Members of Middle East Innovation LinkedIn Group Meet in Abu Dhabi to Network, Exchange Ideas

June 29, 2011 - PRLog -- Members of the Middle East Innovation group  on LinkedIn met in person for the second time last week to network and exchange ideas on innovation, business excellence and entrepreneurship.

Held at the Al Ghazal Golf Club in Abu Dhabi, the free event featured special guest speakers Yousif Almutawa, Dubai Port World CIO, and Mr. Tarek El Goweiny, General Manager for National Catering Company, one of the sponsors of the event along with Minitab Ltd.

Mr. Kamal Hassan, President and CEO of Innovation 360 Institute, also spoke briefly on the merits of business model innovation. Most of the evening was allocated for attendees to meet and exchange information and ideas.

“This was an interesting and worthwhile event,” noted attendee Rizwan Afshar. “It was great to meet the professionals from different disciplines and learn their unique experiences.”

Although the event was open to anyone, many of the attendees are members of the Middle East Innovation group on the LinkedIn social network. With more than 1,200 members from around the world, the group is the largest gathering of professionals interested in regional innovation and entrepreneurship. Group members are encouraged to ask questions and share insights on how organizations in the Middle East can leverage innovation to increase organic growth and sustainability.

The group’s first networking event was held last November in Dubai. “We asked attendees for their ideas to promote innovation awareness in the region,” says Hassan. “We came up with many ideas and we voted on them. The highest vote was for providing free innovation training online.”

Hassan says that Innovation 360 will continue to sponsor events for group members and others interested in business innovation. “Online forums like LinkedIn are important to start the discussion on innovation,” he says. “But you have to follow that up with discussions and collaboration offline to affect real change.”

The Middle East Innovation group is free for anyone on LinkedIn to join.

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Innovation 360 Institute is a strategy and operations advisory group that works with organizations around the world to improve growth and sustainability through business model innovation, innovation management deployment and leadership development training. Learn more at http://www.i360institute.com/about-us.