The Abu Dhabi Media Summit is an annual three-day international news media summit held in Abu Dhabi,
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...
, dealing with the transition to digital technology in the Middle East, the Indian Subcontinent, East Asia, and China. It was first held from 18 to 20 March 2010. The summit is held under the Patronage of
Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan
Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan ( ar, مُحَمّد بِن زَايد آل نَهيَان, Moḥamed bin Zāyed Āl Nahyān; born 11 March 1961), colloquially known by his initials as MBZ, is the third president of the United Arab Emirat ...
Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the
United Arab Emirates Armed Forces
The United Arab Emirates Armed Forces ( ar, القوات المسلحة لدولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة, Al-Quwwāt al-Musallaḥa li-Dawlat al-ʾImārāt al-ʿArabīyyah al-Muttaḥidah) are the armed forces of the Unit ...
.
The Media Summit deals with globalization and with creativity and disruption. Speakers have included the inventor of the World Wide Web,
Sir Tim Berners-Lee
Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee (born 8 June 1955), also known as TimBL, is an English computer scientist best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web. He is a Professorial Fellow of Computer Science at the University of Oxford and a profes ...
, Chairman of
Walt Disney International
Walt is a masculine given name, generally a short form of Walter, and occasionally a surname. Notable people with the name include:
People Given name
* Walt Arfons (1916-2013), American drag racer and competition land speed record racer
* Walt Be ...
Andy Bird
Andy Bird CBE is a British executive. He was chairman of Walt Disney International until 2018. Bird is the current CEO of Pearson Education.
Early life
Bird grew up in Warrington, England and was educated at King's School, Macclesfield. In 1 ...
, President and CEO of Discovery International Mark Hollinger,
Bill Gates
William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...
,
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...
, James Cameron and Eric Schmidt.
Summits include public sessions, closed-door discussions and private conversations, bringing together industry leaders from developed and emerging areas. Industry sectors discussed include mobile, broadband, television, print, entertainment, news, music, advertising and marketing, venture capital and equity finance.
During the inaugural summit on March 10, 2010 Eric Schmidt and
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...
gave speeches on the theme of “The evolution of media and content platforms”. In 2011 film director James Cameron spoke about story-telling under the theme of “content and creativity”. The third meeting took place in October 2012 under the theme “redefining the digital frontier”, where
Bill Gates
William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...
gave the opening speech. The 2013 summit from October 22 to 24 had the theme “Leveraging the digital age”, with sponsors including Du,
Sky News Arabia
Sky News Arabia (stylised as Sky News عربية) ( ar, سكاي نيوز عربية ') is an Arabic 24-hour rolling news channel broadcast mainly in the Middle East and North Africa. It is a joint venture between UK-based Sky Group and Abu Dha ...
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...
.
The 2014 Abu Dhabi Media Summit will take place from 18 to 20 November 2014 at Rosewood Hotel, Al Maryah Island in Abu Dhabi. The theme of the summit will be 'Driving & Sustaining Future Media in MENA and Beyond'