: : : : THE DIGITAL ARABIC CONTENT COMPETITION

Within the framework of the project "Promotion of the Digital Arabic Content Industry through Incubation" which was initiated in 2007, UN-ESCWA, in collaboration with selected technology incubators in the region, organized several national competitions to incubate the best digital Arabic content (DAC) projects during the second half of 2008. The competition was open to young entrepreneurs as well as university and college graduates who have a project idea or a concept that would contribute to the development of the DAC industry.

The main aims of the DAC competition are:

• encouraging university graduates to work in the DAC domain in view of its importance and the available market opportunities;

• instigating entrepreneurs and guiding them towards new investment opportunities;

• raising awareness on the importance of DAC and promoting this industry in the region.

Final Results

The DAC Competition in Syria was launched by UN-ESCWA in cooperation with the ICT Incubator between 9 July and 15 August 2008. A total of nine proposals were received as participants to the competition.

Following a two-phased evaluation process undertaken by UN-ESCWA, the ICT Incubator as well as selected experts from the field, two winners were selected. The first place was awarded to the Automatic Text-to-Speech Engine and the second to the Interactive Academic Portal academia.sy.

The Automatic Text-to-Speech Engine was presented by Suzan Mohamad, Alia Dreiresh, and Afaf Al-Shalabi. It is designed to read written Arabic text thus transforming it to speech at a high accuracy rate.

The Interactive Academic Portal academia.sy won was proposed by Khaled Mousa, Yaqoub Kaddouri, Reem Bou Hasan and Bashar Dreeb. The portal essentially includes media content relating to the academic field and promotes interaction among institutions working in this field.

Both projects were awarded an incubation period of one year at the ICT Incubator. Their incubation started on 1 October 2008.

Background

The Information and Communication Technology Division at UN-ESCWA in cooperation with the ICT Incubator in Syria launched the Digital Arabic Content Competition in Syria on 9 July 2008. The event took place at Rida Said Conference Center – Auditorium Hall at Damascus University and included presentations on the importance and opportunities of the digital Arabic content industry, the competition and submission modalities, and services that will be provided by the ICT Incubator for winning projects.

Over 70 participants attended the event representing different universities, NGOs as well as graduates and the press.

The deadline for all eligible and interested parties was set on 15 August 2008.

Announcement      [Arabic]  [English]
Application Form   [Arabic]  [English]

Launching Event Documents

Agenda  [Arabic]  [English]
The Importance and Opportunities of the Digital Arabic Content   [Arabic]
Presentation on the Digital Arabic Content Competition in Syria   [Arabic]
Presentation on the Value of the Incubation Process through the ICT Incubator [Arabic]