The tech competition could easily have taken place in Silicon Valley. The winning team designed a 3D printer with the basic tools and materials available. The runners-up developed a smartphone application to help users find the nearest pharmacy and a game that teaches kids about electronic circuits. A few of the projects suggested this wasn’t your usual techie gathering, however. One app offered ways to get through the ruins of a bombed-out city. Another helped users get in touch with refugee organizations. The scene for this juxtaposition between cutting-edge technology and the primeval quest for survival: Syria’s Damascus Technology Garden, which in February hosted its first Startup Weekend since the country descended into civil war three years ago. The event offered a sharp reminder that technology is helping transform a region that many in the West have long dismissed as a social and economic basket case. Across the Middle East, entrepreneurs and their startups are striving to offer an economic future to the region’s overwhelmingly youthful population, while helping to foster social and political change. "Everywhere there is ubiquitous access to technology, you see startups expanding," Christopher Schroeder, the author of the 2013 book "Startup Rising" about "the entrepreneurial revolution remaking the Middle East," told Al-Monitor. "Jordan and Dubai have the most friendly environment and have begun to prioritize this, but we are seeing it everywhere." The Hashemite Kingdom has long led the way for the tech revolution taking the region by storm.
