Minister of Transport and Communication, H E Jassim bin Saif Al Sulaiti (second right) visiting one of the booths during the QITCOM Conference and Exhibition which kicked off at QNCC yesterday. Pic: Baher Amin / The Peninsula
The Minister of Transport and Communications H E Jassim bin Saif Al Sulaiti stressed vital importance of Smart Cities and of turning Qatar into a digital society through the government’s various initiatives.
Addressing inaugural session of QITCOM 2017 conference yesterday, Al Sulaiti reiterated Smart Qatar Program (Tasmu) is an indispensable project launched in order to manage the functions and apply smart technological applications across all sectors.
Launched on Monday, Tasmu targets technological solutions to five key sectors including health, logistics, transport, sports and environment towards a digital economy.
He said the Ministry is “working with a number of competent authorities especially in the manufacturing industry, health, urban planning and other sectors so that we can provide high profile infrastructure to meet our ambitions.”
He lauded QITCOM 2017 as it gathered key decision makers, technology providers, experts and representatives of public and private sectors and entrepreneurs from the region and the rest of the world, as well as the many innovative presentations on Smart Cities and new technologies.
He said the event is “a reflection of the Ministry seeking to provide infrastructure to entrench the deserved digital society in accordance with the National Vision 2030 seeking to adapt a programme that is innovative holistically in order to participate in building Qatar’s smart future.”
This year’s conference includes eight plenary sessions in addition to keynotes and roundtable sessions on various topics under the main theme “Qatar-Towards a Smart Future.”
Waleed Al Sayed, Chief Executive Officer of Ooredoo Qatar echoed the same sentiment on the crucial role of Smart Cities.
“Smart Cities are at the core of the digitisation of the economy. What Smart Cities do is leverage the investments made by the public and private sectors to deliver citizen and business services with intelligence, in order to provide a high standard of living for all citizens in Qatar and enable businesses sustainable growth in a knowledge base economy,” said Al Sayed.
“As our City grows bigger and more complex, we face new challenges every day. Our country wants to maintain high standards of liveability, resiliency and sustainability. We at Ooredoo will help private and public sectors use Smart technologies to help solve today’s biggest challenges in Qatar—like energy management, intelligent traffic and transportation, network, security, storage capacity and public safety,” he added.
Elmir Velizadeh, Azerbaijan Deputy Minister of Communications and High Technologies also spoke at the opening of the conference presented his country’s strategic plan to become a leading media hub as part of an Asia connected by ‘one belt, one road.
Dr Allan James, VP for Worldwide Business Development at Hyperloop One, gave the first keynote speech on the future of mobility. He discussed Hyperloop travel, which is able to transport people 3km in the same time it takes Olympic champion Usain Bolt to cover 100m.
