Minister of Transport and Communications, H E Jassim bin Saif Al Sulaiti, presenting QITCOM 2019 Award (Best Accessible Booth), to Qatar National Bank (QNB) during the closing ceremony at Qatar National Convention Center, yesterday.
DOHA
The 2019 edition of the Qatar Information Technology Conference & Exhibition (QITCOM 2019) came to a close yesterday with the announcement of the winners of the Qatar Digital Business Awards (QDBA) and the QITCOM Awards in a prestigious gala presided over by the Minister of Transport and Communications, H E Jassim bin Saif Al Sulaiti.
In its fifth year, the annual Qatar Digital Business Awards is one of the most prestigious awards for the digital industry in Qatar, and comes as part of the Ministry of Transports and Communications’ (MoTC) efforts to honour and recognise corporate entities, SMEs and startups that have contributed to the development of the digital industry in Qatar.
For this year’s awards, MoTC received 150 nominations for the various categories of the awards. The nominations, which came from 76 public and private entities including four major banks, were reviewed by a jury made up of industry experts, university professors and government officials.
The awards were presented by H E Jassim bin Saif Al Sulaiti, and Assistant Undersecretary of Digital Society at the MoTC, Reem Al Mansoori, in 10 categories: ICT Service Provider of the Year, Systems Integrator of the Year, Mobile App of the Year, Cloud Solution of the Year, Digital Startup of the Year, Smart Solution of the Year, SME Digital Transformation of the Year, E-commerce Solution of the Year, Innovative Fintech Solution of the Year, ICT Exporter of the Year.
Speaking at the awards ceremony, Reem Al Mansoori, Assistant Undersecretary of Digital Society at the Ministry of Transport and Communications, remarked, “The notable growth in the outcomes of QITCOM year after year are a key indicator of the progress Qatar has made on its journey towards digital transformation and of the developments in the Qatari market and infrastructure which render it an attractive destination for local and international investments, with the potential to build an exciting future.”
The ICT Service Provider of the Year award, which recognizes the role played by ICT service providers in supporting organizations with the timely provision of services, was presented to A101. The Systems Integrator of the Year award goes to the enterprise systems integrator that can demonstrate high levels of customer satisfaction. This year the award went to Mannai Trading Company.
The Mobile App of the Year accolade is awarded to a business that has pioneered an original mobile app that has enhanced the services offered to its customers. This year 23 entities were nominated for this award, and while Doha Bank and Commercial Bank of Qatar reached the final stages, the award went to Hamad International Airport. Meeza bagged the award for Cloud Solution of the Year, which recognizes organizations that provides excellence in cloud-based solutions, services and infrastructure.
The Digital Startup of the Year award, which goes to a new product or service that has delivered measurable benefit for customers, went to urbanpoint, after a tough competition with 30 nominees.
Smart Solution of the Year award - given to businesses or government entities in the transport, logistics, environment, healthcare or sports sectors, which are the priority sectors targeted by the Smart Qatar program TASMU - went to Bonocle.
Meanwhile the E-Commerce Solution of the Year was awarded to E-Butler. Innovative Fintech Solution of the Year, which goes to organizations that have disrupted the FinTech space through the implementation of new and innovative solutions, went to debito.Finally, ICT Exporter of the Year went to modaris, after competing in the final stages with Maskan and Q-tickets and Events.
The gala dinner also witnessed the awarding of the QITCOM 2019 awards, which went to eight companies whose booths stood out during the exhibition. The awards were given in six categories: Best Innovative Booth (Hamad bin Khalifa University), Best Interactive Booth (Vodafone), Best Accessible Booth (Qatar National Bank), Best Sustainable Booth (Qatar Rail), and Best Engaging Booth (Huawei Qatar).
The Best Interactive Booth award was given in three sub-categories based on the size of the booth; booths between 36 and 95 square metres in size (Cisco), booths between 95 and 300 square metres in size (Ooredoo) and booths larger than 300 square metres (Microsoft).
