4SITE Forum Program Highlights

Speakers include but are not limited to:

• Mahmoud Abu-Warde; Baraka Group Bio
• Rabea Ataya; Bayt.com Bio
• Isam Bayazidi, Jabbar Internet Group & Ikoo
• Rama Chakaki; Baraka Group Bio
• Simon Channon; formerly head of technology at Reuters Foundation
• Emile Cubeisy; IV Holdings & AcceleratorTech Bio Bio
• Herve Cuviliez; Kuv Capital Bio
• Charles Corm; Inco Capital Bio
• Delphine Edde; Wikeez
• Element^N Tech
• Ziad Ferzly; Cedarwood Advisors Bio
• Habib Haddad, Yamli & YallaStartup
• Ayman Itani; Telephone.com
• Joi Ito; CreativeCommons Bio Bio
• Thomas Jacobs; International Finance Corp of the World Bank
• Philippe Khalaf; Collabora Bio
• Elie Khoury; Woopra
• Selim Mawad, Sustainable Democracy Center & Ashoka Fellow
• David Munir Nabti; RootSpace 
• Jon Phillips; Rejon and Creative Commons Fellow
• Ghady Rayess, Foo-me.com
• Telephone.com
• Rani Saad; Middle East Venture Partners
• Dima Saber; Hibr/DevIneMedia
• Bassel Safadi; Status.Net
• Chris Spavin; New York Times & formerly GEW
• Sami Tueni; PowerMeMobile
• John Wilbanks; ScienceCommons Bio
• Laith Zraikat; Jeeran

Panel topics include but are not limited to:

• The Human Resources Gap in the Region
• Fostering an Innovation Ecosystem in Developing Countries
• Freedom, Citizenship Journalism, and Education
• The Power of Open Source in Pushing Innovation in Developing Countries
• The State of Social Entrepreneurship in the WANA (West Asia/North Africa) Region
• The State of Investing in Technology in the Arab World
• GEW and Entrepreneurship Promotion Across the World
• Intro to GSVC (Global Social Venture Competition) and Brainstorming Session about How to Promote GSVC (and Social Innovation/Entrepreneurship Broadly Speaking) in the WANA (West Asia/North Africa) Region
• Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Investment for Social Impact
• Technology Adoption in the Developing World and the Implications for Media Innovation and Distribution
• The Role of Universities and Public Sector Support as Innovation Drivers
• Emerging Mobile Technologies in the Region
• Geographical Analogies: Is a Silicon Wadi Possible? How and When? What Other Models Should We Look to for the WANA (West Asia/North Africa) Region?
• Open Source for the Public Sector & Enterprise Applications
• Next Steps for the 4SITE Forum: Hosted Discussion and Call for Partners & Ideas
• How to Launch in Weak/Challenging Economies

Workshop topics include but are not limited to:

• Introduction to OpenSource
• Entrepreneur Small Group Mentor Sessions
• Linux Support Groups
• How to Make Creative Commons Work for Your Start-Up
• Micro-blogging and Social Networking
• How to Invest in Tech - For Investors and Entrepreneurs

Other exiting speakers and panel and workshop topics to be announced soon!

The following program components will be offered:

• Keynote Opening and Closing Speeches
• Interactive Panels
• Workshops
• OpenForum
• Start-up and Innovation Shorts (Pecha Kucha style short presentations)
• Talks (Ted Talks style short videos)
• Facilitated Networking Activities
• Video-Conferencing with Silicon Valley and London
• Live Blogging and Tweeting
• And many more other interactive and collaborative activities!

*All program components are subject to change before the conference.