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Road Ahead - Key Growth Areas

Dubai Internet City houses around 850 firms that include some of the best IT companies across the globe like GE, Intel, Samsung, etc. As of now, most of these companies use Dubai as a marketing and sales hub for the Middle East, with a small number of companies in Software Development.
Dubai Internet City (DIC) itself is investing nearly USD 800 million for further addition of office space in Internet City as demand is exceeding the supply for office space by an average of 120,000 sq.ft. a year. DIC is also having discussions with funding partners to find out what policy measures they need to take in order to increase the R&D activities.

Growth in Software Development is largely related to Services Sector. Dubai Services Sector includes several sub sectors like hotels, transport, storage and communications. Services Sector has been able to grow at an annual growth rate of about 16 percent, with the share of services sector growing from 38 percent in 1985 to 71 percent in 2003, which gives an annual share growth of 3.5 percent. At present, more than two-thirds of Output in Organization of Economic Cooperation and development (OECD) countries and up to four fifth of employment is now in services sector. Thus, the growth in services activities is bound to increase the demand for software development and solutions for corporates in Dubai.

Figure 1.4: Growth of Services Sector in Dubai

(Source: Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry)

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* Contributed by -
Manik Kinra,
Batch 2006-07,
Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai.