The EU and Orange Jordan Inaugurate Digital Village and Digital Center with JOHUD in Aqaba
The European Union and Orange Jordan inaugurated the Orange Digital Village in Aqaba, and the Women Digital Center at Princess Basma Center for Human Development as part of “Innovation Space”. This three-year-project is co-funded by the European Union’s “Innovation for Enterprise Growth and Jobs” programme.
The event was attended by the EU Ambassador to Jordan, H.E. Maria Hadjitheodosiou, and CEO of Orange Jordan, Thierry Marigny, marking a continuation of the EU’s and Orange’s joint efforts to support youth in the digital and entrepreneurial fields.
Moving forward towards achieving EU’s and Orange Jordan's common goals of "training for employment", the digital village in Aqaba comprises a coding academy that provides training in programming languages and personal skills required in the labor market for 7 months, including a one-month internship.
In the context of the “Innovation Space” project in Aqaba, the EU and Orange Jordan also inaugurated a Women Digital Center at Princess Basma Center for Human Development in partnership with the Jordanian Hashemite Fund for Human Development (JOHUD). The Center is an extension of the successful program conducted in seven governorates to empower women with managerial, digital and marketing skills needed to support their projects.
Additionally, Orange Jordan and the EU launched an incubator and startup accelerator to support entrepreneurs in Aqaba and enable them to scale up.
European Union Ambassador H.E. Maria Hadjitheodosiou stressed the importance of mainstreaming digital entrepreneurship and innovation culture across the Kingdom, which are key to creating employment opportunities for Jordanian youth. “The core of the “Innovation Space” project is about increasing the opportunities for employment, creating local value creation and enhancing the capacity of small and medium enterprises and entrepreneurs to innovate. Reaching out to youth, students and entrepreneurs all across the country in order to enhance their digital skills is an essential element of this project.”
CEO of Orange Jordan, Thierry Marigny, expressed his excitement about the extended digital programs at the Orange Digital Village in Aqaba and the new digital centers executed in partnership with JOHUD, as they will offer youth in the southern governorates the opportunity to benefit from free digital programs in the most in-demand skills in the labor market, as well as the support provided to launching and growing startups.
Marigny said that this step aims to enhance innovation culture on a larger scale in Jordan and enable more beneficiaries, noting that the “Innovation Space” project seeks to increase the number of beneficiaries to more than 20,000 in 29 locations across the Kingdom.
He also noted that these projects fall under Orange Jordan's comprehensive social responsibility strategy, and its role as a responsible digital leader, seeking to curb the unemployment rate, and increase employment opportunities for youth across the Kingdom, while supporting entrepreneurial and ambitious projects that will drive economic growth.
The “Innovation Space” project supports the expansion of Orange’s digital programs to include 9 Community Digital Centers, in addition to 5 new coding academies, 5 FabLabs, 8 startups accelerators and incubators, in addition to an “Innovation Hub” at the Orange digital village in Amman.
The European Union-funded "Innovation Space" is a pioneering initiative in Jordan and a one-stop shop for digital innovation and entrepreneurial support. It introduces digital culture, fosters digital skills, especially among women and youth, and promotes and nurtures entrepreneurship by identifying key opportunities for digital economic growth.
About Innovate Jordan programme:
The 'Innovation for Enterprise Growth & Jobs' (Innovate Jordan) is a EUR 20 million programme, funded by the European Union in Jordan. The programme’s overall objective is to support private sector-led innovation that could drive inclusive economic development and promote systematic change in the local enterprise and innovation ecosystem in Jordan. The Programme will be implemented until 2024, through three grants. The First Grant action, ‘Scale-Up Roadmap for Growing Enterprises’ (SURGE), is implemented by a consortium led by Endeavor Jordan in partnership with BeyondCapital and Oasis500. The Second Grant action, ‘Jordan Industry 4.0 & Digitalization Innovation Centre’, (InJo4.0) is implemented by a consortium led By SAM Engineering & Trade Co. in partnership with Amman Chamber of Industry, and Transition Technologies - Advanced Solutions. The Third Grant action, “Innovation Space,” is implemented by Orange Jordan.