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Dubai: Tecom Investments, Dubai government's
prime vehicle to spearhead the ICT sector, has pumped in
Dh11 billion ($3 billion) so far in setting up seven
knowledge free zones, a top official said.
"We have created a hub for knowledge-based
economy and through our facilities we have created the
right environment and the right opportunities for our
people," Abdul Latif Al Mulla, chief executive of
Tecom Investments told Gulf News yesterday.
Tecom, which eight years ago launched the emirate's
knowledge clusters, now manages Dubai Internet City,
Dubai Media City, Dubai Studio City, Knowledge Village,
DuBiotech, International Media Production Zone and Dubai
Outsourcing Zone. It has so far attracted 2,400
companies who together employ 30,000 professionals.
According to Madar Research, the ICT sector
represents about 4 per cent of the UAE's GDP. Despite
Dubai's skyrocketing success in attracting ICT and media
companies into these free zones, analysts feel feel that
the country has a long way to go to become a knowledge
economy.
For one, manufacturing ICT products and components,
research and development are the two key links missing
in the overall development plan.
The Tecom cluster was launched in the late 1990s as
part of the government's overall vision to transform the
largely trading community into a knowledge society.
The economy largely remains a consumer of electronics
and gadgets. Al Mulla feels, the time has come for Dubai
to become a ICT and electronics products manufacturing
hub.
"In a globalised environment, you do not need
everything in one place. People manage things through
outsourcing," Al Mulla, a former Microsoft
executive, said.
"We need to know what is doable and feasible for
us. Right now we are focussing a lot on developing the
human resources, team leaders through streamlining the
IT education in Dubai."
However, like many other economic sectors, growth in
the UAE's ICT sector is also grossly imbalanced and
tilted towards Dubai.
Right now, the federal government is establishing
information cells across various departments and at
emirate level, to streamline the flow of information and
statistics to unify the flow of statistics, when Dubai
has already successfully launched eGovernment project.
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