The President of the University of Bahrain, Professor Riyad Yousif Hamzah, affirmed the university’s interest in instilling entrepreneurial values among its students through workshops, lectures and activities to prepare students for the digital economy. This came in a speech by the President of the University at the opening of the Digital Business Ecosystem Forum organized by the Deanship of Graduate Studies and Scientific Research in its fourth edition on Monday, March 22nd, 2021. The forum was part of the activities of the Digital Entrepreneurship Research Collaborative (DERC). The forum was organized and moderated by Dr. Noora H. Alghatam, Assistant Professor at the University of Bahrain, who explored how to embed entrepreneurial values that focus on solutions and drew upon successful experiences and case studies presented on the day.

The first presentation was by Ms. Nadine Halabi, Business Development Manager from the Dubai Business Women Council (DBWC). Ms. Nadine’s presentation focused on Council's role in supporting female entrepreneurs, especially during the pandemic, noting that this period led to creative solutions and a shift towards e-commerce. Ms. Nadine noted that among the positive aspects of this period is that some companies began to partner with each other to overcome new challenges. In the second presentation, Dr. Magda Hercheui, Associate Professor from University College London, discussed the process of developing an MSc program at the University that focuses on themes of digitization, building an awareness of various vantage points of various members of the ecosystem and the importance of evidence-based data. Finally, Dr. Nuno Oliveira, Assistant Professor from the University of Tilburg, presented his  experience of a funded research project about challe entrepreneurs during the pandemic how they worked on developing an app (Kolibrie) that represents a self-help desk for startups.