STEP has always brought some of the most influential tech leaders and brands to Dubai for two days of knowledge sharing and unmatched content. This year, programming will take place across a multitude of stages, STEP Start, STEP Digital, STEP X, & STEP Money, hosting some of the world’s most sought-after technologists, investors, entrepreneurs and creatives.

Dubai, UAE: STEP Conference 2019, the biggest experiential technology festival in the Middle East, is back for its seventh year in a row. On February 13th and 14th, conference goers will get to experience interactive workshops, network and hear the biggest names of the tech industry speak all on the grounds of Dubai Internet City .

“STEP Conference has hosted over 1,000 startups since its inception. Many of those startups went on to build scale, outstanding products, and raise large sums of investment. We’ve witnessed and played a big role in the creation of an entire ecosystem in a very turbulent region. This ecosystem has created hope, ambition, and jobs across the entire Middle East,” explains Ray Dargham, CEO of STEP Group. “I’m really grateful to our great community and all the love they’ve given us over the years - as well as the significant support from our partners who we couldn’t have done this without.”

STEP’s line up this year is the best yet…STEP X will be hosting Amr Awadallah, Co-Founder and CTO of Cloudera, who will deliver a keynote on artificial intelligence and its effect on the future of decision making. Also taking the stage and introducing the first blockchain phone, the XPhone by Pundi X, is product analyst Kester Wong. More topics to be discussed on this stage are IoT, machine learning, the future of transport and smart cities.

With China’s interest in the region, panels including speakers Jenny Zeng, Managing Partner at MSA Capital who brings over 18 years of experience in the Chinese Venture Capital industry will take place on the STEP Start stage, which will cover everything entrepreneurship from setting up to scaling, fundraising, and investment.

On the STEP Money stage, the CEO of Telr, Sirish Kumar joined by Marta Piekarska, Director of Ecosystem at Hyperledger, will debate the controversial topics of cashless payments, the future of cryptocurrencies and blockchain.

Pepsico’s VP of Snacks Category for Middle East & North Africa, Mustafa Shamseldin, will take the STEP Digital stage to give insight on how to create powerful brand experiences. L'Oréal, and Unilever are among those who will be joining the discussions surrounding branding, content and advertising technology.

More than 250 startups are expected to attend STEP 2019 to showcase their grassroots business ideas to some of the world’s top investors as part of Startup Basecamp. For those still refining their ideas the STEP Start program aims to educate and empower the next generation of entrepreneurs from the MENA region and give them a chance to participate in STEP’s flagship pitch competition.

Commenting about the festival and partnership, Ammar Al Malik, Managing Director of Dubai Internet City and Dubai Outsource City said, "With abundant talent and technology experts present in our community, our partnership with STEP provides us with another avenue to nurture the next generation of entrepreneurs. This festival enables our efforts in providing digital natives, entrepreneurs and start-ups with a platform to explore endless opportunities and draw inspiration from the several success stories within Dubai Internet City, and hence further positioning Dubai as a world-class innovation hub."

And of course, STEP will not be complete without its music performances, food experiences and engaging activities.

STEP 2019’s Super Sponsors include Pepsi and tajawal. Other conference partners include Porsche, Uber and Volkswagen who will have engaging brand activations showcasing the latest in their innovation strategies.

Tickets for STEP 2019 are on sale now and can be purchased from the STEP 2019 website – www.stepconference.com

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About STEP Group

STEP Group is a Middle East-based media and technology company. STEP Group’s news and digital content platforms stepfeed.com and yallafeed.com have gained more than 3 million unique monthly users and 6 million monthly views. STEP Group also owns STEP Conference, the largest technology and startup conference in the MENA region, that has tripled in size every year since it began in 2012.

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Photos: flickr.com/stepconference

Highlights videos can be found here.

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© Press Release 2019