Bahrain has launched the new and improved eGovernment portal (bahrain.bh) at the opening of the seventh edition of the Bahrain International eGovernment Forum.

The event is being held at the Ritz-Carlton Bahrain, Hotel and Spa until tomorrow, reported the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication.

Deputy Prime Minister and Supreme Committee for ICT chairman Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, who inaugurated the website, said in his opening address, the new portal featured 25 re-engineered eGovernment services and numerous features which enabled easy and fast access to information and services.

The deputy prime minister also gave away the eGovernment Excellence Awards 2014.

In the government sector, the "Best eContent Award" has gone to the Health Ministry for its website (moh.gov.bh).

The "Best eService Award" has been won by the National Workers Registration service of the Social Insurance Organisation, whereas the "Best eProject award" has gone to National Authority for Qualifications and Quality Assurance of Education and Training (QQA)'s Examination Information System.

Interior Ministry's General Directorate of Traffic has won the award for the "Best Application for Smart Devices".

The eParticipation Award has gone to the Culture Ministry whereas eEconomy Award has been won by the Municipalities and Urban Planning Affairs Ministry.

In the multi sector, the award for the "Best App for Smart Devices" has been won by Zain Bahrain for the Zain self care app.

Amina Gallery won the "eEntrepreneur" Award whereas the "eNGOs" Award has gone to the Youth Pioneer Society.

In the individuals' category, the "Best eConcept" Award has been won by Mohammed Ahmed Qamber for Social Media Donations and by Mohammed Abdulla Hasan for ePearl mobile app.

The "eCitizen" Award has gone to Sameera Abduljabbar AlKooheji and Sayed Abdulghani Qarooni for the highest volume and number of transactions through the eGovernment portal in one year, respectively.

The first day of the forum also saw the start of workshops presented by 10 international speakers on "Smart Government, Gamification, Mobile Trends, Power of Social Media, Big Data, Internet of Things, IT Digital Trends, Entrepreneurship, Smart Cities, and Industrial Internet".

Shaikh Mohammed will today inaugurate the Bahrain IT Expo 2014 at the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC).

The expo will run in parallel with eight workshops which will focus on topics such as "eGovernment Success Stories and Global Trends, eContent Management, Social Media Toolkit, Innovation and Entrepreneurship in ICT Environment, Enterprise IT Governance for Control and Value Creation, Mobile Apps, Agile Business Analysis and Improvements, along with Leadership in Information Technology".

The expo opens its doors for the public in BIC (Paddock Hall) from 9am to 5pm. The eight parallel workshops will be running today and tomorrow in BIC (Oasis Building) from 8.30am to 4.30pm.

The forum is organised by the eGovernment Authority in collaboration with Bahrain Internet Society, Bahrain Society of Engineers and Project Management Institute - Arabian Gulf Chapter. It is expected that the multiple events will attract over 700 local, regional and international visitors this year. – TradeArabia News Service