The events that took place at Bahrain’s Technology Week Pavilion (Datacenter) last week were a huge success!
For an entire week, the pavilion was filled with lively entertainment and startup activities including an exhibition consisting of startups, supporting government entities and corporates, as well as the “FACE-OFF ON THE BAY” Pitch Competition organized by Brinc and C5 Accelerate which saw startups pitted against each other, as well as workshops, panel discussions, delicious food and much more. If you missed the Technology Week, then here’s what went down on the first day, second day, third day and fourth day.
The Technology Week Pavilion (Datacenter) is a collaboration between the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB), Amazon Web Services (AWS), and the StartUp Bahrain community. The Pavilion was held in parallel with the AWS Summit which took place on the 25th of September, and the MIT Innovation forum, which took place on the 27th and 28th. Forming Bahrain’s first Technology Week, the events were mainly held at the Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay, while the Pavilion was just two minutes away from the hotel.
However, the Technology Week Pavilion (Datacenter) wouldn’t have been as awesome as it was without the efforts of each and every entity involved in making it happen. The StartUp Bahrain community got together and organized one of the best technology weeks for startups, companies, entrepreneurs, students and everyone with an interest in technology. And for that, we’d like to extend our gratitude and appreciation towards everyone who contributed to this prosperous event.
Here’s to everyone that took part at the Technology Week Pavilion (Datacenter) and made last week one of 2017’s most memorable:
- Tamkeen Bahrain put together $75,000 worth of cash prizes for the “FACE-OFF ON THE BAY” Pitch Competition and the Technology Week Pavilion (Datacenter)’s other activities. In addition to that, Tamkeen Bahrain had its finest speak, conduct workshops, and panel discussions, including Amal Sanad, Khalid Al Qaood, and Ahmed Janahi.
- AWS also participated at the Technology Week Pavilion (Datacenter) where Teresa Carlson, Vice President, Worldwide Public Sector at AWS was a speaker at the Women in Tech event organized by C5 Accelerate. Zubin Chagpar, Head of Public Sector in MEA, Public Sector at AWS was also a moderator at one of the panel discussions.
- The first of its kind pitch competition “FACE-OFF ON THE BAY” that was organized by Brinc, a global IOT Accelerator in Bahrain, and C5 Accelerate, a technology innovation firm and an architect of the Cloud10 Scalerator program.
- Batelco offered high speed internet to the pavilion’s attendees and will be giving away some cool prizes for the followers of the StartUp Bahrain account on Instagram.
- The educational institutions in Bahrain including Bahrain Polytechnic, University of Bahrain, ThinkSmart, BIBF, for exhibiting at the Technology Week Pavilion (Datacenter) and taking part at the panel discussions about changing the skills requirements for students in Bahrain.
- The government organizations and entities that presented at the dedicated Government Pavilion: E-Government, Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications, Tamkeen Bahrain, Central Bank of Bahrain, and the BCCI ICT Committee.
- Other awesome exhibitors included: BTECH, Sales Force, Badir, UNIDO, BIBF, ThinkSmart, University of Bahrain, Bahrain Polytechnic, Infonas, Esri, Almoayyed Computers, OneGCC among others.
- The accelerators and incubators also exhibited at the Technology Week Pavilion (Datacenter) which featured Brinc, Level Z, Tenmou, Rowad, CH9 and C5 Accelerate.
- Rowad, the Bahrain Development Bank initiative, organized a “Rowad Talk” featuring Omar Al-Suadodi, CEO of PayFort (recently acquired by Amazon through the Souq acquisition), where he talked about his journey to success.
- The Bahraini food trucks outside the pavilion which included some delicious burgers from the Paddock Lounge from the Bahrain International Circuit, Gastro Street, ice-cold cream from Baskin Robbins, and some tasty Bahraini traditional food from Villa Mamas.
- Grind had some amazing coffee that helped keep everyone alert throughout the Technology Week events, alongside Cantine who provided some healthy delicious food.
- A workshop organized by Rowad featuring E-Society Consulting, about how startups can scale up their business and upgrade it to the next level.
- Careem provided a discounted ride to the Technology Week Pavilion (Datacenter) when passengers used the code “startupbahrain”.
- Khalifa Al-Mannai, Founder of Mannai Tech, for giving a Tamkeen Session about why startups and companies should start using Cloud.
- Bahrain Bayan School for giving their students an opportunity to visit the Technology Week Pavilion (Datacenter) and learn more about the ICT and startup ecosystem in Bahrain.
- The MC Imran Al-Aradi did an amazing job at entertaining the crowd throughout the week, oh and let’s not forget how he helped people find their car- keys.
- The Bahrain Economic Development Board team for organizing the event in 25 days!
- Finally, not to pat ourselves on the back, but the StartUp Bahrain community, in its entirety, for getting together and putting together one of the greatest action-packed weeks for startups in Bahrain ever.
Last but not least, a big thank you to everyone who showed up at the Technology Week Pavilion (Datacenter). This event wouldn’t have been as awesome and successful without your attendance and your active participation.
If you’d like to contribute and take an active part in the awesome StartUp Bahrain community, then head over to our website here and contact us.
Interested in more of these events? Why don’t you head over to Instagram and follow StartUp Bahrain for some future live coverages?