About the Festival

With innovation as the overarching theme, the festival offered unparalleled insight into how technology is shaping the region and what trends to expect throughout 2019 and beyond. 

Topics explored in 2019 included: 

• Building the New Gulf Ecosystem
• A Global Fintech Hub Rises
• Practical Applications of Artificial Intelligence
• Energy & Sustainability for a Cleaner Gulf
• Reskilling the Workforce 
• Investing & Venture Capital
• Blockchain Deep Dive
• Digital Wellness & Corporate Wellbeing

Click here to learn more about the festival themes. 

This year, Amazon Web Services teamed up with Unbound as a Platinum Sponsor of the festival and sponsor of the MENA Startup Challenge. Prior to the Grand Finale at Unbound Bahrain, regional heats took place in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, The UAE and Bahrain where six entrepreneurs delivered a three-minute pitch to win a place in the finale and be crowned winner of the MENA Startup Challenge. 

Huge congratulations to Statys for winning the competition, WorkHint for coming second and Dmarc360 for third place.

Flat6Labs is the leading accelerator and seed fund provider in the MENA region, operating across 6 strategic locations. Flat6Labs Bahrain held its Second Demo Day, where 8 exceptional startups from its second cycle,  presented their businesses, culminating four months of hard work developing their business models, building prototypes and acquiring customers.

The Demo Day was the perfect place to meet promising startups and learn about their products and services.

The festival's Knowledge Partner Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance (BIBF) hosted a Workshop to give delegates the low-down on technopreneurship. Delegates were invited to learn from and network with experts who were keen to share insight on market opportunities and tactics to accelerate technopreneurship projects.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) hosted a hands-on experience to teach delegates about the variety of ways AWS could support them on their journey as a founder of startup. This includes deploying applications on AWS, optimising performance, driving efficiencies, reducing costs, and more.

It was a perfect opportunity for delegates to meet AWS experts to have their technical questions answered. 

Google Developer Group Manama held an informal discussion with speakers and Workshop delegates on what the digital skills of the future are and how to best upskill talent.

The casual panel represented a range of perspectives across AI, Gaming, Digital Agencies and Data Science. The discussion focussed on where job trends are heading, what are the recommendations on upskilling and the possible barriers to adoption of those specific technologies are.

This Workshop explored the legal challenges and opportunities facing startups. The Workshop targeted new Startups, SMEs and creative individuals who wanted to learn more about the legal issues facing them on their journey and how to deal with them.

The Workshop then continued to look at the often crucial and complex area of intellectual property - why it is important, what do you protect and how?