In November 2002 I was visiting Dubai Internet City (DIC) for the first time.
Running a small IT consulting company in Paris at this time, I sensed something in Dubai and especially in DIC we were truly lacking of in France: dynamism.

Walking in the food court, Building 3 at lunch time and you could have met engineers, sales people, experts and graduates from the IT industry. Facilities were top notch, office space and licensing were both affordable and comprehensive so it was a no-brainer for me to open a new company here.
2002/2003 was also the year the freehold property fever took of: Greens, the soon to be ready Dubai Marina, Emirates Living.

That was the first genuine community built in Dubai.

See, the equation was fairly easy to understand:

International companies + entrepreneurs + efficient administration + talented people + attractive salaries + affordable/comfortable housing = KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY

Then came the inevitable growth.
The first and biggest mistake, in my opinion, was to ignore the strategic asset that a highly skilled workforce and entrepreneurship spirit were representing.
We had here a possible embryo of a local Silicon Valley: knowledge (Knowledge Village is part of the TECOM cluster), legal and communication infrastructure, entrepreneurship.

Sadly, DIC/DMC management was only interested in attracting big names. This lack of vision prevented DIC to commission enough office space allowing for a sustainable growth.

Instead of temporary “work from home” license and off-site office locations, we were shamelessly put on the now infamous waiting list.

So here we killed the community.

Then came the mother of all sins: real estate.
Take a couple of thousand companies either on a waiting list or struggling for space to expand their workforce.
Once plenty of office space if ready, do you release them at a fair price and allow your “partners” to growth or do you put your asset management hat on  and get the highest ROI on your real estate portfolio?

Which one of this choice you think would’ve been most beneficial for the country?

And here we killed our own Silicon Valley.

With the right vision and framework allowing venture capital to finance (and benefit) local projects we would today enjoy a true Dubai Silicon Oasis. Feel free to read Paul Graham’s post “Can you buy a Silicon Valley?” for his VC point of view on the subjet.

Comments?