DUBAI // The man considered by many as the "father of the internet" yesterday urged the Middle East to accept "new ways of doing business" and embrace technological innovation for future growth. In the 1970s, Vint Cerf was an instrumental figure in the development of the internet's technical building blocks. Yesterday in Dubai, he called for a new approach to business and entrepreneurship, one that funds research and embraces failure alongside success.
"If you want innovation in this region, you need to step away from traditional ways of doing business, such as the son going off into the family business, and accept that there may be new ways of doing business which is more successful," he said. "There is a natural human tendency to keep what has worked in the past." Although the MENA region has a population of 337 million, only 17 per cent can surf the internet, a situation that could hamper long-term economic development and isolate local markets if not addressed now, executives from Google, the US search engine giant, said yesterday.
Mr Cerf is widely known as being instrumental in the development of the internet during the 1960s and 1970s and was one of the lead designers behind the general architecture of what the World Wide Web is today. He was in Dubai in his role as a vice president of Google, the world's largest internet company. Google's first Arabia 2.0 conference yesterday brought together technology and government leaders from across the Middle East to explore how innovation can take off in the region.
"I hope that there is a growing appetite of information-sharing in this region that will make a knowledge economy more robust," Mr Cerf said. "It will take some serious investment in education, and business practices will have to learn to adapt in the digital world." He said that one of the central obstacles in improving the level of new technology and innovation in the region would be to advance the level of broadband internet connections.
About 6 million internet users in the Middle East - or about 12 per cent of the total online population in the region - have access to broadband networks. The Middle East is often cited as having one of the poorest quality broadband connections in the world. Mohammed Gawdat, the managing director of emerging markets for Google, said the Middle East lagged in developing Arabic intellectual property and content.
According to statistics from the World Intellectual Property Organisation, only 3,224 patents have been filed in the Middle East since 2002. Japan, by comparison, filed more than 233,000 new patents in 2008. "When you think about the evolution of innovation in the region, you would think about how the world is accessing information in the region, but the region is not responding well," Mr Gawdat said.
There were only two Web pages for every Arab speaker online, compared with nine Web pages in English and five in Russian. Marwan Juma, the minister for information and communications technology in Jordan, said he was developing an office that would encourage and safeguard the country's intellectual property patents and ideas. The UAE is also working to increase the amount of research and development projects undertaken. Technopark, a free zone based in Jebal Ali, is negotiating with Intel, IBM and Nokia to develop joint-venture research and development facilities.
Mr Juma received a loud ovation after saying Google should invest more of its engineering resources in the Middle East. Although Google operates local offices in the UAE and Egypt, its Arabic engineering team is based in Zurich. "The only way [Google] can help us transform our part of the world is by being in our part of the world," Mr Juma said. The address may have already paid off. Shortly after the panel discussion ended, Mr Juma was seen discussing bringing Google to Jordan with Shannon Maher, the engineering director for Google, who heads the company's Arabic development team.
dgeorgecosh@thenational.ae
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sept 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
How Islam's view of posthumous transplant surgery changed
Transplants from the deceased have been carried out in hospitals across the globe for decades, but in some countries in the Middle East, including the UAE, the practise was banned until relatively recently.
Opinion has been divided as to whether organ donations from a deceased person is permissible in Islam.
The body is viewed as sacred, during and after death, thus prohibiting cremation and tattoos.
One school of thought viewed the removal of organs after death as equally impermissible.
That view has largely changed, and among scholars and indeed many in society, to be seen as permissible to save another life.
How does ToTok work?
The calling app is available to download on Google Play and Apple App Store
To successfully install ToTok, users are asked to enter their phone number and then create a nickname.
The app then gives users the option add their existing phone contacts, allowing them to immediately contact people also using the application by video or voice call or via message.
Users can also invite other contacts to download ToTok to allow them to make contact through the app.
World ranking (at month’s end)
Jan - 257
Feb - 198
Mar - 159
Apr - 161
May - 159
Jun – 162
Currently: 88
Year-end rank since turning pro
2016 - 279
2015 - 185
2014 - 143
2013 - 63
2012 - 384
2011 - 883
CHELSEA'S NEXT FIVE GAMES
Mar 10: Norwich(A)
Mar 13: Newcastle(H)
Mar 16: Lille(A)
Mar 19: Middlesbrough(A)
Apr 2: Brentford(H)
MATCH INFO
Rugby World Cup (all times UAE)
Final: England v South Africa, Saturday, 1pm
Quick facts on cancer
- Cancer is the second-leading cause of death worldwide, after cardiovascular diseases
- About one in five men and one in six women will develop cancer in their lifetime
- By 2040, global cancer cases are on track to reach 30 million
- 70 per cent of cancer deaths occur in low and middle-income countries
- This rate is expected to increase to 75 per cent by 2030
- At least one third of common cancers are preventable
- Genetic mutations play a role in 5 per cent to 10 per cent of cancers
- Up to 3.7 million lives could be saved annually by implementing the right health
strategies
- The total annual economic cost of cancer is $1.16 trillion
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Zakat definitions
Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.
Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.
Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.
Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.
Engine: 5.6-litre V8
Transmission: seven-speed automatic
Power: 400hp
Torque: 560Nm
Price: Dh234,000 - Dh329,000
On sale: now
Ain Dubai in numbers
126: The length in metres of the legs supporting the structure
1 football pitch: The length of each permanent spoke is longer than a professional soccer pitch
16 A380 Airbuses: The equivalent weight of the wheel rim.
9,000 tonnes: The amount of steel used to construct the project.
5 tonnes: The weight of each permanent spoke that is holding the wheel rim in place
192: The amount of cable wires used to create the wheel. They measure a distance of 2,4000km in total, the equivalent of the distance between Dubai and Cairo.
European arms
Known EU weapons transfers to Ukraine since the war began: Germany 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 Stinger surface-to-air missiles. Luxembourg 100 NLAW anti-tank weapons, jeeps and 15 military tents as well as air transport capacity. Belgium 2,000 machine guns, 3,800 tons of fuel. Netherlands 200 Stinger missiles. Poland 100 mortars, 8 drones, Javelin anti-tank weapons, Grot assault rifles, munitions. Slovakia 12,000 pieces of artillery ammunition, 10 million litres of fuel, 2.4 million litres of aviation fuel and 2 Bozena de-mining systems. Estonia Javelin anti-tank weapons. Latvia Stinger surface to air missiles. Czech Republic machine guns, assault rifles, other light weapons and ammunition worth $8.57 million.
If you go
The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly direct to Nairobi, with fares starting from Dh1,695. The resort can be reached from Nairobi via a 35-minute flight from Wilson Airport or Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, or by road, which takes at least three hours.
The rooms
Rooms at Fairmont Mount Kenya range from Dh1,870 per night for a deluxe room to Dh11,000 per night for the William Holden Cottage.
New process leads to panic among jobseekers
As a UAE-based travel agent who processes tourist visas from the Philippines, Jennifer Pacia Gado is fielding a lot of calls from concerned travellers just now. And they are all asking the same question.
“My clients are mostly Filipinos, and they [all want to know] about good conduct certificates,” says the 34-year-old Filipina, who has lived in the UAE for five years.
Ms Gado contacted the Philippines Embassy to get more information on the certificate so she can share it with her clients. She says many are worried about the process and associated costs – which could be as high as Dh500 to obtain and attest a good conduct certificate from the Philippines for jobseekers already living in the UAE.
“They are worried about this because when they arrive here without the NBI [National Bureau of Investigation] clearance, it is a hassle because it takes time,” she says.
“They need to go first to the embassy to apply for the application of the NBI clearance. After that they have go to the police station [in the UAE] for the fingerprints. And then they will apply for the special power of attorney so that someone can finish the process in the Philippines. So it is a long process and more expensive if you are doing it from here.”
