tag

Female participants have occupied an impressive “70%” of the training seats allocated to Qatari nationals last year by the Qatar Digital Academy (QDA), which has played a crucial role in advancing women’s leadership in the country’s digital sector.In its 2024 annual report, the QDA stated that Qatari women demonstrated strong dedication by filling “1,150” of the total training seats available to nationals. This, the report further stated, underlines the academy’s commitment to empowering women in technology, positioning the Middle East as a global leader in digital inclusion.According to the report, this significant female participation has contributed substantially to the region’s digital transformation efforts, reflecting the country’s progressive approach to building an inclusive digital workforce in alignment with Qatar National Vision 2030 and the Digital Agenda 2030.The report noted that the academy has implemented a comprehensive evaluation framework to ensure training effectiveness, measuring key areas, including instructor expertise, virtual training delivery, training materials quality, learning effectiveness, return on investment, and learning environment.The annual report also revealed that participant satisfaction ratings have been exceptionally high across all metrics, with instructor evaluation scoring “94.21%”, course organisation achieving “91.69%”, and achievement of course objectives reaching “91.14%”.Training materials and content scored “90.21%”, while training delivery methodology achieved “89.90%”, resulting in an overall satisfaction score of “91.43%”.Meanwhile, the report stated that the academy’s success aligns with the sixth pillar of the Digital Agenda 2030, which aims to empower society to drive digital transformation and promote sustainable development.“At the core of QDA’s mission is empowering individuals and organisations, focusing on developing digital skills and nurturing local talent to ensure a workforce that is future-ready for the digital economy’s demands.“In 2024, QDA expanded its training programmes to include all workforce segments, including non-ICT professionals, contributing to enhanced digital proficiency across various sectors,” the report stated.It further explained: “This expansion aligns with the Digital Agenda’s ambitious goal of creating 26,000 new job opportunities by 2030 and increasing the percentage of the workforce employed in ICT to 10%, focusing on developing advanced digital skills and increasing the proportion of highly skilled workers,” the report stated.In the report, Duha al-Buhendi, director of the Digital Society and Digital Competencies Department at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), stressed that the academy’s decision to include non-ICT government employees has resulted in remarkable growth, with training programmes increasing by “94%” and awarded certifications rising by “150%.”“The QDA’s strategy focuses on empowering non-ICT employees with essential skills, such as cybersecurity, privacy management, and modern digital applications like artificial intelligence (Al), and cloud computing, enhancing their efficiency and transforming them into a more capable and future-ready workforce,” the report also stated.During the Web Summit Qatar held in February this year, al-Buhendi and Alex Dai, executive vice president at Huawei Gulf North, signed a partnership initiative to provide government employees with educational opportunities in crucial digital fields, including cloud computing, information technology, IoT, and other emerging digital technologies.“Under the terms of the partnership initiative, Huawei will provide digital training courses to government employees, granting them access to the Huawei Talent Platform. Employees will be able to create their own accounts and enrol in a diverse range of training programs, offering a flexible learning experience tailored to their professional needs and schedules,” the MCIT website stated.

The Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) has launched a pioneering proof of concept (POC), under its Digital Asset Lab, marking a significant step forward in the application of blockchain technology to Islamic finance.This development was enabled through the collaboration of a consortium of partners — AlRayan Bank, Blade Labs, and Hashgraph — each contributing unique expertise to a shared vision of financial innovation.The POC will demonstrate a blockchain-based digital receipt system (DRS) that can enhance transparency, efficiency, and regulatory compliance in Shariah-compliant asset-backed finance.The system will operate on HashSphere, a private permissioned distributed ledger technology (DLT) network built with Hedera technology, deployed on Google Cloud infrastructure provisioned through QFC’s lab.This initiative exemplifies a collaborative model where regulatory foresight, technical innovation, and domain expertise converge.The QFC serves as the orchestrator of the initiative, providing infrastructure support and subject matter expertise to guide the use case development.Hashgraph delivers and operates the underlying blockchain infrastructure, ensuring secure and scalable network performance, and Blade Labs leads the development of the DRS, including smart contracts and user interfaces tailored to Islamic finance use cases.AlRayan Bank plays a critical role in validating the system’s functionality, offering domain-specific insights and exploring commercialisation pathways, while Google Cloud enterprise-grade infrastructure is utilised for the initiative."Through our Digital Assets Lab, we’re proud to facilitate this pilot as a step forward in exploring how blockchain can bring greater efficiency and scalability to Shariah-compliant financial products. This initiative reflects our continued support for tokenisation, financial innovation, and collaboration aligned with the Third Financial Sector Strategic Plan," said QFC Authority chief executive officer Yousuf Mohamed al-Jaida.Omar al-Emadi, acting Group chief executive officer of AlRayan Bank, said innnovation is a cornerstone of Islamic finance, and this initiative reflects its commitment to advancing Shariah-compliant financial solutions that meet the evolving needs of the market."Through our participation in this POC, we reaffirm our role in validating the system’s functionality and laying the groundwork for scalable, practical applications that can strengthen the future of Islamic finance while reinforcing Qatar’s position as a regional hub for financial innovation," he said.By participating in this POC, it is not only validating the system, but also helping pave the way for practical and scalable applications of blockchain technology in the Islamic finance sector, according to Houssam Itani, Group chief transformation officer, AlRayan Bank.Sami Mian, chief executive officer, Blade Labs, said the DRS POC will showcase that blockchain, smart contracts, and global identity standards can address the operational bottlenecks that currently prevent Islamic finance institutions from scaling certain Shariah-compliant asset-backed products."By providing a controlled environment to measure actual business outcomes, institutions can evaluate whether this technology approach solves problems worth solving before making larger commitments," he said.Eric Piscini, chief executive officer, Hashgraph, said it is built to deliver the trust, performance, and regulatory confidence that today’s financial systems demand."Backed by the scalability and security of Hedera’s enterprise-grade technology, this collaboration highlights how the right infrastructure can unlock new possibilities in both Islamic finance and broader financial innovation," according to him.

HE Director of the Government Communications Office (GCO) Sheikh Jassim bin Mansour bin Jabor al-Thani met with a delegation from Meta led by Head of Service Industries for the Middle East and Africa Joachim Marciano.Discussions during the meeting focused on strengthening co-operation to develop national talent, on the sidelines of a training programme organised by the GCO on digital advertising strategies in collaboration with leading global digital platforms.

HE Director of the Government Communications Office (GCO) Sheikh Jassim bin Mansour bin Jabor Al-Thani met with a delegation from Meta led by Head of Service Industries for the Middle East and Africa Joachim Marciano.Discussions during the meeting focused on strengthening cooperation to develop national talent, on the sidelines of a training program organised by the GCO on digital advertising strategies in collaboration with leading global digital platforms.

As part of its commitment to fostering a dynamic digital business ecosystem and supporting the growth of startups in their journey towards market readiness, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), signed co-operation agreements with six leading organisations to support the third cohort of TASMU Accelerator.The Cohort Champions include QNB, Deloitte, and Ooredoo, who will each award QR200,000 to three top-performing startups during the Demo Day, in recognition of their innovative solutions and their contribution to advancing Qatar's digital transformation.The Strategic Partners include Commercial Bank, Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) and Qatar Development Bank (QDB). Commercial Bank will provide free accounts to start-ups without a minimum deposit requirement, QFC will provide technical and business advisory services, support with licensing procedures, and offer incentives to companies nominated by the TASMU Accelerator, provided their activities fall within the scope of those authorised by or through QFC.QDB will ensure startups qualify for the Talent Community programme, in addition to offering up to six months of free housing and creating opportunities for co-investment through its investment arm.Speaking at the ceremony, Eman al-Kuwari, Director of the Digital Innovation Department at MCIT, said, "The signing of these agreements reflects our shared commitment to start-ups, and the importance of empowering them to generate tangible impact and succeed in building a business environment that fosters innovation."She emphasised the importance of institutional integration, knowledge exchange and collaboration with digital innovation leaders to support startups in expanding their operations and accelerating their entry into the local market through building a strong network of strategic partnerships with local and global institutions, reinforcing Qatar's position as a regional hub for digital innovation.These collaborations will further reinforce the progress of the TASMU Accelerator and consolidate its role as a leading national platform for supporting digital entrepreneurs. The programme has already gained broad international recognition, with its third cohort attracting more than 1,000 applications from 77 countries. This strong response underscores the accelerator's ability to attract top talent and innovative ideas from diverse markets, and to position itself as a gateway connecting global innovators with Qatar's entrepreneurial ecosystem.These agreements aim to strengthen the capacity of the third cohort of start-ups to enter the Qatari market, expand their operations and develop innovative solutions aligned with the Digital Agenda 2030 and the Qatar National Vision 2030, supporting the country's transition towards the digital economy.

The Government Communication Office (GCO) is organising a comprehensive course on 'Digital Advertising Strategies' for representatives from government and semi-government entities this week. The program aims to strengthen national competencies and enhance institutional communication teams' ability to effectively leverage digital tools and platforms for promotional campaigns in alignment with Qatar's national priorities.Running from Aug. 31 - Sept. 4, the course is being delivered in partnership with major international platforms, including Meta, LinkedIn, TikTok, Google, YouTube, X, Snapchat and Amazon.The course brings together 72 communication and media directors and officials from 44 government and semi-government entities across the country to develop strategic planning in digital advertising while building expertise in utilising global digital platforms"The Government Communication Office remains committed to developing our national workforce's skills and equipping them with the latest digital communication tools and knowledge," said HE GCO Director Sheikh Jassim bin Mansour bin Jabor Al-Thani. "This strengthens their ability to design and execute effective promotional campaigns that keep pace with the rapidly evolving global media landscape while supporting Qatar's comprehensive development, in line with our Third National Development Strategy."HE Sheikh Jassim emphasised the value of strategic partnerships with leading global institutions and digital platforms, noting: " Through such collaborations, we deliver targeted training programs that meet specific government sector requirements, bring world-class expertise to our local talent, ensuring they remain at the forefront of digital communication and advertising innovation."The five-day curriculum covers essential digital marketing foundations and best practices for the government sector, with a focus on developing content strategies. Participants will learn to strategically deploy these platforms in government campaigns to maximise reach, impact and communication effectiveness.The program includes practical workshops featuring case studies of successful Qatari government campaigns, allowing participants to analyse outcomes and identify proven strategies. Attendees will develop end-to-end digital campaigns that reflect national priorities, from initial planning and development through to performance measurement.This training course is part of a comprehensive professional development series organised by the GCO to enhance Qatar's institutional communication capabilities. The initiative focuses on building national expertise in media and digital advertising, positioning government communication as a strategic driver in achieving the Third National Development Strategy.

People mostly mix between digitisation and digitalisation. However, in business matters and services it would be very important to differentiate between digitisation and digitalisation.Understanding the key differences between these two terms is essential when formulating business strategy. Also, there are some legal implications here regarding data protection, authenticity of the docs for evidence purposes and acceptance before Courts.In brief, digitisation means to convert something into a digital format, and usually refers to encoding of data and documents. While, digitalisation means to convert business processes to use digital technologies, instead of similar things or offline systems such as paper or whiteboards.In a nutshell, digitisation refers to information, while digitalisation refers to processes.Appreciating the difference is important because they are genuinely different things to business matters, each requiring different resources, approaches and tools. Whether you are using the term digitise or digitalise, make sure you are referring to the right thing to avoid confusion, misunderstandings and could be legal repercussions.Digitisation is basically the process of taking analogue information, such as documents, sounds or photographs, and converting into a digital format that can be stored and accessed on computers, mobile phones and other digital devices.In business, digitisation may involve scanning old documents into PDFs, converting printed photographs into image files, or transforming printed reports into meaningful data that can be manipulated and analysed. Some digitisation projects may include going back over years of business records and information and converting them into a digital format for easy reference and other logistical purposes. The original content may be stored or destroyed, or may degrade over time, as in the case of magnetic tapes.In other cases, it may be that any new information being captured in a business is now created and stored primarily in a digital format, with any physical forms being only secondary copies. We have to mention that, the law regulates this process of keeping the old data and storing them in magnetic tapes. This is sensitive work to be undertaken by experienced personnel and requires careful attention, as courts may ask for them.For digitalisation, there is still some debate around the exact meaning, which means that people sometimes use it to describe digitisation. However, the general consensus is that digitalisation refers to the conversion of processes or interactions into their digital equivalents. And because all business processes and interactions involve people in some way, it would be more accurate to say that digitalisation is the reorganisation of these business activities around digital technologies.Examples include moving from sending physical letters via the postal service to using email, or from having in-person meetings to using online video conferencing tools. The Zoom meetings were very helpful and useful during Covid-19 and sure will continue for practical reasons.Digitalisation of a business is also likely to be an ongoing exercise, as new technologies emerge that allow further digitalisation of processes and interactions in many times and for many purposes.I believe, the distinction between digitisation and digitalisation is clear. However, the mixture is there which makes unnecessary confusion. Dr AbdelGadir Warsama Ghalib is a corporate legal counsel. Email: [email protected]

Northwestern University in Qatar (NU-Q) has been recognised with two Telly Awards for a video produced by its Production and Digital Media Services department in support of the university’s Executive Education Programme.The video was recognised in two categories: a “Non-Broadcast Video for an Educational Institution” and a “Craft Award for Editing”, with the latter acknowledging the work of production support specialist Haidar Helmi.The Telly Awards honour excellence in video and television across all screens and receive more than 13,000 entries annually from around the world.Winners are selected by a judging council of more than 250 industry experts from production companies, advertising agencies, and major networks, including Adobe, Netflix, and Meta Creative Shop.Past winners include organisations such as the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa), National Geographic, and the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.NU-Q dean and chief executive Marwan M Kraidy said that the recognition reflects the commitment and talent of the university’s staff.“The creative and technical skills of our production team may not always be visible, but they are essential to our academic mission and to the experience we offer students, faculty, and partners,” he said.For Production and Digital Media Services director Rami al-Badry, the recognition highlights the collaborative spirit that drives the department’s work.“Every project we take on is built on close collaboration with colleagues across the university,” he said.“This video is one example of how our team works hand in hand with academic and administrative units to translate ideas into high-quality productions,” al-Badry added. “Having that work recognised is a proud moment, because it shows what we can accomplish together in support of the academic mission.”The Executive Education programme at the NU-Q offers advanced training in communication, media, and leadership to professionals in the region.With these awards, the NU-Q is recognised among a wide range of global institutions and organisations for its high-quality digital and media production, a statement added.

Represented by the Information Systems Department in cooperation with the Planning, Quality and Innovation Department, the Ministry of Justice implemented a capacity-building and digital culture program in the field of digital transformation.The program targeted three administrative levels within the ministry.The two-day program, held under the patronage and attendance of HE Minister of Justice and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Ibrahim bin Ali Al Mohannadi, and senior ministry officials, included a series of training workshops that presented detailed presentations on the stages of digital transformation, with a focus on mechanisms for adhering to the requirements and standards of digital transformation and data at the local and international levels.The program also highlighted ways to enhance digital culture within institutions, reviewed modern methodologies for digital transformation accelerators, and discussed ways to effectively employ emerging technologies in the government work environment, based on global best practices.The workshops extensively addressed the importance of cybersecurity in supporting digital transformation processes, presenting local and international case studies and discussing practical examples of the challenges and opportunities associated with digital transformation projects.The program embodies the Ministry of Justice's commitment to raising awareness and knowledge in the areas of digital transformation and data management, and enhancing participants' readiness to meet the requirements of the next digital era.

Having adopted one major piece of digital-currency legislation (the GENIUS Act) and with more pending (the CLARITY Act has passed the House of Representatives), the US is poised to become a major hub for cryptocurrency-related activities, or even – taking President Donald Trump literally – the “crypto capital of the world.” But those who support the new legislation should be careful what they wish for.Unfortunately, the crypto industry has acquired so much political power – primarily through political donations – that the GENIUS Act and the CLARITY Act have been designed to prevent reasonable regulation. The result will most likely be a boom-bust cycle of epic proportions.Historically, US financial markets’ major advantage compared to other countries has been relatively greater transparency, which enables investors to gain a deeper understanding of risks and make better-informed decisions. The US also has strict rules against conflicts of interest, requirements to treat investors fairly (including by protecting their assets in proper custody arrangements), and limits on how much risk many financial firms can take.This framework is not an accident or something that emerged purely through market competition. Rather, it is the result of sensible laws and regulations that were created during the 1930s (after a major disaster) and that have evolved in a reasonable fashion since then. These rules are the major reason why it is so easy in the US to do business, to bring new ideas to market, and to raise capital to support innovation of all kinds.Any individual entrepreneur or even a potential new industry (such as crypto) may balk at these rules, claiming that they are different from anything the world has ever seen. But financial innovation involves risks for the entire financial system, not just for individual investors. The point of regulation is to protect the whole.Many major economies – including the US – learned this the hard way. Over the past 200 years, they have experienced severe financial disruptions and even systemic meltdowns. One such collapse was a major contributor to the Great Depression, which began with a stock-market crash in 1929 and spilled over to bring down many banks (and other investments), destroying millions of Americans’ wealth and dreams. Avoiding a repeat of that experience has long been an important policy goal.But the GENIUS Act does not advance this goal. The law creates a framework for stablecoins, an important emerging digital asset, issued by US and foreign firms, that purports to maintain a stable value against a particular currency or commodity, with the US dollar being the most popular anchor. Stablecoins are useful to investors active in cryptocurrency trading, enabling them to move into and out of particular crypto assets without having to navigate the traditional (non-crypto) financial system. We should expect significant demand, including from non-financial firms (such as Walmart and Amazon) seeking to bypass established payment systems.The business model of stablecoin issuers is to capture the spread between what they pay on their currencies (which is zero interest under this legislation) and what they can receive when they invest their reserves, just like a bank. All the incentives for stablecoin issuers are to invest at least some of their reserves in riskier assets to get higher returns. This will be a major source of vulnerability, particularly when issuers are licensed by permissive state authorities.Indeed, from a systemic perspective, the GENIUS Act’s main shortcoming is its failure to deal effectively with the inherent risk of stablecoin runs, because it prevents regulators from prescribing strong capital, liquidity, and other safeguards. And when any stablecoin issuer – domestic or foreign – gets into trouble, who will step in, and with what authority, to prevent the problems from spreading to the real economy, like in the 1930s?Simply applying the bankruptcy code to failed stablecoin issuers will inevitably impose severe costs on investors, including prolonged delays in receiving what’s left of their money. It will almost certainly exacerbate runs on other stablecoin issuers.Moreover, if the GENIUS Act’s goals include preserving the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency and boosting demand for Treasuries (as stated by its advocates), why does Section 15 of the law allow foreign issuers to invest their reserves in assets such as their own country’s (risky) government debt, even if that debt is not denominated in dollars? We should expect foreign regulators to condone or even favor such arrangements. But then we will have “stablecoins” with fixed dollar obligations, backed in significant part by non-dollar assets – and one can easily imagine what a big appreciation in the value of the dollar will do to such arrangements (spoiler alert: immediate liquidity problems, insolvency fears, and destabilising runs).There is a lot more trouble to come, particularly if any version of the CLARITY Act passes the Senate. This legislation would allow conflicts of interest and self-dealing on a scale not allowed since the 1920s. There are also major national security concerns, to the extent that both the GENIUS Act and the CLARITY bill allow or even facilitate the continued use of stablecoins (and crypto more broadly) in illicit financial transactions.The US may well become the crypto capital of the world and, under its emerging legislative framework, a few rich people will surely get richer. But in its eagerness to do the crypto industry’s bidding, Congress has exposed Americans and the world to the real possibility of the return of financial panics and severe economic damage, implying massive job losses and wealth destruction. – Project Syndicate*Simon Johnson, a 2024 Nobel laureate in economics and a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, is a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management and the co-author (with Daron Acemoglu) of Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity (PublicAffairs, 2023).