Smart thinking

By Diana Milne, Editor

Malta could be Europe's next IT hotspot thanks to a high tech business park which is being built there by Dubai-based developers SmartCity. Diana Milne meets CEO Fareed Abdulrahman to find out more.

“In terms of strategic location, size, connectivity, access to key markets, and high tourism orientation, Malta and Dubai share a natural affinity”
-Fareed Abdulrahman, CEO of SmartCity

t's not often that a European government calls on the expertise of a Dubai based company to build a major infrastructure project. But as one of the pioneers behind the transformation of Dubai - SmartCity, a joint venture between TECOM and Sama Dubai, members of the government owned Dubai Holdings group - is now in a position where it can import knowledge from East to West.Having successfully set up the high tech free zones, Dubai Internet City, Dubai Media City and Dubai Knowledge Village the company it is now working with the Maltese government to create the US$300million SmartCity Malta project.

Described as a: "knowledge based township", SmartCity Malta will create 5,600 jobs and once completed in 2021 will be the Mediterranean's leading ICT and media cluster and the country's largest foreign investment. As well as offering office space to ICT and media companies, it will include homes, hotels, conference facilities and retail units.

But why Malta? SmartCity's CEO Fareed Abdulrahman, explains that the country was chosen because of its location, and its potential for growth. "We have two models that we look at when we choose any location. One is the Dubai model in terms of location. If you look at Dubai today we always say it's the bridge between West and East.  Malta is the bridge between south of Europe and North Africa. Location wise it's perfect and it's also very close to the Middle East. "The second factor is the soft infrastructure and Malta has the soft infrastructure to attract people. It's a very safe place. The lifestyle is great. It's so peaceful, it's very safe. It's very similar to Dubai. And I like the system. Despite being a small Island it is ranked number three in terms of eGovernment in the EU. So this creates a good environment for the businessman, the investor and for companies."

Abdulrahman goes on to say that the jobs created by the project will create opportunities for Malta's skilled IT professionals, who often move overseas for work because of a shortage of positions in their home country. The aim of the project is to boost the Maltese job market by 4% making it the biggest job creator under one roof in Malta's history. Of the jobs that will be created 65% will be new jobs in knowledge-based industries. "Although Malta has qualified people they always go somewhere else. You find them in the UK and in Australia especially," says Abdulrahman. "We will be looking to attract back some of the Maltese talent that has left the island to work in other markets. Many industry experts in Malta have expressed concerns over the flight of scientific and technological talent. This project will contribute towards reversing that trend."

However, in order to create job opportunities in Malta, Abdulrahman must succeed in attracting IT companies to set up headquarters within the SmartCity cluster. He says one way to do this will be to encourage these companies to use SmartCity Malta as the base for their North African operations given the country's proximity to the continent. "We are aiming to attract IT companies that are looking for an office location in Europe that is cost effective for them. But are also looking to tap into business in North Africa. SmartCity Malta will create the ideal infrastructure, support systems, environment and lifestyle for ICT and the people working in the industry.

"When it comes to the multinationals we want to be their first choice for this."
Abdulrahman goes on to say that he also hopes to attract homegrown Middle Eastern ICT and media companies to set up operations in SmartCity Malta as part of their international expansion strategies. "Today we have the advantage of being able to tap into almost 4,300 companies in Dubai Internet City and see what their growth and expansion plans are - especially when it comes to small to medium sized companies. The larger anchor companies we have in Dubai, include IBM, Cisco and Microsoft and obviously their focus is on being in Europe rather than in the Middle East, so there is that advantage too."

While keen to emulate the success of its Middle East developments in the creation of SmartCity Malta Abdulrahman acknowledges that his company will face different challenges when it comes to its first European project. One of these will be the fact that it will be required to form agreements with local telecoms and IT companies to built a network infrastructure and provide services to residents of the cluster. "Looking at Smart City we are not looking at it in terms of providing the telecommunications services. Instead we will be talking to the operators of that location to get the best services for our clients."

SmartCity will also have to be responsible for providing housing and other facilities for residents within the Maltese development - whereas in Dubai this was provided by local developers all to keen to invest in Dubai's thriving real estate sector at a location that provided a ready supply of tenants. As well as office buildings the Maltese project will also include shopping boulevards, residential units and landscaped recreational areas. "We never worried about who would come up with housing facilities, retail outlets and hotel facilities in Dubai Internet City," says Abdulrahman. "We knew what developments were being built around the cluster and that would provide all the necessary facilities to our business partners. In Malta we will take responsibility for that creating a city that people can both live and work in."

The company aims to make the city as energy efficient as possible and has carried out an extensive Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to ensure it meets European environmental regulations and is in accordance with LEED (Leadership in Energy Efficient Development) standards. This is due to conclude with the carrying out of a Traffic Impact study, the development of the project in accordance with LEED (Leadership in Energy Efficient Development) study.

While in the Middle East, the concept of creating a self-contained 'city' from scratch in a relatively remote location is a familiar one, SmartCity Malta will be the first of its kind in the country creating infrastructural challenges for the company. However, Abdulrahman says he believes Dubai and Malta share similar aspirations and that based on this he expects the European project to emulate the success of its Middle Eastern counterparts. "In terms of strategic location, size, connectivity, access to key markets, and high tourism orientation, Malta and Dubai share a natural affinity. They have similar knowledge-economy aspirations. Malta's vision for knowledge-based development finds a parallel in Dubai's strategic plans to develop itself into a knowledge based economy."

Abdulrahman believes that the aspirations of the Maltese government and its desire to establish a strong knowledge-based economy mean the financial pressures currently facing European companies will not affect the success of the SmartCity project. Moreover he believes that IT companies are relatively insulated from the pressures posed by the credit crunch. "IT business will not stop. It might reduce but it will not stop. There are a lot of mergers happening in some other industries but I've not seen mergers in IT. Instead these companies will move to other locations that are more cost effective."

SmartCity's international expansion strategy certainly doesn't stop at Malta. The company has ambitious plans to create a global network of SmartCities in different locations worldwide. With this in mind it is hoping to develop SmartCity Kochi in partnership with the government of Kerala on a 246-hecactre site outside the city. The project, for which the company is still seeking approval, will create 90,000 jobs and become the focus for knowledge-based industries in the country. Abdulrahman says that the company also sees high potential for SmartCity projects in the Asia Pacific as well as in North Africa. "Asia Pacific, we strongly believe, has huge potential. There is an availability of talent and a diversity of industries there. Gaming for instance is huge." He adds that the company believes it is important to target French and Spanish speaking companies. "Not all the IT companies and business happens in one language. There are other languages which are very much used. I'm talking about French. How to tackle the French speaking companies.
"There is also the Spanish speaking business and we very much want to address those customers."

He is highly confident that SmartCity Malt will succeed, basing his assumption on the success of the original SmartCities - Dubai Internet City and Dubai Media City. These projects have achieved success beyond his original expectations, he admits: "I didn't expect it to be such a success, I'll be honest. And especially because the time when it started was when the whole dot.com bust happened. There are two main reasons why I think it was so successful. The primary reason is because of Dubai - the location of Dubai and how the Dubai system has worked. The second reason is that Dubai Internet City, which was ready in 365 days, has created new standards that have made it the benchmark for all projects in Dubai since 2000. The team behind this project and the leadership of the country were the reasons behind this success." And while there may be big differences between the UAE and Malta, for both countries the Smart City concept represents a new level of infrastructure and the opportunity to kickstart an IT industry with huge potential.

Fareed Abdulrahman is the CEO of SmartCity and a board member of SmartCity Malta and SmartCity Kochi. He is also in charge of the expansion of TECOM's offices internationally. In this role, Fareed sets strategic objectives for the SmartCity brand and the execution of each project. He spearheads efforts to identify, develop opportunities for expanding the global SmartCity network along the lines of Dubai Internet City (DIC), Dubai Media City (DMC) and Dubai Knowledge Village (DKV).

Fareed started his career with DIC in 2000 as an Account Manager, rising quickly up the ranks to become Regional Sales Manager for DIC and later Director of Sales. He was also a member of the initial core team which implemented the concept of DIC as a cluster for the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry. He also developed the concept of International Business Centres, a service which allows trade development agencies to set up facilities for their national companies to enter the Middle East market in collaboration with DIC.

Fareed holds a Bachelor's degree in Geology from UAE University, where he was placed overall second. He has also undergone Cranfield University's Senior Management Development Programme and is a member of Dubai Holding's Future Leadership programme.

About SmartCity

SmartCity is a joint venture company by Dubai Holding members, TECOM Investments and Sama Dubai, to develop and manage Knowledge Industry Townships worldwide. The vision of the company is to be the preferred business park provider that develops a global network of self-sustained townships.

SmartCity combines; TECOM's specialised expertise, in the creation and management of knowledge based industry clusters, with Sama Dubai's strength in real estate development in the international market to create an infrastructure and environment catered to the requirements of knowledge based companies and knowledge workers.

SmartCity is based on the successful models of Dubai Internet City, Dubai Media City and Dubai Knowledge Village and provides state-of-the-art infrastructure, environment and support systems that promote the growth of knowledge-based companies.

SmartCity Malta and SmartCity Kochi are the first two projects to be part of the global network of knowledge-based industry townships that SmartCity seeks to develop.

This article was first published in Business Management Middle East in March 2009: www.busmanagementme.com/article/Issue-5/Unified-Communications/Smart-thinking.