AutomatedBuildings.com Article - BuilConn Middle East in Dubai & Riyadh

In one of the most explosive construction booms ever seen, one that is reportedly taking up as many as 30% of the world’s cranes, Dubai stands alone in the concentration of construction today. From building the world’s tallest structures (note plural), to building the largest shopping mall in the world and building one development reportedly to be in the order of 1.2 billion sq ft, it is not surprising that the building industry is focused on Dubai to lead the furtherance of intelligent buildings.

But the “Dubai miracle” is only the beginning of the infrastructure developments in the Middle East region. With Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Abu Dhabi as well as the giant potential developments in Saudi Arabia, Dubai may only be the tip of the iceberg for years to come.

Size isn’t everything in Dubai and the Middle East. The predominant quality of buildings in the region is extremely high; from shopping malls filled with the world’s top names (Gucci, Armani, Dunhill, etc.), to numerous five, six and seven star hotels, the amount of marble and fine art around Dubai is simply astonishing.

While it is arguable that in the “build them fast” approach of many of the buildings, much of the shine is skin deep, and that much of the technology in the buildings is, as far as convergence is concerned, quite basic; developers are now starting to realize the potential value of technology to enhance their properties.

Neither Dubai nor the Middle East regions are slow at the adoption of technology. John Chambers CEO of Cisco identifies Saudi Arabia as the fastest growing market for Cisco and in a recent speech in Riyadh, Bill Gates identified Saudi as a “huge investment potential for Microsoft”. The Dubai Internet City, home of household names in technology is a hive of activity staffed by professionals from the US, Europe and India.

Specifically in buildings, Cisco is making a huge investment with their CCRE (Cisco Connected Real Estate) in the region. In fact the CCRE activities in the Middle East is spearheading their global development of convergence of IT and building systems. The reason for this is not hard to see, it’s down to the cranes again, covering the skyline everywhere you look.

The opportunities for building system technology companies in the region are simply huge. It is in this light that BuilConn is being held in two of the major cities where these developments are centered around; Dubai and Riyadh.

BuilConn in Dubai is a three day event to be held 26-28 February 2007, it is modeled on the same format as BuilConn’s around the world; one day of workshops, followed by two days of expo and conference. The target audience is owners, developers as well as the influencers (architects, consulting engineers and integrators).

The focus of BuilConn in Dubai is the opportunities in the Middle East region, the conference content is based on educating the delegates on the value, procurement and implementation process of intelligent connected buildings.

Recognizing the huge potential in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the decision of holding a BuilConn in Riyadh is focused on the opportunities and execution of convergence projects in Saudi, targeted mainly at an audience of Saudi based owners, developers and influencers.

In Riyadh, BuilConn will be a one-day seminar format to be held at the Four Seasons at Kingdom Tower 3 March 2007. Significantly, the event in Riyadh will be supported by SAGIA (Saudi Arabia General Investment Authority); many representatives from numerous Economic City developments (new mega-cities being built around Saudi) will be represented at this milestone event in the country.

Technology, component and system vendors in the west should seriously consider presenting their products and solutions at one or both of these events. There is no better time to get involved with the significant infrastructure developments in this booming region. Local companies are eager to establish partnerships, and those who have attended BuilConn before understand it to be a premier venue for partnership development as well as education.

Integrators, contractors and consulting companies with integration expertise should also consider presenting their services at this event. Developers in the region are simply hungry for skilled and experienced services in this area.

As a bonus to vendors and delegates to BuilConn Dubai and Riyadh, the organizers are planning a free tour of key sites and developments in Dubai. This tour will not only show the mega projects in Dubai but also will demonstrate the state of technology deployed in the region, and thus the opportunities.

To get a sense of the type of projects Anto maybe talking about see our Review RealComm Dubai Tour

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