ArabNet Shift: The Biggest Digital Gathering in the Middle East

ArabNet 2011 is here, providing entrepreneurs with the best opportunity to get exposure for their ideas and startups!

If you don’t know what ArabNet is, it’s the leading conference for the Arab web/mobile industry, and brings together all the major players in the digital sector. It also features unique competitions for entrepreneurs to pitch their ideas and startups to investors, media and industry leaders.

This year, the ArabNet Shift Digital Summit is taking place over 4 days in Beirut on March 22-25. With more than 80 speakers and 1000 attendees, the event will be bringing together the region’s top executives, entrepreneurs, developers, and investors to cover the industry’s latest trends.

The summit is split up into three part: the Developer Day (March 22), aimed at technical case studies for engineers, a two day Forum (March 23-24) for business leaders and entrepreneurs, and a Community Day (March 25) aimed at raising awareness about web and entrepreneurship in the general public. The Summit will also include ArabNet’s annual competitions: the Ideathon and Startup Demo. The Ideathon aims at turning bright ideas into functional products. Selected finalists will be given the chance to present their idea’s innovation and business potential in 2 minutes in front of investors, incubators, and developers. The top 3 ideas will receive big cash prizes and support in building prototypes of their ideas!

The Startup Demo supports early-stage startups and helps them grow their business. Selected startup entrepreneur will be given 5 minutes on stage to showcase their product and convince the audience and judges of its market potential. The startups will be given exhibition spaces during the conference, where they can network with investors and media to build the relationships they need to help them grow.

You can check out what last year’s startups had to say about the benefits of ArabNet here: http://www.youtube.com/arabnetme10.
Registration for the ArabNet Ideathon and Startup Demo is open until February 27th, 2011!
For more information, check out the ArabNet website at www.arabnet.me