Barrett: Firstly I must mention that my trip will include five major developing parts of the world, mainly Brazil, middle of Amazon, South China, agriculture-reliant parts in South India and also parts of South Africa. There are typically regions which come under focus for digital transformation, particularly the education, healthcare, agriculture and egovernment segments.

Digital transformation is achieved through a combination of government, private sector and technology partnership. The Middle East is still a region that has invested lightly in IT and communications.

“I visit about 30 countries a year and meet educational and political leaders. UAE is clearly a hotspot in that both brick and mortar and IT infrastructure investments go hand in hand.”

Basic capabilities in any region have to be made available by the government, like enabling broadband connections for instance. Authorities can also work closely with private sector to make services more affordable to individuals. Technology also has to be made cheaper and sensitive to economic conditions of the market.

In some cases like in the case of adoption of WiMax, acceptance and adoption levels are higher in some markets. Saudi Arabia for example has seen high levels of acceptance and there are ongoing pilot projects in Saudi and Iraq. In fact, a lot of new technology has taken off in Latin America, South East Asia and other developing countries. In India, there is already ongoing investment in 4G communication.

There are currently are 200 trials and 50 commercial applications of WiMax taking place and the bulk of them are not being done in the US or other developed markets.

CNME: Intel set up its Venture Capital fund last year. What is the progress on this front? Are projects being supported by Intel in this region?

Barrett: I don’t have a blockbuster investment to mention right now, but there are projects related to content being worked on especially in Arabic and also in African countries. There is a design centre based in Cairo where a lot of application testing is underway. Additionally, there is a centre of competency for the petroleum sector where our technology and compatible applications work together.

The idea of setting up Intel capital was to seek out good ideas wherever they are if they are aligned with our business direction. This initiative started in this region just a year ago and we are still busy evaluating hundreds of proposals.

CNME: In the developing economies, the greater need is always for basic utilities, not technology. How do you make a case then for investing in IT?

Barrett: I get asked this question quite often, but I believe these countries need both. Emerging countries have to make sure that their young citizens are educated and given opportunities to move forward in the 21st century which is as important as getting access to clean water and other basic facilities.