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Launching the Digital Arabic Content Competition in
Western Asia
 The
current situation in the Arab region reveals a
number of hindrances facing the development of an
Arabic content industry. Despite the numerous
challenges that face the development of this
industry in the Arab region, the opportunities of
success are extensive, given the fact that the
Arabic language is official in all the countries of
the region and the presence of more than three
hundred million Arabic speakers in addition to the
Arab expatriates all over the world. This implies
the existence of possibilities for cooperation in
resolving technical issues related to the production
of DAC and investment in software and applications
in Arabic. Regional integration is thus highly
important to the development of a DAC industry.
Within this context, the Information and
Communication Technology Division (ICTD) at UN-ESCWA
launched a series of Digital Arabic Content (DAC)
competitions in five member countries during the
months of June and July 2008 for promoting the DAC
industry in western Asia in partnership with
specialized technology incubators located in
Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Syria and Yemen.
The competitions aim at selecting the best
innovative DAC projects which may contribute to
various socio-economic sectors such as education,
health, government, culture, and media, thus
promoting involvement in the DAC domain in view of
its importance as well as the availability of new
opportunities for market access. The competitions
specifically target entrepreneurs and university
graduates wishing to develop digital Arabic content
ideas and concepts into viable ICT products. The
competitions fall within the framework of the
project on “Promotion of the Digital Arabic Content
Industry through Incubation” which aims at
developing the DAC industry in Western Asia.
The launching events included presentations on the
importance of the DAC industry, the modality of
competing and evaluation as well as an overview of
the partner incubators’ services. The launching
commenced with opening speeches and welcome notes by
involved university presidents and incubator
directors. Discussions that took place revealed high
interest in promoting the Arabic language in the IT
domain in spite of the foreseen obstacles and
difficulties.
The number of participants attending the event
ranged between 40 and 300, varying between countries
and representing universities, colleges, NGOs,
private enterprises involved in the DAC domain as
well as students. Noteworthy is also the
participation of the media which played an essential
role in raising awareness on the importance of DAC.
UN-ESCWA and the partner incubators continue to
invite all eligible entrepreneurs and university
graduates interested in participating in the
competition by submitting a duly completed
application form to one of the following incubators:
Berytech Technology and Health in Lebanon, the
Palestinian Information and Communications
Technology Incubator in Palestine, the Jordan
Innovation Centre at Philadelphia University in
Jordan, the ICT Incubator in Syria and Aden ICT
Incubator in Yemen. It is worth mentioning that the
latter incubator in Yemen was inaugurated during the
launching event of the competition where winning
projects will be the first to enter the incubation
process.
For further information, please refer to the
project’s website at the following address:
http://www.escwa.un.org/divisions/projects/dac/index.asp
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