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Bahrain pic by HÆROLDUSWhat an interesting 48 hours! After Susheela and Andrew’s wonderful wedding on Saturday afternoon, I headed off to the airport to speak on the final day of the Fikr 6 conference happening in Manama, Bahrain. Today, I attended a morning session with John Clippinger moderated by Joi Ito, discussing the implications of technology on the region and for the future. The discussion got into intellectual property and open source, and I found particularly interesting comments made by the panelist from Saudi Aramco, the Saudi oil company, who spoke about the fact that SA was a very open partner and keen participant in many technology collaborations, attributed to the fact that they weren’t interested in owning or licensing intellectual property, but rather just getting access to the best ideas that they could implement locally. It’s nice to be in that position sitting on top of such a resource!

Later, there was a discussion on sustainable housing and building – and the future of energy in the region. One of the speakers was talking about how valuable the sun resource was in MENA - and quoted the fact that a 50x50 square km field of solar panels (current technology) could power the whole MENA region, 100x100 all of Europe, and 300x300 sq km all of the world! Everyone seemed quite intrigued by that, reflecting that only the low low cost of oil has prevented that from becoming a reality. I hope that the cost of Solar will come down to make these types of projects possible in the future…

Prince Bandar - Photo by Joi itoBefore our panel on Social Networks, the Crown Prince of Bahrain was interviewed on stage, and the conversation really heated up over a government plan to impose 200BD ($500 CDN) surcharges on companies for hiring immigrant workers. An interesting solution to a perceived challenge of immigrant workers taking jobs from locals – however, it was also acknowledged that many locals aren’t interested in certain types of hard skill jobs. The prince committed to re-opening a polytechnic college to train more locals on skills.

My panel on Social Networks included Cory Ondrejka From Linden Labs / Second Life, Eric Case from Google / Blogger.com, and Joi Ito (photo credit to Joi for the Prince Bandar photo). We discussed why Web 2.0 isn’t just about wasting time, how sites (like TIG!) can be used for youth to continue the conversations and take action on the issues discussed, the digital divide, and closed with a question of the potential negative impact of technology. (Joi and Cory saved it from being too much of a downer...) :)

Later this afternoon three different youth innovation groups presented ideas on Technology, Investment, and Education for support and endorsement from the audience – all very articulate and with great ideas! Tonight there’s a dinner hosted by the Prince and then tomorrow I have a few hours to relax and check out Bahrain’s UNESCO site before heading home…

P.S. To follow-up on my last blog, we were surprised and honoured to find out in San Jose that we weren't just a Tech Awards laureate, but the prize winner in the Education category! Congratulations to Luke and Emily for leading TIGed to make it all possible!

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