Gulf News

Focus on innovation at Islamic economy summit

Around 3,000 delegates attended the two-day meeting in Dubai

- STAFF REPORT

The Global Islamic Economy Summit (GIES), which closed yesterday, discussed the role of innovation and integratio­n in the Islamic economy.

The GIES in its fourth year was opened on Tuesday by Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince and Chairman of Dubai Executive Council, in the presence of Rustom Minnikhano­v, president of the Republic of Tatarstan. Around 3,000 delegates attended the meeting.

Emerging technologi­es

The experts discussed how emerging technologi­es like the internet of Things, wearables, drones, Artificial Intelligen­ce and blockchain are with Islamic values.

“Instead of focusing on new technologi­es, we should focus on problems to solve. We should think of solutions for the problems that affect people and use technology to develop them. Creating the technology is the easy part, but getting people to adopt it is the challenge. Depending on the context, focusing on the Muslim niche can be a good or a bad idea. It can sometimes lead to aligned missed opportunit­ies, failing to see that the good idea can benefit the wider community, not just Muslims,” Mohammad Aurangzeb Ahmad, principal data scientist at KenSci Inc said.

Katherine Budd, co-founder, NOW Money said there was a gap in social investment in Islamic products because of a perception that they were niche. “There’s no point thinking as something as niche when it represents 25 per cent of the global population,” she said.

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