News | Ministry of Transport

Saturday, October 26, 2019

The Ministry unveils Innovation Theatre for Qitcom

Doha-QatarThe Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC) has unveiled the Innovation Theatre for the upcoming Qatar IT Conference and Exhibition (Qitcom 2019).The Innovation Theatre will witness the best startup presentations, keynote speakers and discussions on the latest smart solutions driving global digitisation, the MoTC has said in a statement.Under the Qitcom 2019 theme ‘Safe, Smart Cities’, the Innovation Theatre will be located at the heart of the Entrepreneurship Zone within the MoTC Zone, where audiences will listen to and learn from upcoming and established entrepreneurs.The Innovation Theatre will host 30 sessions featuring eight keynotes, nine panels and six pitch sessions comprising 100 pitches overall. Apart from the Innovation Theatre, the Entrepreneurship Zone will include four more programmes – IdeaCamp, CodeCamp, Make the Deal and Startup Hub – wherein selected startups and winners from each of the programmes will present their final pitches to a panel of judgesat the Innovation Theatre.The first day will be a combination of keynotes, panels and IdeaCamp and CodeCamp pitch sessions, and winners’ announcements. The second day will focus on IdeaCamp, the third day will include Make the Deal pitches and the last day will witness a special pitch session, followed by the Startup Hub awards ceremony.More than 30 keynote and panel speakers will be discussing Safe, Smart Cities, the Future of Service Delivery, Emerging Technologies and Future Landscapes, Breaking Barriers: Lessons from Women Entrepreneurs, Megatrends and the Three Things that Truly Matter for Investors.Ibrahim al-Mannai, executive director of Advisory and Incubation at Qatar Development Bank; Sachin Kumar, founding team member and CTO – TupeloLife and head of Google Developer Group (GDG), Doha; and Dr Tejinder Singh, founder of Q-Tickets and 360 Nautica, will be among the 45 key speakers at Qitcom 2019.Other speakers include Ahmad al-Mutawa, founder, Mubaader Services; Eva Kaili, MEP, European Parliament; Dr Miguel Eiras Antunes, Global Smart Cities & Local Government leader, Deloitte; Rizwan Hussain, Government, Industry leader, IBM Middle East; and David Suarez, Partner, People & Organisation leader, Middle East, PwC.While the Innovation Theatre will primarily attract, promote and exhibit talented digital entrepreneurs, it also expects families and students to attend the sessions and act as a platform to share innovative ideas, experiences and success stories. Prior to the final pitch, participants will be mentored by global experts to help them transform ideation pitches into scalable business ideas.Each team and startup will be given the opportunity to pitch their business idea or solution to a panel of judges. Some of the awards include incubation offers, projects, awards and funding.The Innovation Theatre is part of the Entrepreneurship Zone, which is dedicated to encouraging startups, business leaders and entrepreneurs to develop innovative pitches, prototypes and digital solutions for Qatar’s smart future. It supports novice entrepreneurs to work on their business ideas through hackathons, mentorship programmes, tailored matchmaking and pitch sessions.Duha Ali al-Buhendi, Digital Incubation Centre manager, said: “Following the success of the previous Innovation Theatre programmes, we are delighted to witness this year’s unique pitches. Innovation Theatre is an incredibly rewarding opportunity for aspiring entrepreneurs to fulfil their ambitions of being a part of the Digital Incubation Centre and achieving reputable business offers.”Reem al-Mansoori, Assistant Undersecretary for the Digital Society Development Sector at the MoTC, noted: “Qitcom has previously offered funding opportunities to startups and ignited innovative ideas by teams such as Modaris, EXdensity, Game of Brands, Wahm and Media Gate. This year, we expect to see even more innovative ideas from local and global startups as this is an incredible opportunity for them to access global smart city experts, as they create a marketplace for digital innovation.”Participants can register on the Qitcom 2019 website to be a part of Qatar’s largest ICT showcase yet.

Friday, October 25, 2019

QDGTP Program launches new training plan at QITCOM

DOHA- QATARThe Qatar Digital Government Training Programme (QDGTP), an initiative of the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC), will be launching its 2020 training plan on the sidelines of Qatar IT Conference and Exhibition (QITCOM 2019) to be held until November 1 at the Qatar National Convention Center in Doha.Initiated in 2016, QDGTP was created to boost government ICT professionals’ capacity to serve the 2020 Digital transformation of Qatar's government. Its objective include training and certifying the professionals and to support their career progression in order to maximize the benefits of the programme. QDGTP provides training in IT domain for government employees in partnership with top IT companies and it has conducted over 134 certification exams, 85 sessions with 1,207 training seats till the third quarter (Q3) of 2019.For the 2020 training plan, QDGTP will be offering over 95 different training courses including various certification exams in Oracle, Cisco, Microsoft and Project Management for more than 2,000 participants. 40 percent of the training subjects are new in the market and the courses will cover more than 47 percent of global trend in IT professional certification. For the first time ever, trainings in digitalization technologies is being introduced as well as Oracle, 365 Office and Windows 11 complete paths respectively.Visitors to the QDGTP booth at QITCOM 2019 will have the opportunity of accessing the training plan and book their seat to be a part of the trainings. They can also participate in quizzes and short test for a chance to win exam vouchers and training seats.Commenting on the occasion, Her Excellency Reem Al Mansoori, Assistant Undersecretary of Digital Society Development Sector, Ministry of Transport and Communications, said: “The MoTC is delighted to launch the 2020 training plan which is aimed at further enhancing the capacity of our IT employees in the government sector. By providing support and training to those talented in the ICT domain, including fresh graduates and CTOs, QDGTP is helping to sharpen their experience in line with the Qatar Digital Government strategy.”In order to maintain the sustainable effectiveness of the program, QDGTP has expanded technology partnerships with several leading technological training providers in the information technology field such as: Microsoft, SAP, IBM, CISCO, ITIL, PMI, COMPTIA and others, to provide first class training programs in a variety of IT disciplines.Through a partnership with the international business school, HEC Paris in Qatar – universally recognized institution in executive education - the program also provide leadership programs specifically customized to meet the needs of the technology sector in Qatar, such as the “IT Talent program’’, a professional development program at the best practice level for IT fresh graduates, which aims to provide an intensive immersive learning experience for fresh graduates newly entering government.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

TumuhaTEC invites schools to participate in Digital Youth Festival at QITCOM 2019

DOHA- QATARTumuhaTEC, an initiative under the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MOTC), is inviting schools to participate in the 2019 Digital Youth Festival to be held from October 29 to November 1 at the Qatar National Convention Center (QNCC) in Doha. The event is part of Qatar Information Technology Conference & Exhibition (QITCOM 2019), the largest Information and Communication Technology showcase and event in Qatar, being held under the theme “Safe Smart Cities.”TumuhaTEC promotes digital technology as a dynamic, exciting career choice for young people in Qatar. Now in its second edition, the Digital Youth Festival at QITCOM provides a space for students to explore digital skills and opportunities through various technologies and tools in cooperation with the festival’s partners’ offerings. At this year's event, students will have the opportunity to enjoy a series of educative and fun-filled activities at the four zones - Creative, Coding, Safe and Tech zones - strategically designed to empower them to be a part of Qatar’s digital transformation.The Creative Zone is where participants can interact, learn, explore and enjoy different tech activities as using digitally fabricated tools. Some of the activities include Smart Materials, Robotic Kits, Virtual & Augmented Reality and Machine Show.The Coding Zone is designed to inspire an interest in coding by developing problem-solving skills and improving students’ creativity. Activities lined up for this zone include Hour of Code, Codefest, Coding digital art wall and the Girls Can Innovate Competition.At the Safe Zone, students will participate in various cyber-safety games and quizzes and learn how to be safe and responsible citizens online and offline while creative and practical cyber safety activities are being provided by Vodafone.The Tech Zone, on the other hand, is designed to enable participants experience technology through hands on creative learning and be part of an interactive environment. The advanced tools at the zone will be showcased by TumuhaTEC partners including Microsoft, Kidzania Virtual Reality, Sanea Bus (IBTECHAR) and Rolling robots.Building on the success of the 2017 event, where more than 1,600 students from 52 schools in Qatar participated, TumuhaTEC hopes to attract 2,500 students at this year’s edition. In addition to participation from educational institutions, TumuhaTEC is also calling on interested volunteers to join them in empowering students digitally during the festival. Schools and volunteers interested in participating can send an email to digitalyouth@motc.gov.qa.Commenting on the festival, Her Excellency Reem Al Mansoori, Assistant Undersecretary of Digital Society Development Affairs, Ministry of Transport and Communications, said: “We look forward to welcoming the students at the 2019 Digital Youth Festival. MOTC is committed to developing a generation of tech-savvy young people in Qatar and we believe that the festival will further stir the interest of our children in in digital technology. The series of activities lined up for the event have been carefully put together to expose the students to the latest trends in digital technology while at the same time educating them in a fun-filled atmosphere.”The 2019 Digital Youth Festival is proudly supported by Vodafone, Deloitte, Tebyan Qatar, Edutech Middle East WLL, Redrock International, Respond Media and PWC among others. Since its inception, QITCOM has been responsible for bringing together investors, global digital experts and end-users to understand, envision and build Qatar’s digital future. QITCOM 2019 aims to attract 30,000 visitors, sign MoUs, enter strategic sponsorships and showcase many smart solutions that will drive Qatar’s digital transformation. This year’s event will further contribute towards creating connections across the Smart Cities ecosystem at a national, regional and global level.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

MoTC’s QDGTP and ESCWA-UN to deliver digital transformation workshop at QITCOM

DOHA- QATARThe Qatar Digital Government Training Program (QDGTP), an initiative of the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC), is organising a workshop on Digital Transformation for government entities. In partnership with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA), the workshop is scheduled to take place on October 30 and 31, 2019.The event is taking place on the sidelines of the Qatar Information Technology Conference & Exhibition (QITCOM 2019) which is being held from 29th October to 1st November 2019 at the Qatar National Convention Center in Doha, under the theme “Safe Smart Cities”. Participants will include representatives from public bodies concerned with the provision of government services including IT directors, managers and high-level positions from over 25 government entities; representatives from national universities and research centers, the private sector and ICT companies among others.The workshop is ESCWA's first in Qatar and is aimed at informing participants about the main concepts of digital transformation, its challenges and potential socio-economic impact. It will discuss best regional and international practices on implementing this transformation, highlight key international and regional indicators, and measure methodologies and mechanisms used to gauge the progress in digital transformation. Other topics include new trends in digital transformation, such as open government data, and technical and management aspects related to the development of digital government transformation.One of the major highlights of the two-day event will be the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Hackfest held in conjunction with Microsoft. Participants from seven government entities will be presenting 10 use cases that they have worked on before the event with the audience voting to select the best ones. Prizes will be awarded on the last day of the workshop.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: “We are delighted to host this workshop which comes as part of our strategy towards enhancing the capacity of IT professionals in Qatar, especially in the public sector. This workshop comes at an opportune time as Qatar is rapidly developing a knowledge-based diversified economy in line with the Qatar National Vision 2030, contributing to its digital transformation goals. We believe that participants will gain valuable insights from the event that will positively impact the digital transformation of Qatar.”The QDGTP is a strategic initiative developed by the MoTC to boost the professional capacity of government IT employees with specialized and accredited training. The program aims to build information and communication technology capability in the government to achieve improved service provision, efficiency and transparency in line with the Qatar Digital Government 2020 Strategy.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Minister Heads Qatar Delegation to Tbilisi Belt and Road Forum

Tbilisi – GeorgiaHE Minister of Transport and Communications Jassim Saif Ahmed Al-Sulaiti headed the State of Qatar’s delegation participating in the Tbilisi Belt and Road Forum, which the Prime Minister of Georgia HE Mr. Giorgi Gakharia inaugurated in Tbilisi today.Themed “Partnership for Global Impact”, the forum saw attendance of over 2000 participants from 60 countries, including heads of states, ministers, diplomats and representatives of international and business organizations.The event examines factors that effectively define regional and global trade and connectivity and the challenges facing countries along the New Silk Road connecting East and West, and find common solutions that have a positive impact on the region and the global economy.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Georgia PM Receives Minister Al-Sulaiti in Tbilisi

Tbilisi – GeorgiaThe Prime Minister of Georgia HE Mr. Giorgi Gakharia received HE Minister of Transport and Communications Jassim Saif Ahmed Al-Sulaiti in Tbilisi today as the Minister is on an official visit to Georgia to participate in the Tbilisi Belt and Road Forum.At the meeting, HE the Minister delivered an invitation from the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior HE Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani to HE Georgia’s PM to attend the Qatar IT Conference and Exhibition ( QITCOM 2019), which runs in Doha from Oct. 29 to Nov.1.The meeting also reviewed bilateral relations between the two friendly countries in the fields of transportation, mobility and communications and means of further enhancing them, in addition to discussing a number of topics of common interest.