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| Director General of Dubai
Technology and Media Free Zone, Ahmad bin Byat |
Dubai’s development in the past few decades
has been characterized by its great economic transformations
inspired by its visionary leaders. The foresight
and energy of the late Ruler of Dubai, His Highness
Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, provided the
impetus for transforming Dubai from a small trading
outpost into one of the world’s busiest trade
centers.
His Highness Sheikh Rashid’s business-friendly
policies and strategic investments in an ultra-modern
infrastructure created a high quality business environment
that made Dubai the center of the Middle East economy.
Today, Dubai and the UAE are on the threshold
of yet another remarkable change. His Highness Sheikh
Rashid’s son His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed
Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and
UAE Defense Minister has envisioned an ambitious
strategy to transform the region’s society
into a knowledge society.
The lynchpins of this visionary strategy are two
cluster initiatives aimed at accelerating the development
of the ICT and media industries in the region –
Dubai Internet City and Dubai Media City.
Dubai Internet City and Dubai Media City were
conceived with the mission of creating an infrastructure
and environment for ICT and media companies to operate
locally, regionally and globally out of Dubai with
significant competitive advantage.
Dubai Internet City and Dubai Media City are located
in a city that has long served as the region’s
most important trading center. Dubai, today, acts
as an economic hub to other Gulf States, the Middle
East region, central Asia, the eastern Mediterranean
region and Africa.
Dubai’s sophisticated and world-class business
infrastructure has considerable foreign direct investment.
Dubai boasts seven industrial parks, one business
park, three free-trade zones, two seaports, a state-of-the-art
airport handling an average of 35,000 passengers
daily, and a cargo village. Additionally, Dubai
is home to some of the world’s finest hotels,
and has become a center for business conferences
and exhibitions.
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| Dubai Internet City, Dubai
Media City and Knowledge Village are set in
beautiful, landscaped grounds. |
Served by over 242 shipping lines and linked via
104 airlines to over 140 global destinations, Dubai’s
transport infrastructure is unrivaled in the region
in terms of size, facilities and efficiency.
Jebel Ali is ranked among the top 10 ports in
the world and Dubai Ports Authority is ranked among
the leading container ports in the world. Dubai’s
world class ports witnessed approximately 52 million
tones of cargo in 2002.
Dubai’s airport is ranked the best in the
region and was rated the best in the world in the
year 2002. Air cargo was over 784,997 tonnes in
2002. Moreover, Emirates Airlines is consistently
ranked among the top five airlines in the world.
Dubai’s tremendous successes have resulted
from its strategic policy of economic diversification.
Despite oil and gas production being the primary
source of public revenue to the UAE economy, Dubai
has never been an oil-based economy. The government
of Dubai has pursued a policy that has proved effective
in diversifying its economy and diminishing the
economy’s reliance on shrinking oil revenues.
In fact, Dubai has been almost exemplary among Gulf
countries to diversify its economy.
The non-oil sector in Dubai currently contributes
90 percent of total GDP and is expected to grow
to 94 percent by 2005 with manufacturing, tourism
and services all growing strongly to create a well-balanced
and diversified economy. The non-oil component of
Dubai’s GDP witnessed a growth of 9.6 percent
per annum from 1990-2000 while its non-oil imports
expanded by 200 percent between 1986 and 1994. The
share of the oil sector decreased from 18 percent
in 1995 to 10.4 percent in 2000 and is further forecast
to reduce to six percent in 2005.
Dubai is also widely recognized as the hub of
the Middle East’s information and communications
technology (ICT) and media industries. The business-friendly
environment, superior infrastructure, strong copyright
laws and high-quality lifestyle make Dubai one of
the most productive bases for ICT and media businesses
in the world.
Dubai is the most wired city in the region. Internet
penetration is higher than many first world countries.
Technologically it is the most progressive. Both
the public and private sectors in Dubai are early
adopters of new technology. Dubai also offers easy
access to a large regional market that apart from
the Middle East also includes Central Asia, the
Indian subcontinent and Africa.
Dubai Internet City and Dubai Media City are part
of the Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone, a tax-free
commercial site set up by the Dubai Government to
support the development of knowledge-based industries.
This Free Zone offers significant business incentives
to assist growth and reduce the costs of opening
or relocating a business. These include:
•100 percent exemption from taxes on sales,
company earnings and private income
•100 percent business ownership for foreign
companies
•100 percent repatriation of capital and
profits
• No currency restrictions
• Easy and quick registration and licensing,
• A single-window facility for obtaining
all government approvals and services, including
those pertaining to trade licenses, visas and
work permits.
Dubai Internet City (DIC) is a strategic base
for ICT companies targeting emerging markets in
a vast region extending from the Middle East to
the Indian subcontinent, and Africa to the CIS countries,
covering 1.6 billion people with a GDP of $1.1 trillion.
Since its opening in October 2000, DIC has developed
into a dynamic international community of ICT companies.
The global ICT giants are all there: Microsoft,
Oracle, HP, IBM, Compaq, Dell, Siemens, Canon, Logica,
Sony, Ericsson and Cisco, to name just a few.
The cluster of ICT companies in DIC comprise of
Software Development, Business Services, Web Based
& e-Commerce, Consultancy, Education & Training,
Sales & Marketing and Back Office Operations.
DIC provides a scalable state-of-the-art technology
platform for companies looking to provide cost-effective
business process outsourcing (BPO) services such
as call center operations.
Strategically located in Dubai at the crossroads
of the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, Dubai
Media City is rapidly emerging as the region’s
media hub. It provides an advanced infrastructure
and supportive environment for media-related businesses
to operate globally out of Dubai.
Dubai Media City is the place where every kind
of media business, specifically - Broadcasting,
Publishing, Advertising, Public Relations, Research,
Music, New Media and Production and Post Production
– can operate with collective synergy and individual
freedom.
Since its official inauguration, in January 2001,
Dubai Media City has grown impressively into a large
international media community. Major global companies
in DMC include Reuters, CNN, CNBC, MBC, Sony, Bertelsmann,
BMG, the Associated Press and McGraw Hill.
One of the key objectives of DIC and DMC is to
develop the infrastructure and services that will
help knowledge-based companies targeting the region
flourish and grow. Its offerings are specifically
tailored to the needs of ICT and media companies.
Companies in DIC and DMC enjoy a unique infrastructure
planned and built by leading global IT companies
like Cisco, Siemens, Avaya and Sun Microsystems.
Companies can avail of a range of infrastructure
services based on cutting-edge technologies. Its
voice infrastructure has been built on IP Telephony.
This technology allows for data, voice, and video
to be transmitted over a single, IP-based network
infrastructure. In fact, the IP telephony network
in DIC and DMC is the largest commercial implementation
of IP Telephony in the world. Companies can also
avail of Internet bandwidth at different levels
of quality and speed, according to their needs.
To meet the specific needs of knowledge-based
companies, Dubai Internet City offers modern, ready-to-operate,
fully serviced office space. Businesses here can
expect high bandwidth, low-cost telecommunications
infrastructure with redundant connections to Internet
primary backbone providers.
DIC and DMC have created a world-class business
environment that will help ICT and media businesses
innovate and grow. The community offers a rich network
that companies can tap for resources, partnerships
and ideas. Companies here not only compete but also
complement each other. This evolving community offers
a high quality of business interaction and a network
that can be leveraged for enhanced problem solving
and knowledge sharing. The presence of companies
from across the knowledge economy spectrum creates
a large pool of skills, expertise and resources
that companies can tap into on demand.
Since their opening, Dubai Internet City and Dubai
Media City have launched several initiatives aimed
at providing advanced infrastructure services for
ICT and media companies.
In February 2002, the Free Zone launched the third
of its cluster initiatives - Knowledge Village,
an initiative aimed at building a vibrant connected
learning community aimed at developing the region’s
knowledge workforce and catalyzing new economy growth.
Knowledge Village, a facility covering an area
of a million square feet, provides a complete environment
and infrastructure for a variety of organizations
to create and disseminate knowledge.
Knowledge Village houses a diverse community of
knowledge-focused organizations. These include eLearning
institutions, institutions that provide graduate
and post-graduate education, research and development
organizations, a multimedia library, corporate training
institutions, scientific and technology institutes,
and certification and testing organizations.
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