IBIS Middle East 2023 unveils high-level keynote speakers

The International Bodyshop Industry Symposium (IBIS) has announced that Dr Jassim Haji, president of International Group of Artificial Intelligence and executive advisor to HH Sheikh Nasser AI Research & Development Centre in Bahrain, and Dr Akbar Jaffari, chief executive of JAFCON Consultants, will join the 2023 edition of IBIS Middle East as keynote speakers.

The first IBIS Worldwide event under the 2023 theme of “Sustainable Strategies for Success”, IBIS Middle East (7-8 February 2023 at Le Méridien Dubai Hotel and Conference Centre) will seek answers to key questions about the present and future of the automotive collision repair industry, placing emphasis on approaches that can secure sustainable solutions to challenges encountered along the way.

Dr Jassim is an international expert, strategist and researcher in artificial intelligence (AI) and digital transformation, who has participated as keynote speaker and chairman in more than 300 technology conferences in the Middle East and Europe.

He will provide a vision of our future, highlighting how AI will play a major role and become a standard feature in collision repair, in other sectors and in our private lives. Dr Jassim will also be joined on stage by a cross-industry panel to discuss where AI sits within the GCC collision industry.

Dr Akbar is a renowned efficiency expert and the chief executive of JAFCON Consultants. Since 1990, Dr Akbar has provided consultation to more than 700 companies on productivity and performance measurement, KPIs, organisational excellence assessment, human resources management and development, R&D, and strategic planning. He is a visiting speaker on Economics and Management at Cambridge University in the UK, an assessor with the Performance Excellence Programme (Dubai government), an arbitrator and expert with the Gulf Co-operation Council Commercial Arbitration Centre, and a visiting lecturer on Engineering Economics and Human Resources Management at the University of Bahrain.

Dr Akbar will discuss the concept of productivity, before being joined on stage by a panel of experts to discuss where the GCC collision industry is with productivity today and how to implement the ideas to improve the repair journey for all stakeholders.

IBIS CEO Jason Moseley said of the two keynote speakers: “We are delighted to have such luminaries taking to the IBIS stage in 2023. The collision repair industry grapples with the adoption of digitisation, with a backdrop of continuing to find marginal productivity gains. These keynotes will provide essential thought leadership know-how for IBIS Middle East attendees and the wider IBIS global family that will be tuning in live via live HD video link. A truly exciting start to our 2023 campaign.”

IBIS conference moderator Robert Snook added: “Dr Jassim and Dr Akbar delivered powerful and thought-provoking keynote sessions at the recent IBIS Bahrain National Forum. At IBIS Middle East we will be taking the conversations up to a regional level to see how the GCC region is managing these two critical strategies for ensuring the sustainable success of our industry stakeholders.”

If you are interested in attending IBIS Middle East 2023 or becoming an event partner, please contact IBIS Worldwide head of sales Suzie Scott ([email protected]).

More information about IBIS Middle East 2023 can be found on the IBIS Worldwide website. Click the following link to view the provisional event agenda.