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Proposal Submitted: "Data is the New Oil": Shaping the Digital Economy of MENA

I. Session Title: "Data is the New Oil": Shaping the Digital Economy of MENA
   ==*II. Session Format*==
     Session Format: Round Table - 90 Min
     Session Format Description:


   ==*III. Proposer*==
     Gender: Male
     Family Name: AlMeshal
     Given Name: Ali
     City of Residence: MANAMA
     Country of Residence: Bahrain
     Nationality: Bahrain
     E-mail: dralialmeshal@gmail.com
     Stakeholder Group: Civil Society
     Organization: Bahrain ISOC
     Country where Organization is based: Bahrain


   ==*IV. Backup Contact / Co-proposer*==
     Gender: Male
     Family Name: Babu
     Given Name: Satish
     E-mail: sbabu@ieee.org
     Stakeholder Group: Private Sector
     Organization: ISOC-TRV
     Country: India


   ==*V. Organizers*==
     Co-organizers:
     Ms.,Lianna,Galstyan,Technical Community, .AM Registry, Armenia

     Ms.,Sarah, Kiden,Academia, Uganda University

     Ms.,Maritza,Minan, Civil society, AUI PERU


   ==*VI. Speakers*==
     Email addresses of provisionally confirmed speakers (comma
     separated):

walid@al-saqaf.se,elias.boustani@gmail.com,dralialmeshal@gmail.com,sbabu@ieee.org


VII. Content of the Session:
One of the most impressive achievements of the Internet has been its impact
on the global economy, particularly on the domains of finance, commerce,
trade and innovation. The transformative nature of the Internet has resulted
today in not just a connected world, but also in a world that transacts
together.

The ‘New Economy’, as the Digital Economy is also known, is the result of
the transition from the brick-and-mortar businesses of the Twentieth Century
to the ‘Brick-and-Click’ and the ‘Click-only’ economies of today,
which are built around the Internet. As we look to the future, the Internet
is the enabler, the marketplace and the market, and has room for not just
giant trans-national enterprises but also for the tiny startups. The space
for ‘permissionless innovation’ that the Internet provides, overcomes all
barriers such as geography and location.

Despite this sweeping potential, there are substantial variations in the way
the Digital Economy has been leveraged by different regions and countries of
the world. The Digital Divide that still exists—albeit different from the
original digital divide that focused on access—is still a reality. While
most people do have access today, the New Digital Divide is between people
who have reliable, affordable, fast broadband, and the people who have
intermittent, expensive Internet that are difficult to be used for
transactional services. Given this gap, there are perhaps few countries
amongst Emerging Economies which have fully leveraged the potential of the
Internet as much as Developed Economies.

There are, however, a few examples from the Global South that illustrate how
the Internet Economy could be leveraged provided there is coherent policy
intent coupled with pragmatic and innovative approaches. Prominent amongst
these is the Middle East.

As late as five years back, the Middle East was seemingly afflicted by a
number of economic issues arising from the global recession, crashing oil
prices, the social aftermath of the Arab Spring, subdued local demand, and
social inhibitors, which together predicted a deep and protracted economic
slowdown for the region.

Despite these dire predictions, the Middle East has shown remarkable
resilience in not only maintaining the size of its economy, but even growing
in the face of these challenges. The current GDP of the region is USD 1.7
trillion, far surpassing the pessimistic estimates of 2012-13. One of the
most important technological enabler of this rebound appears to be the
Internet.

This Round-table focuses on sharing the experience of the Middle East in
using the Internet in building and stabilizing its Digital Economy, and the
lessons for the rest of the world. The experiences of speakers and audience
members from other regions of the world as well as their responses to the
applicability of the Middle East model in their own context would add
richness to the discussions.

The outcome from the session would be to evolve a consensus on the Best
Practices in the use of the Internet in realizing the potential of a Digital
Economy, and also regional and local Best Practices in any aspect of this
transition, including Internet Governance aspects. The speakers at the
Round-table represent the different stakeholders of the transition to digital
economy, including Business, Government and Civil Society.

VIII. Relevance of the Issue:
Economic factors lie at the heart of numerous problems that the world faces
today. Measures that strengthen the economy will enhance the quality of life
of millions of people around the world, permit poverty reduction, improve
education & health, promote innovation, attract investment and stimulate
wealth creation.

The Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE, were
expected to show little growth after the turbulence of the Arab Spring,
coupled with the crippling impact of oil price crash. However, a few years
later, contrary to expectations, the region has boucned back to a state of
growth. To quote McKinsey (2015),

"The Middle East is on the verge of a massive digital disruption. In the past
decade, the cross-border data flow connecting the Middle East to the world
has increased by more   than 150-fold. Several countries--including the United
Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Qatar--are leading the digital consumer charge,
with high smartphone adoption rates and social media use. "

For workplaces and economies of the future, it is clear that the Internet
will play a central role, manifest through such components as e-business,
e-commerce, and e-governance. The example of the Middle East, data has become
the great lubricant for economic growth.

It is important to discuss and highlight the factors behind this remarkable
turn of events, and how governments, Business and Civil Society from around
the globe can learn from this Internet-driven transformation.

The Round-table will examine social, economic, technology, policy and
Internet Governance drivers that have been at play in the Middle East, that
have collectively contributed to this success. It will further examine,
through interventions from speakers from different regions, if the same Best
Practices would work effectively in other global contexts. Finally, speakers
from the Middle East will also touch upon what else needs to be done to take
this process to the logical conclusion and complete the transition to a
fully-empowered Digital Economy.

   ==*IX. Tags*==
     Tag 1:
Internet
     Economy
Tag 2:
Internet
     & ICTs for the Sustainable Development Goals
Tag 3:
Digital
     Economy
X. Interventions:
The Round-Table will have a mix of Subject Matter Experts (Economists,
Internet Governance Resource Persons) as well as representatives of Business,
Government, and Civil Society from different regions, who will be present in
person as well by remote participation and social media (largely Twitter, but
questions would be taken on email as well).

The Session would start with the domain experts (Economists and IG
specialists) who would start off with a 10 minute introduction to the topic,
followed by brief interventions (5 minutes or less) by speakers and walk-in
participants (local and remote) from different stakeholder groups. 20 min
will be set apart for open questions which will be answered by speakers that
the moderator may identify.

There will be no difference in priority between previously identified
speakers, walk-in users in the audience, remote speakers and social media
participants.

XI. Diversity: The proposal strives to bring in diversity in its different
aspects, as it has speakers, co-organizers, and moderators, from different
regions, stakeholder groups, age, gender, disability and specialization.
Further diversity will be brought in from participants in the audience as
well as remote. While the topic is centered around  the Middle East  North
Africa (MENA) region, the discussions will not be confined to this region,
and will touch upon the applicability of the Middle East's Digital Economy
model in other regions. By giving appropriate publicity about the workshop,
and by ensuring top-class experts amongst the speakers, the workshop will
attract a cross-section of audience at the IGF, and further add to the
diversity.
XII. Onsite Moderator: Ali AlMeshal
XIII. Online Moderator: Lianna Galstyan
XIV. Rapporteur: Satish Babu
XV. Online Participation: The online moderator for the session will be Lianna
Galstyan, who is has participated in several IGFs in the past (including IGF
2016) and is an experienced online moderator. Online participation will be
encouraged from all participants including the host-provided remote
participation tool (such as Adobe Connect) as well as email and Twitter. The
online moderator will ensure that remote participants get the same priority
as the speakers and the audience physically present in the session. The
advantage of the Round-table format is that (a) it is easily amenable to
remote participants to see and participate; and (b) since it is based on
conversations, it is easier for remote participants to join the discussions.
XVI. Discussion facilitation:
The session will follow the following format:

1. Welcome and Session Objectives: Moderator (5 min)
2. The Digital Economic Future: Domain Expert (10 min)
3. The Middle East Experience in Leveraging the Digital Economy: Domain
Expert (10 min)
4. Sharing of experiences (3-5 min x 10 = 40 min)
5. Open Q & A (20 min)
6. Summing up and Conclusions: Moderator (5 min)

   ==*XVII. Past IGF Participation*==
     History in IGF: Yes
     Report Link:

https://www.intgovforum.org/multilingual/content/igf-2016-day-1-room-7-ws14-asia-and-the-next-billion-challenges-in-digital-inclusion


XVIII. Sustainable Development Goals:
No. 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
No. 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

   ==*XIX. Connecting with IGF Intersessional Groups & NRIs*==
     Best Practice Forums:
     Dynamic Coalitions:
     National and Regional Initiatives:


XX. Connecting with International or Other Relevant Organizations:
XXI. Additional Background Paper (Optional):
XXII. Additional Reference Document Link (Optional):

EURALO

I. Session Title: Reinforcing the role of end-users in defending the Public
Interest
   ==*II. Session Format*==
     Session Format: Round Table - 90 Min
     Session Format Description:


   ==*III. Proposer*==
     Gender: Male
     Family Name: Ludwig
     Given Name: Wolf
     City of Residence: Basel
     Country of Residence: Switzerland
     Nationality: Germany
     E-mail: wolf.ludwig@comunica-ch.net
     Stakeholder Group: Civil Society
     Organization: EURALO
     Country where Organization is based: Switzerland


   ==*IV. Backup Contact / Co-proposer*==
     Gender: Male
     Family Name: Crepin-Leblond
     Given Name: Olivier
     E-mail: ocl@gih.com
     Stakeholder Group: Technical Community
     Organization: EURALO
     Country: Switzerland


   ==*V. Organizers*==
     Co-organizers:
     Mr., Wolf, LUDWIG, civil society, EURALO
     Olivier, CREPIN-LEBLOND, technical community, EURALO


   ==*VI. Speakers*==
     Email addresses of provisionally confirmed speakers (comma
     separated):

mark.carvell@culture.gov.uk,caroline@cloudflare.com,nigel.hickson@icann.org,mariliamaciel@gmail.com,t.tropina@mpicc.de,wolf.ludwig@comunica-ch.net,parminder@itforchange.net,echeberria@isoc.org

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