Technology & IT | Saturday 6 October, 2018 3:46 am |

Developers, entrepreneurs and technology enthusiasts from around the Kingdom gathered at the Ritz-Carlton in Jeddah to attend the Application World Forum for its second consecutive year.

The three-day forum was launched in the presence of Deputy Makkah Gov. Prince Abdullah bin Bandar, “known for being a great supporter of entrepreneurs and technology in the country,” according to Thamer Al-Fartooshi, chairman of the Jeddah Entrepreneurship Committee (JEC).

More than 150 tech-based startups and e-commerce-based companies are hosted during the forum, where they will have the chance to introduce their services and showcase their stories to the forum’s visitors.

Al-Fartooshi said: “Our target is to have more than 1,500 visitors during the forum days, and today it can be seen as a great success toward achieving that.”

“Visitors will get the chance to attend nine workshops that cover topics related to developing an application and starting a tech-based business from market leaders, including discussing new ideas, displaying unique and different applications, an introduction to e-commerce and marketing through applications.”

The forum also hosts some of the key development companies in the Kingdom, which provided guidance and detailed information to interested visitors. 

Yousef Aldabbagh, co-founder and managing partner at eDesign, said: “This kind of event is an interesting opportunity to meet this number of young people who are really interested in the apps world and explore its potential.”

“The application industry in the country is extremely huge and promising. It is a realized opportunity to both local and international developers.”

Aldabbagh, whose eDesign digital agency has been running for 10 years, added: “Today we are providing a free consultation service for anyone who has the interest to enter this market.”

The forum is also a great opportunity for startups and entrepreneurs to engage with developers and technology specialists to take ideas and businesses to the next stage.

Khalid Alahmad, a young entrepreneur who has an application idea, said: “I’m here today in order to understand this industry.”

This type of event is what we need and we look forward to every year. Today I was able to meet with real developers and attended workshops and speeches, which opened my eyes to what exactly I need to do next.”

Also, almost 150 developers and programmers are competing in the forum’s hackathon, which continues until Saturday when the winning ideas will be announced.