Rami Olwan

The Telecommunication sector contributed 4.9 per cent to the UAE's GDP in 2009, according to the first Annual Market Review released by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA).

King Abdullah II Fund for Development KAFD in Jordan would launch an ICT fund in two months to seed start-ups in the country. Called Oasis 500, the fund aims to provide an initial capital of between $50,000 and $100,000 to 500 startups. The seed investors include three major technology names that could not be disclosed at this stage.

On 21-22 April, Kuala Lumpur hosted a gathering of 36 Consumers International members and partners for its first global meeting on Access to Knowledge. The meeting included the launches of CIi's 2010 IP Watchlist, which has since gained much media interest, and our runaway hit short film When Copyright Goes Bad, which has since accumulated almost 50 thousand page views in English and Spanish.

The CCI annual report for 2009 is now available to download as a PDF. CCI is  funded by the the Australian Research Council and was established in 2005 to focus research and development on the contribution that the creative industries and their contributing disciplines can make to a more dynamic and inclusive innovation system.