Digital Business Ecosystem Research Forum

Under the patronage of

H.E. Prof. Riyad Yousif Hamzah

President of the University of Bahrain

AN OVERVIEW

Digital Business Ecosystem (DBE) Research Forum

Organized by the University of Bahrain, focuses on researchers and practitioners who explore information systems and digital entrepreneurship in Bahrain and the Region.

As ICTs increasingly become embedded in our daily lives and organizational processes, they also become inextricably linked to our policies, organizational strategies and collaborative networks between the public and private sectors.

This creates new opportunities for researchers and practitioners of information systems and digital entrepreneurship to discover new trends that are relevant to our social context. The areas that we aim to focus on in this forum include: how digital business ecosystems are shaped by local contexts, how these ecosystems support the global scaling of startups and the nature of collaborative networks between various sectors to support these startups.

To address to these rising opportunities, this multi-disciplinary research forum will explore theories and case studies to enrich research activities on the topic and potentially contribute to practice.

Why

DBE-RF is an inter-disciplinary research forum that connects the public sector, private sector and academia to address rising opportunities in the area of digital entrepreneurship. We are organizing this event:

To create a research environment on digital entrepreneurship to exchange ideas and identify research gaps to form teams for future studies.
To link theory to practice and set up a collaborative network between the public and private sector and academia to identify areas for projects and research.

Format

The forum will include keynotes, research presentations, thematic plenaries and a stakeholder consultation roundtable. It will include various actors from the ecosystems to explore the current landscape and discuss future trajectories and action plans.

Important Dates

Registration

March 17th, 2019

Abstract submission deadline

February 28th, 2019

Notification of Acceptance

March 3rd, 2019

Forum Dates

March 18th, 2019

Call for Abstracts

The Digital Business Ecosystem (DBE) Research Forum committee would like to invite you to participate in our upcoming research event that is organized by the University of Bahrain.

The DBE Research Forum is set to discuss and elaborate on many themes such as the shaping of business ecosystems, implications of these ecosystems for global scaling of startups in the GCC, building collaborative capacity to support startups, and how we can link research on the topic to practice.

The following topics are included (but are not limited to):

Public and private sector collaboration and ICT projects
Digital entrepreneurship and ecosystems
National ICT initiatives and programs
ICTs for socio-economic development
ICT and social innovation

The forum will also be an opportunity to learn more about findings of the research project (IASNA) on the same topic, which is funded by the Deanship of Research at University of Bahrain.

We would like to invite you to present in the DBE Research Forum. Please submit a summary (200-400 words) of the work or research theme you would like to present and discuss to dberf@uob.edu.bh.

TOPIC AREAS

Digital Entrepreneurship and Ecosystems
Public and Private sector Collaboration for ICT projects
Social Institutions Shaping Digital Ecosystems
Legal Landscape and Policies Shaping the Ecosystem
National ICT initiatives and Programs
Open Collaborative Innovation
ICTs for Socio-economic Development
ICT and Social Innovation

Programme

The Co-creation of a Digital Business Ecosystem: Towards Global Scalability

University of Bahrain, Zain Building 8.15 – 1.30, followed by lunch

8.15 – 8.30	Registration and coffee All delegates
8.30 – 8.45	Welcome
8.45 – 10.00	Panel Discussion 1 A Prospective View of Global Scalability of Startups Panelists Ms. Samah Hasan (Viva Telecomm) Ms. Ameera AlTaan (Bahrain Chamber of Commerce) Ms. Seema Almahmood (Information and Government Authority) Dr. Dhafer AlOmran (SME Society) Facilitator Dr. Noora Alghatam (University of Bahrain)
10.00 – 10.15	Coffee break All delegates
10.15 – 11.30	Panel Discussion 2 Unpacking Social Innovation in the form of Digital Entrepreneurship Panelists Mr. Joel Indrupati (University of Bahrain) Ms. Sebahat Isik (YSM Consulting) Ms. Noora AlZabie (Social Media Club Bahrain) Ms. Shanthini Raja (RSquare) Skype Commentary: Mr. Raphael Peres (Aix-Marseille University, France) Facilitator Ms. Tara Henari
11.30 – 11.45	Presentation The Co-creation of Digital Business Ecosystems: A case study of Bahrain Presenters Dr. Noora Alghatam (University of Bahrain) Dr. Amany Albanna (Royal Holloway) Chair Dr. Nada Megahed (University of Bahrain)
11.45 – 12.00	Coffee break All delegates
12.00 – 13:10	Panel Discussion 3 Linking Theory to Practice towards Meaningful ICT Innovations Panelists Mr. John Kilmartin (Economic Development Board) Dr. Jarmo Kotilaine (Tamkeen) Ms. Hadya Fathalla (C5) Mr. Ayman Alansari (Information and Government Authority) Skype Commentary: Katie King (Zoodikers and AI in Marketing, UK) Facilitator Ms. Samah Hasan (Viva Telecomm)
13.10 – 14.10	Lunch All delegates Venue Administration Hall, Main Academic Building, Ground Floor