Hamad al-Kuwari: QSTP managing director and Chad Hurley: Qatar bound.
Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP), part of Qatar Foundation Research and Development (QF R&D), has announced YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley will speak at the opening ceremony of the International Association of Science Parks and Areas of Innovation’s (IASP) 31st Annual World Conference, being held in Doha from October 19 to 22.
IASP is a global gathering of 1,000 leading government, business and innovation figures from 45 countries. Hurley’s participation will be highpoint of the event given his vast experience and expertise as co-founder of the world’s largest and most popular video sharing site and the third most visited site globally.
This year’s event will be the first time it will have been held in the Middle East since its establishment in 1984. What sets IASP 2014 Doha apart from other events is its influential base of delegates – a group with the ability to effect real change in how entrepreneurs are supported by public and private sector innovation catalysts around the globe.
It is an excellent opportunity for hundreds of science and technology parks from around the globe to explore new models of support for the world’s most empowered and connected generation of technology start-ups and entrepreneurs.
Head of the IASP 2014 Doha organising committee and QSTP managing director, Hamad al-Kuwari, said: “This year’s event is already hitting new milestones and proving extremely popular, receiving its highest participation numbers in the past four years, and attracting 138 abstract submissions and 33 key speakers.”
Hurley studied Fine Arts at Indiana University of Pennsylvania before helping to develop PayPal’s user interface for eBay. In 2005, he co-founded YouTube with two partners, turning it into one of the world’s top ten web services within a year. Hurley currently also serves as an advisor of YouTube since selling it to Google for $1.76bn.
One billion video clips are now seen daily on YouTube, with 24 hours’ worth of content uploaded to YouTube every minute. According to the Arab Social Media Report in 2012, studies show that there are over 167mn video views a day in the Arab region, putting the region in the number two spot in the world (behind the US and ahead of Brazil).
One hour of YouTube video is uploaded in the Arab region per minute. Residents of Qatar are more connected to the Internet than almost any other country in the world, according to the United Nations Broadband Commission’s State of Broadband Report 2013.
IASP 2014 Doha takes place at the Qatar National Convention Centre and registration is open now. More information could be had from www.iasp2014doha.com