Major US business accelerator targets emerging IT companies in Lebanon

American Techstar accelerator, a major global player in this field, organized last Friday a discussion session about the importance of emerging companies in the Internet of Things sector.  The purpose of this event was to support a number of emerging business to kick off and start their operation in Lebanon.  To be noted that the Internet of Things is an advanced IT concept which assumes that all daily equipment can be connected to the Internet and can receive data to perform tasks without human intervention.  A number of concerned experts in the digital economy in Lebanon took part in this event.  Although the head of the selection of eligible companies is Lebanese, Christopher Badawi, yet, this is the first time that this programme targets Lebanese companies.  Badawi assessed a number of companies active in this field and consequently selected a few to partake in this programme.  Badawi further noted that the selection criteria are tough but that the programme will provide selected companies with USD 120000 in a first phase and in the second phase, the selected companies will be able to exchange contracts wuth large international companies in the digital world such as Bosch, General Electric, Verizon and PWC.  Badawi considered that memorandum 331 issued by Central Bank in 2013 helped in developing and encouraging emerging companies in Lebanon but these still face some challenges such as the continuous electrical interruptions as well as internet speed. (L’Orient le Jour, January 30th 2-17)