JEDDAH: Entrepreneurs, innovators and pioneers from various industries will converge on the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) Thursday to witness the launch of TEDxArabia. Twenty speakers have been chosen, each allotted between 10 and 15 minutes to share their lives with over 1,000 audience members. Most speakers will be talking in Arabic. The format and scale of this event is one of the first of its kind in the Kingdom. Mona Siraj, the former Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation television presenter will host the event. The theme for this TEDx conference is “What is innovation?”. Topics to be explored include building smarter cities, enhancing the innovation ecosystem and discussing the Kingdom's Global Innovation Index ranking. TEDxArabia founder Bander Al-Mutlaq told Saudi Gazette that given the large scale, setting up the event has been a daunting task. “It's been 18 months since we conceived it and we are glad our vision has turned into reality today. Being the first TEDx in the region, our primary role has been to inform the public about how this platform has the potential to inspire many young minds, build a better society and a better nation and why there is so much hype around this event. Tickets are almost sold out.” TEDxArabia will also commemorate the Global Entrepreneurship Week that is currently underway. Omar Shabaan, who is managing logistics for the event said, “Many organizations have come forward to support this event. It has been a rewarding experience. The opportunity to learn, network and share knowledge is enormous. The team is so energetic, we've had excellent collaborations.” Shabaan is also the co-founder of Bridges Bookstore and has chosen to volunteer for the event. His team of volunteers has worked tirelessly to ensure the event's success. Al-Mutlaq added, “I'm grateful to God for His blessing, to provide me with such a great support staff, which includes my wife, the executive producer for the event, all our speakers and volunteers who've been so generous with their time, including Rania Salama and Ibrahim Al-Harabi, heads of the Telecommunication and Information Technology and YBC at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry. I'm grateful to Yasser Bahjat, a major Saudi TED translator along with other translators like Anwar Daffallah from Sudan and Mahmoud Aghoirly from Kuwait who have been an essential part of TEDxArabia since its inception.” “Some of the greatest minds in our community will foster an innovation ecosystem and explore new ideas so that we can take this further. We welcome everyone who has an idea to share to be part of Jeddah's TEDx community and help take it further,” he concluded. Tickets for the event can be purchased at Bridges Bookstore, Kai Fitness Centers or online at www.tedxarabia.com. The venue is the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Haras Al-Hudood Street. The event will take place from 4 P.M. to 11 P.M. It would be pertinent to mention here that a preview from The 99 movie by Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa will also be screened for the first time in the Kingdom at today's event. TED is a nonprofit event which started as a four-day conference in California 25 years ago. TED has become a platform to support world-changing ideas that are shared globally through the Internet. At TED, the world's leading thinkers and doers are each asked to talk about their lives in 18 minutes. Tickets to the annual TED conference, which takes place in California, cost more than $4,000 per person and are sold out months in advance.
