ArabNet Digital Summit 2018 Will Focus On MENA's Smart Economy, Investments And More The two-day summit will be spread across five separate forums: AdTech, Money, Smart Economy, Investment and Real Estate Tech.

By Entrepreneur Middle East Staff

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ArabNet Digital Summit 2018

MENA "treps and startups, one of the biggest digital conference in the region, ArabNet Digital Summit 2018 is back for its sixth edition and ready to stir up discourse. Bringing together over 100 speakers, 75 exhibitors, an expected number of 1,800 attendees and more, this year's summit will be held on April 30 - May 1 at the Madinat Jumeirah Conferences and Events Center in Dubai. The two-day summit will be spread across five separate forums: AdTech, Money, Smart Economy, Investment and Real Estate Tech.

The summit will host the Startup Championship, a global-scale pitching challenge gathering the winning startups from the local rounds of ArabNet's Startup Battle. With startups from Beirut, Kuwait, Riyadh, Casablanca, Muscat and Dubai, 18 startups would be pitching their businesses for a chance to win US$20,000 in prizes, along with other awards. It would also host the final pitches and awards ceremony of the Smartpreneur Competition, organized by Dubai Chamber of Commerce. ArabNet would also release its third edition of The State of Digital Investments in MENA (2013-2017) report, published in partnership with Dubai SME and with the participation of H.E. Abdul Baset Al Janahi, CEO of Dubai SME.

The two-day summit kicks off with the AdTech Forum, which will feature two tracks on the latest trends in digital media and advertising, including the AdTech Showcase- a convergence of new advertising and media tech to improve the impact of campaigns and help publishers maximize revenues, with topics on data management and targeting, the role of agencies in e-commerce and more. On the same day, the newly-launched Money Forum- powered by NextMoney will delve into trends and opportunities in fintech, banking and transactional businesses with speakers such as Emirates Islamic's Zubair Ahmed and FinTech Hive's Raja Al Mazrouei. And for those interested in blockchain, Xische Academy will also be holding a Blockchain Masterclass, designed to help leaders make informed decisions.

On May 1, the new Real Estate Tech Forum will be launched to focus on tech's impact on the real estate sector, followed by the Investment Forum, which will feature discussions on fund closures and initiatives to support the investment ecosystem, with speakers including ConsenSys Capital's Kavita Gupta and Iliad Partners' Omar H. Al-Madhi. In parallel, the Smart Economy Forum will explore discussions on reshaping cities utilizing blockchain tech, AI and IoT.

Speakers who would be sharing insights on the conference include Entrepreneur Middle East's Aby Sam Thomas, Twitter MENA's Benjamin Ampen, Google's Bruno Bianchini, Wework's Rachid Abu-Hassan, Oman Technology Fund's Sharifa Albarami, BrandRipplr's Tanaz Dizadji, MEVP's Walid Mansour, Careem's Zach Finkelstein and more.

Related: ArabNet Digital Summit 2017 To Explore MENA Digital Trends and Opportunities
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