services across 5 key platforms: Make the Deal, Idea Camp, Code Camp, Startup Hub and the Innovation Theatre.

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Delegation from QDG Participates in Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo™ Conference

Doha – QatarA delegation from Qatar Digital Government is participating in Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo™ Conference, being held in Barcelona - Spain, November 3-7, 2019. The delegation includes representatives from the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MOTC), as well as other various government entities.At the Conference, MOTC addresses the digital requirements of the various segments in Qatar, especially the government sector, as well as the necessary actions and measures that need to be taken by government entities to meet those requirements, through their various services offered to all users.The Conference offers superior content, insights and networking focused on turning the latest technology and business strategy into action, enables various entities to discover an imaginative approach that would change the way of their digital leadership, business strategy, information and technology, and provides data-driven insights, tools and practical advice needed to deliver a winning strategy, necessary for transforming organizational culture, improving productivity and efficiency, and enhancing customer experience.In the Conference, the delegation delivered a presentation highlighting the key features of the digital transformation in Qatar including the initiatives of Qatar Digital Government Strategy and Smart Qatar (Tasmu) Program, as well as the essential role of such programs in accelerating the achievement of all goals of Qatar National Vision 2030, and building a digital economy and a smart future.

Monday, November 4, 2019

MOTC, Microsoft Partner on Qatar’s Digital Transformation Agenda

Doha – QatarThe Ministry of Transport and Communications (MOTC) and Microsoft, have announced a new partnership that will accelerate the digital transformation agenda across Qatar with the selection of Microsoft Azure as its preferred cloud platform to achieve those goals.The collaboration is considered by the two sides as a solid starting point for government entities and organizations in Qatar to embark on, or continue their digital transformation journey through Microsoft Azure, which is poised to set a strong foundation to revolutionize digital adoption and transformation in the country. Microsoft will continue to work closely with MOTC and further developments on this partnership will be revealed in the coming few weeks.In the presence of HE Minister of Transport and Communications Jassim Saif Ahmed Al-Sulaiti, Mr. Eng. Khalid Al Hashmi, Assistant Undersecretary of Cyber Security, MOTC, said, “We are pleased to reveal some highlights of this partnership today with Microsoft within the framework of the Government of Qatar’s endeavors to accelerate the delivery of nationwide digital transformation plan, drive innovation across all industries aiming to better serve citizens, residents and visitors, enhance competitiveness and Qatar’s ranking globally, as well as universally positioning Qatar free zones potentials in hosting such initiatives.”“The Government is developing its vision for the future and providing plans that address the key elements of digital transformation. Through this partnership, we will be working jointly on developing capabilities in public and private sectors by upskilling and reskilling the workforce and we are confident our collaboration will speed up this momentum significantly, Eng. Al Hashmi added as he welcomes Mr. Michel van der Bel, President, Microsoft EMEA, at Microsoft booth during QITCOM at Qatar National Convention Center (QNCC).The two parties said Microsoft will be working closely with MOTC, government entities and private sector organizations to empower them to achieve transformation in their services and technology infrastructure.Microsoft Azure is compliant and helps customers in their journey to become compliant with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and it is certified for a large portfolio of international security and privacy standards some of which form the basis of Qatar government policies, including MOTC’s National Information Assurance, and the Cloud Security and Information Privacy Protection regulations. Microsoft is also committed to open source technology, as Azure supports a wide variety of languages, tools and frameworks, enabling the freedom to build, manage and deploy workloads and applications at scale.“Microsoft is uniquely positioned to accelerate the Qatar National Vision 2030 and bring to life the transformative possibilities across its industries moving forward in the years ahead, particularly education, healthcare, transportation, logistics services, sports, and renewable resources replacing hydrocarbon resources,” said Lana Khalaf, Country Manager, Microsoft Qatar, in the presence of Mr. Michel van der Bel.“Our offerings and the intelligent cloud platform are contributing to establishing Qatar as a hub for digital transformation and innovation across industries and organizations for driving growth and productivity through systems of intelligence, that are the pillars of digital transformation - engage with your customers, empower your employees, optimize your operations, and reinvent products and business models,” she added.In addition to embracing Microsoft Azure, MOTC is also deploying Microsoft Office 365, thus further boosting it as a secure modern workplace. This is enabling the ministry to foster productivity, engagement, and seamless collaboration within its workforce, while implementing the highest security standards to protect against the evolving threat landscape.Microsoft cloud services empower businesses across sectors and sizes to increase their competitiveness, contribute to economic growth and reach markets regionally and globally. Through this partnership, MOTC also sees Azure playing a vital role in advancing Qatar’s ecosystem and supporting revenue and job growth by empowering customers, partners, Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), and start-ups in the country - as they continue to harness the power of the intelligent cloud.