International Electronics Forum (IEF) 2008: The Global Electronics Ecosystem—Revolution or Evolution

The 17th annual International Electronics Forum, held in Dubai, UAE, opened with a brief introduction and welcome by Malcolm Penn, Chairman and CEO of Future Horizons (www.futurehorizons.com). He began by thanking the Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority (DSOA) and H.H Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of DSOA, for their Forum support and sponsorship (for more on DSO, take a look at the videos we have on this site). Penn then outlined the theme of the conference (Fig. 1) as well as the challenges facing the semiconductor industry (Fig. 2).

The conference was divided into six sessions with up to four presentations in each session. For a listing of these please check out the Forum Programme at the Future Horizons Web site. The highlights of each session are provided elsewhere on this page. The final session wrapping up the conference was an executive panel that considered “Strategies for Success in the Global Electronics Ecosystem.” You can find highlights of this session on this site.