HRH Princess Sumaya bint El Hassan, President of the Royal Scientific Society enriched our Webinar in cooperation with intaj ICT entitled: Jordan’s Economy Electrification via Digitalization with a detailed presentation showcasing the renewable energy sector and how it intersects with digitization. The webinar was attended by around 300 participants from the ICT and energy, water environmental sectors. In this webinar, H.E. Karim Kawar moderated the discussion and H.E. Mothanna Gharaibeh was a panelist.
The welcoming speech was conducted by Dr. Dureid Mahasneh, EDAMA chairman of the board, where he confirmed the importance of seizing the recent business opportunities that appeared due to the current situation of COVDI-19 the world has been facing.
Dr. Mahasneh reassured the importance of discovering the intersection between ICT and the energy sector, whereas, we must cooperate to adopt a new approach, as the cooperation must involve entities such as research & development, education, private and the public sector.
H.E. Karim Kawar, President of Kawar Energy, stated that in light of King Abdullah II’s vision of reaching a digitalized economy by 2025, COVID – 19 had played an integral role in testing our readiness to reach this goal. Energy has always been the main drive to any economic transformation. Moving towards utilization of electricity and digitization of our economy will enable Jordan to make use of the increase in the capacity of electricity generation and reduce gas consumption therefore the emissions caused by it. Employing those aspects in the renewable energy sector in specific and with the initiation of experts in the field will attract investments and create job opportunities.
HRH Princess Sumaya bint El Hassan confirmed the importance of the transformation and digitalization in the energy sector. Her detailed presentation discussed the exciting potential for Jordan through the emerging global renaissance where digitalisation is enabling new kinds of decentralised and renewable energy creation.
Her compelling presentation showcased the importance of creating a comprehensive plan that integrates our nation’s energy, digital and mobility strategies together. Such a plan would ensure that growth in digitalization, energy creation and sustainable transportation systems work in parallel, being responsive and supportive to each other, and move us towards significant carbon emission reductions. Working together they will ease the process of emerging renewable technology integration, and the development of the smart grid will further manage involved entities with a high level of efficiency, allowing an energy system that reacts to demand and freedom into the energy market.
HRH also emphasised the crucial importance of building Jordanian intelligence and enterprise in these growing areas of innovation. “Smart systems and smart cities require smart energy, smart people, smart sciences and smart thinking. At RSS and PSUT we are researching and training for a smarter and more sustainable future for all Jordanians.”
H.E. Mothanna Gharaibeh, Minister of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship, discussed that the rapid changes happening in the market due to CVODI-19 and under the vision of King Abdullah II of digitalizing the market by the year 2025, this transformation is paired with the private sector.
It is worth mentioning that there has been a remarkable real time response to the demand on the telecommunication companies that has increased in the past two months under the circumstances the world is going through by 70%, as the companies were able to provide services that meet their high levels of standards with no change or delay on the quality. Those companies were also able to set up platforms to receive requests for more than 1,000,000 users.
H.E. confirmed that the ministry’s next step is to digitize the renewable energy sector to enable utilizing the excess in generation capacity. on a different note, Aqaba and all Jordan is able to become a data center for Jordan and the middle east, not to mention a world wide center.
Finally, through a poll that asked questions that matter to the people, the majority of the participants showed their concern in being able to acknowledge the aforementioned opportunities, yet expressed that there are not clear drawn strategies to support that.
