ATech World Conference & Exhibition & World Game Expo Concludes Today

Thursday 11 May 2017

Abu Dhabi - MENA Herald: ATech World Conference & Exhibition & World Game Expo Concludes Today at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre – ADNEC. The event was held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Presidential Affairs of the UAE, and it was organized by INDEX Conferences & Exhibitions, member of INDEX Holding.

ATech World 2017 featured a number of events, an exhibition and a conference, all focusing on the evolving technology that will be affecting our lives in the very near future. It brought together experts, thought-leaders and decision makers who have shared their insights and expertise in this field.

Held in conjunction with ATech World, World Game Expo witnessed the participation of professionals and experts from the video games and digital entertainment sector in the MENA region. World Game Expo provided the perfect platform for interactive entertainment developers, publishers, distributors, investors, government officials, and retailers in the MENA region to demonstrate their games, build brand awareness, and conduct face-to-face business.

Eng. Anas Al Madani, Vice Chairman and Group CEO of INDEX Holding said: “According to data from Abu Dhabi media free zone authority twofour54, the gaming sector in the Middle East and North Africa region is growing faster than the global average, outpacing Russia, China and even South Korea. Moreover, it is set to triple in size to US$4.4 billion by 2022. This has been evident through the remarkable participation in World Game Expo that we have witnessed this year from the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.”

Commenting about the hackathon that happened parallel to the event, Eng. Anas Al Madani said: “Abu Dhabi Hackathon was held around the clock, where developers competed to develop an app that promotes empathy, tolerance, and co-existence, and that goes in line with the UAE’s government initiatives dedicated to promote the spirit of tolerance and the spread of hope and positivity in the world, which have made the UAE a source of prosperity, security and stability in the region.”

In conjunction with World Game Expo, Indie Game DevFest took place in which eight teams of independent game developers competed in five categories that included best game, best narrative, best visual art, best design, and best in audio. The organizing committee will announce the winners of the Indie Game DevFest and the hackathon at the end of the day.

Nader Alrawahi, Angelhack Abu Dhabi Community Champion said: “I truly believe there should be a hackathon every month! The aim is really to foster a cultural shift towards making things in the UAE through entrepreneurial thinking. With the Angelhack global hackathon series at the ATECH World Conference, and with the backing of sponsors such as Khalifa University and Eleva8or, we are paving the steps in the right direction for developers, designers, entrepreneurs to integrate into the startup ecosystem much needed to realize the objective for beyond-oil economic diversification.”

From her side, Anjli Narwani Angelhack Abu Dhabi Mentor said: “What we need is to equip the UAE students with tools and access to actualize their potential. When we create opportunities to bridge the gap between students and taking ideas to market, not only do we fuel innovation, we also empower the youth to help shape the future! Angelhack Abu Dhabi was a fantastic platform for this. Better-still the hackathon offered students the opportunity to learn from real-world mentors - entrepreneurs, idea-engineers, product-makers - beyond the everyday classroom learning experience.”

The event has witnessed a remarkable participation also from the National Media Council who are aiming to regulate the electronic information system, which defines professional and ethical practice frameworks for publishing and electronic broadcasting in the public interest. Saudi Arabia’s media regulatory body GCAM also discussed video games age classifications.

A strategic game for the mobile application called “Zayed The Leader” was also launched at ATech World, in which the game simulates the life story and methodology that was implemented by His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan in bringing up the United Arab Emirates.

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