For years, the term ??RIC?was hot on Wall Street—and increasingly in design and innovation circles. BRIC stood for Brazil, Russia, India, China—the fastest growing emerging markets.

Now another term is hot—CIME. CIME stands for China, India, Middle East. Yes, Brazil is still pretty hot and so is Russia. But the Middle East is REALLY hot, with all those petro-trillions pouring in to pay for name-brand architects and designers creating beautiful new things in Dubai, the Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

Good for cocktail chatter.