STEP – a media, technology, and design platform for creatives, influencers, and technophiles in the MENA region – which will be holding the third edition of its annual conference on April 30 at the Al Serkal Avenue, has just announced a slew of updates to its program and lineup of speakers.
Ali Halabi from Istanbul startup Volt, Elie Habib from growing startup Anghami, and Hermann Behrens from Brand Union have joined the lineup of speakers. Meanwhile, Greta Seeger, expert and consultant at Innovation Centre for Mobility and Societal Change (InnoZ) GmbH, will be flying from Berlin for a workshop on design thinking, which she’s given at Harvard, eBay and SAP.
In line with the main theme, the conference will host a slew of talks and discussion panels including “Industry-disrupting technologies”; “Brand engagement and retail technologies”; “MENA startup scene: illusion versus reality?”; “The symbiotic world of sharing economies”; “Wearable technology: quantify your vitality”; and “Future of multi-touch technologies”.
Speakers and panelists include Phil Adrien, digital director at Drive Dentsu; Gavin Payne, regional head of technology at JWT MENA; Yousef Tuqan, chief innovation officer at Leo Burnett MENA; Sulaiman Itani, founder and CEO at Atheer Labs –the developer behind what has been dubbed as the Arab world’s Google Glass; Hind Hobeika, founder at Instabeat – swimming heart rate monitor device, dubbed the Google Glass of swim goggles; and Mudassir Sheikha, founder and managing director at mobile taxi app Careem, among others.
The conference will feature a startup pitch activity, in which participants include regional digital portal Wamda, startup incubator space Alt City, non-profit organization bridging Silicon Valley with the Arab world Tech Wadi, and government-owned incubator Silicon Oasis Founders, among others. STEP will also be hosting a “Dinner with STEP” in partnership with restronaut.me, a startup and social dining platform.
