With the conference season already underway, the eyes of technology enthusiasts are constantly changing around the world.
But that attention may soon focus on the Middle East, which now claims to be home to the world’s largest tech event.
GITEX Global 2022, which took place at the World Trade Center in Dubai and took part in it TechRadar ProMaybe it’s not yet as famous as CES in Las Vegas or Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, but the organizers have big plans to change that.
GITEX 2022
After several difficult years of the pandemic, GITEX Global welcomed its largest turnout in history, and an enrolled audience of more than 120,000 attendees listened to more than 5,000 companies from 90 countries, including over 1,000 speakers.
Covering the entire two million square foot WTC in Dubai, the conference was exhausting for many, as crowded rooms made it difficult to arrive in time for interviews and panel sessions, especially when it was going to places that required walking outside. the boiling heat of the desert.
In a country that wants to prove that bigger is always better, perhaps organizing such a vast conference without a specific topic or agenda in such a gigantic space was perhaps not the wisest choice – and hopefully an oversight that the organizers will resolve in the years to come.
But thanks to a line-up that included global tech giants such as Microsoft, Dell Technologies, Huawei and many others, and many spokesmen for the UAE and Dubai government, the conference had some hidden gems on offer.
The highlight was the world’s first “flying car” unveiled by the Chinese company XPENG, whose X2 vehicle made a successful (if somewhat disappointing) test flight just outside the conference.
Looking to the future, the organizers clearly have great plans for the future, announcing the inauguration of GITEX Africa in May 2023 in an attempt to capture some large-scale investment and development across the continent.
And thanks to specially designed zones for programmers, metaverse and start-ups, it may turn out that GITEX and its satellite events will soon become a training ground for other great technology companies.
While it may take some time to capture the headlines as on CES and MWC, with the strength and determination (not to mention financial support) of Dubai and UAE, we would not bet on the further development of GITEX Global in the coming years.
- TechRadar Pro travel and accommodation in Dubai was funded by the Dubai World Trade Center, but the organization had no editorial control over the content of this article.