MANAMA — The organizers of the "Virtual Bahrain 2020" conference announced the participation of prominent Bahraini, regional and international speakers in this event. The conference will be held on Saturday and Sunday Sept. 15 and 16, under the patronage of Mohammed Ali Al Qaed, chief executive of the Information & eGovernment Authority, and organized by WorkSmart for Events Management and the Bahrain Technology Companies Society (BTECH).

These speakers represent an elite group of business owners from the technology sector, CEOs, heads of departments, and managers, in addition to decision-makers and innovators, media professionals, entrepreneurs, and investors from Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, and the United Kingdom, and others.

The speakers include Martin Smith, From the United Kingdom, founder of The Security Awareness Special Interest Group, and from Greece Christina Ioannidis, CEO of Aquitude International, and from Egypt Prof. Ahmed Darwish, former minister of administrative development.

From UAE will participate in the conference Ms. Ohoud Ali Shehail, director general of Ajman Digital Government, and Dr. Fadi Al-Aloul, professor and head of Computer Science and Engineering Department at the American University of Sharjah, and from Kuwait, Dr. Safaa Zaman, professor of the faculty of Computer Science and Engineering, and Dr. Jeff Zabudsky, CEO of Bahrain Polytechnic University.

Bahraini speakers include Ebrahim AL Nawakatha, Supreme Council of Health, Essam Hammad, director of partnerships and customer support at Tamkeen, Mirza Asrar, CEO of EDX Labs, and others.

The speakers will address some key topics related to the digital transformation post-Corona, such as the continuity of education thanks to eLearning, rapid primary digital health response, and how to manage digitally the supply and demand for food products.

In addition to reviewing the opportunities for commercial activity's digital transformation, and the safety of cashless transactions, and cyber threats and real-time modern media coverage.

During the conference’s sessions, the speakers will highlight various achievements of Bahrain that has been accomplished during the Corona pandemic, and how can other sectors benefit from such experience, to enable them to deal professionally with the challenges of today’s “new normal”, to ensure the continuity of work according to the highest quality standards.

The conference that will be attended by over 500 delegates will highlight the role of each sector in strengthening its efforts to effectively sustain the work of all the sectors and overcome the crisis without much impact.

It also aims to encourage the digital transformation in the public and private sectors and to inspire business owners to continue business despite the difficult circumstances, as well as encouraging start-up business, especially in the digital field.

The first of its kind virtual exhibition will be held alongside the event, with the participation of over 50 Exhibitors from all major government entities, ICT companies, hospitals, and medical centers, e-commerce establishments and retail companies, schools, universities and training institutes, factories, food distributors, and banks, to present their products and services through the same E-platform. — SG