The UAE Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology (MoIAT) is to hold a global start-up competition for technology ventures focussed on sustainability and decarbonisation.
The competition, launched ahead of COP28, will be for transformative start-ups seeking to have a global impact to showcase and pitch new innovations and technologies.
It seeks to provide them with the opportunity to learn from some of the best and brightest minds working in the fields of sustainability, manufacturing and technology.
The competition will also provide the startups with the opportunity to further develop and deploy their technologies in the UAE in collaboration with various industry partners.
Taking place at the Make it in the Emirates Forum from 31st May to 1st June, the competition will be open to just 24 start-ups from all over the world
The Ministry has created the ‘Make it in the Emirates Start-up Competition’ to provide technology start-ups with a platform where they can meet investors and network with policy makers and industry partners.
The Make it in the Emirates Startup Competition seeks to enable forward-looking technology startups with pioneering sustainability related innovations that can transform and green existing industries, while also seeding the green industries of the future.
Tariq Al Hashimi, Director of Advanced Technology Adoption and Development at MoIAT, said, “We are living in an age in which start-ups have the power to disrupt entire industries and rewrite the playbook. These startups also have promising solutions for some of the world’s most pressing issues including climate change”.
He, however, pointed out that access to funding and other enablers remains a huge challenge for startups all over the world.
“That is why the ministry is leveraging the Make it in the Emirates Forum as a platform to provide promising tech-driven, sustainability-focused companies with a stage at one of the region’s largest and most attended industrial investment events to pitch, learn and connect,” he said.
The deadline for submitting applications for participation in the competition is May 5.
The 24 start-ups will initially be selected from the pool of submissions based on the innovation they have demonstrated, their disruptive potential, their scalability and sustainability, as well as their marketing potential, competitive advantage, and positive social impact.
The judging panel will include representatives from Aspire, EDGE Group, Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, Technology Innovation Institute, Dubai Industrial City, UAE University and Strata.
The competition is one of several initiatives launched under the Make it in the Emirates umbrella.
‘Make it in the Emirates’ aims to attract investors, industrialists and innovators to the UAE to benefit from the country’s competitive advantages.