Your World Today has been following the development of Masdar City since the project’s announcement in 2007 (See Post 1 and Post 2 for background). Below is an animated video that explains the vision. Many are likening the Masdar initiative to The Venus Project.

Next week, I will be joining meetings between Masdar officials and Nova Scotia’s Department of Environment. Mirroring the aspirations of Abu Dhabi, Nova Scotia is already a North American leader in sustainable waste management, with composting rates at 200% the Canadian average, and near 100% of residents having access to curbside collection of paper, food, and recyclable waste. Nova Scotia’s Waste management experts, together with stakeholders from academia, government, and industry, are working to create an international Waste Resource Management Institute right here in Nova Scotia. The institute’s mandate will be to share the province’s expertise with the world to promote sustainable, community-driven environmental initiatives.

Similarly, Phase 1 of Masdar City included plans for a world-class institute of science and technology with a focus on graduate-level research in clean energy and green technologies. So where are those plans now? I’m happy to report that the institute was the first building to be completed in Masdar City, and the first cohort of 88 students (selected from a pool of 1200 applicants from 22 Countries) commenced their studies in the Fall of 2009 as the first residents of Masdar City! The Masdar Institute is operated in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Masdar Institute

Another plan for Phase 1 of Masdar City was to power the construction phase using renewable energy sources. In June of 2009, a $50M Solar power plant came online to power the construction of Masdar City. The 10 Megawatt plant occupies 55 acres and is the largest photovoltaic system in the MENA region. The plant was designed and built by Enviromena: a young UAE-based company whose four founding members are all Canadian!

And before I conclude this update, I will leave you with a video demonstration of the driver-less, track-less electric cars that will be the main mode of transportation in Masdar City’s ULTra – PRT system (Urban Light Transit – Personal Rapid Transit). The system is developed and implemented by 2getthere, a company based in the Netherlands.

More executions of this campagin can be seen at Tonic’s Vincent Rafferey’s blog. What do you think of this low-cost campaign?

Advertising Agency: Tonic, Dubai, UAE (for Abu Dhabi Kids Zoo)
Creative Director: Vincent Raffray
Art Directors: Valerio Battagli
Copywriter: Dario De Albuquerque

(Seen on MediaME).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rueFzxwXaxM

The Associated Press reported today that Judge Leon ruled that a man can be held in Guantanamo for no more a reason other than being a cook for the Taliban.

Al Baihani, a citizen of Yemen, says he never fired a weapon while serving with the Taliban in Afghanistan. He was an assistant in the kitchen.

Now, granted, these may just be lies spoken by a man (terrorist?) who, you know, has been imprisoned in a chicken coop for over 7 years without charge and he will say anything to get out.

But, I’d like to draw attention to the fact that the judge’s decision was not based on the possibility that the man may have been lying and was, infact, an enemy combatant who willfully held arms against the US Military in Afghanistan.

No, the judge made his ruling solely on the question of whether being a cook for ‘the enemy’ is a punishable offense. As noted below by the AP:

Leon said that Al Bihani’s work (cooking) supported the Taliban, nevertheless, and that the U.S. government has appropriately classified him as an enemy combatant. In his ruling, Leon quoted Napoleon as saying: “An army marches on its stomach.”

Ah, yes! You show them ter’rists! For some reason the theme song from Team America World Police jumps to mind.

Yet, with tragedy comes opportunity. In this case, the opportunity materialized in increased donations to organizations that help victims of this atrocious phenomenon. One such organization was able to afford this brilliant print ad campaign, done by JWT Dubai. Click to enlarge and read the brief.

Ad for Acid Survivors Trust International

From the brief:

“The idea is to show the damaging effects of an acid attack on the face of a victim. To do so, the consecutive pages of a magazine are purposely glued together. Unsuspecting readers try to separate the pages from each other, only to discover that the pages tear off at the face of a woman, creating a scarring effect.”

Seen on AdblogArabia and AdsOfTheWorld.

Volkswagen Ramadan Kareem Rear Lights

Volkswagen Ramadan Kareem Headlights

Advertising Agency: DDB, Dubai
Creative Director: Rishad Lawyer
Art Director: Guilherme Pecego
Copywriter: Rishad Lawyer

Seen on AdBlogArabia.

As an iconic part of the New York City skyline, the Chrysler Building has been depicted countlessly in almost every medium—film, photography, video games, art, advertising, music, literature, and even fashion, as its use quickly establishes without doubt the location in which the depicted events are occurring. (Wikipedia)

The purchase marks yet another major North American investment by a Middle Eastern fund. Gulf countries, flush with revenues from unprecedented oil prices, are taking that extra cash and pouring it back into the countries who paid for the oil in the first place.

In Canada, foreign ownership is a sensitive political issue. Critics decry the so called ‘hollowing-out’ of corporate Canada, and warn of its effect on national security and sovereignty interests. Meanwhile, other countries with friendlier ownership regulations are realizing the positive effects of free markets. Businesses, consumers, and shareholders enjoy increases in wealth, competitive services, and exchange/transfer of global expertise.

The Canadian discussion on foreign ownership rules heated up last month with the release of the 65 recommendations arrived at by the Competition Policy Review Panel after a one-year study commissioned by the federal government (click here for report). The panel concluded that “the federal government needs to scrap its ban on bank mergers, lighten up its foreign ownership restrictions of uranium and airline assets, and liberalize the telecommunications industry“, reported the Globe and Mail.

Shortly after the release of the panel’s recommendations on foreign ownership, the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) countered the study with a report arguing that Canada needs less foreign ownership, not more. Readers of this blog who are from Atlantic Canada may remember that the CCPA is the organization that vehemently argued against Atlantica and the proposal led by AIMS (Atlantic Institute for Market Studies). Click here for a previous blog post that discussed the confrontation in more detail.

The recommendations regarding the telcom sector specially hit close to home with many Canadians. The existing oligopoly of wireless providers in Canada has seen increasing criticism in the past few months. In the spotlight are exuberant data charges highlighted by the advent of the iPhone which will hit Canadian shelves for the first time tomorrow exclusively through Rogers Wireless.

Bell Aliant (BCE) and Telus Mobility are also under fire for announcing the introduction of new charges for each text message received by cell phone users unless they subscribe to a monthly plan. Many consumers feel that the competitive landscape in the telcom sector is unfriendly to the needs of the consumer.

While protectionists scorn the findings of the Competition Policy Review Panel, they fail to address a real hollowing-out currently taking place in Canada: existing foreign owners abandoning their Canadian assets and relocating elsewhere.

A rising Canadian dollar coupled with expensive union demands is leaving Ontario with an Auto Workers crisis as American auto plants shut down operations and moved out of Canada to friendlier markets. Atlantic provinces have been experiencing a drain of skilled workers for some time now as various plant shut-downs force skilled workers to relocate to western Canada in search of jobs.

So where will the next billion dollars of oil money be invested? Most likely not in Canada.

Here are five leads into top business opportunities for businesses seeking to position themselves along growth sectors in the Middle East:

1. Finance and Banking ICT & Software: The Arab banking sector will invest $1.8 Billion in information and communication technologies in 2008, a 15% increase from what they already spent in 2007. Arab banks boast one of the highest rates of growth in technology investment in the world (mainly because they got on the boat a little later than everyone else). Ofcourse, being a late adopter in this sector also means that Arab banks are being fitted with the latest technologies in the industry, giving them an edge compared to banks using archaic systems. Canada has 83 ICT companies that specialize in the Financial industry. Please, at least one of you should go down there and grab a contract or two!

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1. Sharia-Compliant Hospitality Products: Aha! Read that again. It’s not Sharia-compliant Banking. This time, a new Islamic trend is set to launch, and with it a new need for niche products. This May, Dubai-based Al-Mullah Properties will announce plans to invest $2 Billion to develop an Islamically-compliant hotel brand portfolio appealing to lifestyle travelers – both Muslim and non-Muslim. A new chain of up to 90 international hotels (branded as Cliftonwood, Adham and Wings) will operate with universal Islamic codes such as no alcohol and Halal food only. If you are a manufacturer/exporter of luxury and fine food products for the hospitality industry, now is the time to think about new product lines or re-branding existing products.

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1. Cement and Construction Materials/Technologies: Everyone knows it. Dubai is the fastest growing city in the world, with anywhere between 15 to 25% of the world’s cranes working constantly on its towers. The real estate boom in the UAE is about to face a crisis. Cement is on back log! Zawya.com reported that “Companies that provide ready-mix concrete have issued their clients notices that they are not in a position to supply more than 45 percent of the ready-mix orders. In some cases, ready-mix companies have even ceased production.” If any company has a solution, get on the next plane to Dubai and bring home some goat meat! (sorry, no bacon in UAE)

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1. Recycling and Industrial Waste Management Solutions: With all that construction comes much industrial waste. Lots of it. Recycling and Waste Management technologies have an open opportunity here. (Edit July 13 2008: This recommendation has been confirmed here).

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1. Oil, Oil, and Oil: Duh! Oil services are still in high demand. Better, cheaper extraction technologies. Maintenance services for older wells. Training services for labour localization initiatives. It’s all there. This week Bahrain announced plans to add 700 new oil wells to meet increasing energy demands. This summer, Yemen will award its first round of contracts for off-shore operations, prompting a scurry by local firms to find international partners who have much needed expertise in providing offshore services in a market that traditionally relied on on-shore production.

And there you have it. If you are a company that found this advice helpful and was able to capitalize on it in any way, shape, or form… congratulations! You are one of very few smart chicks who found a crack in the shell of Canadian reluctance and broke out successfully!

Captivate Network in Canada runs multiple ads in a small digital screen hoping to achieve some brand awareness for its advertisers with an elevator crowd that is captive for a maximum of 1 to 2 minutes, and some smaller companies based in Canada’s MTV cities (Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver) have a number of elevator print display cases for pizza and taxi numbers. Blah.

There is just no substitute to a well-planned creative campaign by a professional advertising agency. Click the picture below to enlarge. The campaign was created by advertising agency TBWA/RAAD, Dubai.

Seen on [AdBlogArabia.com]

Do you think these ads would have been accepted by Canadian consumers? Click on the images to see the full ad.

“This is Elliot. He still lives with his mother. This is …The only thing that stops Elliot from putting a bullet through his middle-aged balding head is coming to work everyday where he can be more productive in his ergonomically designed office chair and feel like a real player.”

Two more are below.

Seen on AdBlogArabia and Vincent Raffray.