Abu-Ghazaleh delivers keynote speech at Columbia University in New York

AMMAN — Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, founder and president of Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Group (TAG), has recently delivered a keynote speech at the prestigious Columbia University in New York upon an invitation from the Columbia Arab Students Association (Turath), in collaboration with Columbia Global Centres.

Abu Ghazaleh spoke about his vision for a knowledge-based Arab world, a goal, he said, he dedicated his life to achieve, describing himself as "a knowledge worker since 1965, devoted constantly to transferring knowledge to young people in the Arab World and encouraging them to excel”, according to a TAG statement.

In his speech, he focused on what he dubbed as wealth creation based on creative information production, citing examples of individuals who built huge fortunes, solely relying on their creativity, such as Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and WhatsApp's inventor Jan Koum. He stressed that the Arab World is rich in talents, who are no less creative than these well-known figures.

Abu Ghazaleh said such examples are a source of inspiration for Arab youth to change their reality and achieve their dreams through stepping into the world of creativity, innovation and excellence through the gate of technological knowledge. He described such knowledge as "invaluable and the source of wealth”, so much so that knowledge firms are way ahead of the richest companies in fields like oil, banking, weapons, food production, pharmaceutical industry and others worldwide.

Abu Ghazaleh stressed that these convictions of his have been the drive behind his decision to launch Talal Abu-Ghazaleh University College for Innovation (TAGUCI), which will commence its operation within weeks. TAGUCI, he noted, seeks to graduate Arab inventors with a record of knowledge innovations, leading eventually to Arab societies that produce knowledge and transform from civil to creative communities.

Based on that, Abu Ghazaleh pointed out to his vision for building a modern Arab society through a comprehensive knowledge plan that would have the same impact, but culturally, of the famous Marshal Plan, devised to rebuild Europe in the aftermath of WWII.

Meanwhile, Abu-Ghazaleh made reference in his speech to his new book "The Brave Knowledge World", which he will launch soon to elaborate on his vision and philosophy that have evolved throughout decades of his life and his insight into the knowledge revolution and its impact on humanity. In this context, he recalled his first computer lesson in 1968 and how the world has changed since then as a result of massive advancements in technology and ITC.

Abu-Ghazaleh's keynote speech at Columbia University followed previous ones he made in April at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University in Boston, in recognition of his prominent social status and notable role in the fields of science and knowledge regionally and internationally.