Sonya Janahi, a board member of Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry, hopes this week’s Arab Businessmen and Investors Conference (ABIC) in Manama has served to “shock” the region’s leaders into confronting the 4th industrial revolution (4IR).
The three-day event tackled a wide range of issues relating to 4IR, including innovation, ethics and diversification, funding challenges and integrating disruptive products and services across business portfolios, among others.
But Janahi told Arabian Business: “Unfortunately what is happening in the Arab world is that we’re very far behind when it comes to the advancement of technologies that are happening internationally, be it artificial intelligence, be it 3D printing.
“The Arab countries are sleeping slightly when it comes to industrial or technological innovations and advancements.”
Janahi was the driving force behind this year’s 18th edition of ABIC and she hoped there was plenty for attendees to take away from the event.
She added: “The idea for this conference is to basically shock everybody. To make them wake up. To bring together all the Arab countries to sit and discuss the challenges and how to overcome the challenges.
“We don’t want to hear just the problems, we want to also focus on the solutions to ensure that we can come out of this conference with a road map to expedite the implementation of the technological advancements in this part of the world.”
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