Dubai Holding partners with Dubai Future Accelerators

Dubai Holding, the global investment holding company, announced today its role as a founding entity in Dubai Future Accelerators, the programme by Dubai Future Foundation that focuses exclusively on the identification and deployment of futuristic prototypes and products on a city-wide scale. Other partners include Road & Transport Authority (RTA), Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), Dubai Municipality, Dubai Police, Dubai Health Authority and Dubai Knowledge.

The Dubai Future Accelerators is the largest government-supported accelerator with an investment of AED One billion to be invested over the next five years to develop the capability of transforming the future.

The Dubai Future Accelerators has been established to develop a futuristic roadmap of key sectors for the Government of Dubai and to facilitate public-private partnerships that expedite its delivery through design, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Each of the founding entities presented one challenge that addresses a critical issue in key sectors of Dubai’s economy inviting innovative start-up companies to embark on large-scale collaborations with them. Dubai Holding is focusing on digital solutions across the hospitality, food and beverage, and real estate sectors that reduce paperwork and the need for human intervention, while increasing transaction speeds and customer satisfaction.

Ahmad Bin Byat, Vice Chairman & Managing Director, Dubai Holding, said: “Dubai Holding is very pleased to be a founding partner of Dubai Future Accelerators. This is a very exciting moment for Dubai Holding, where we are hosting and collaborating with some of the brightest entrepreneurs in the global tech industry to deliver enhanced experiences to our wide universe of customers and the wider community. Teams from across the Group are supporting them on the new concepts and disruptive technologies that Dubai Holding will benefit from. These advancements will ultimately drive happiness amongst people across Dubai. We are seeing innovation unfold at our premises, and are proud to be helping bring the future of Dubai forward.”

Bin Byat added: “Aligned with the Leadership’s vision, we believe that innovation is the key to the next phase of Dubai’s growth. Our partnership with Dubai Future Foundation demonstrates Dubai Holding’s role as a key catalyst to the Emirate’s economic diversification. Through our support to their initiative, we are driving forward the National Innovation Strategy, which is vital to achieving the UAE Vision 2021.”

From nearly 2,300 applications submitted to the programme, 31 companies were shortlisted to work with the founding entities, with four working with Dubai Holding in the 12-week long first phase.

These companies are start-ups that focus on blockchain technology, digital personalisation, robotics and virtual reality to create innovative, feasible and cost-effective solutions for enhancing the interaction between the Group’s businesses.

Currently embedded in the Dubai Holding space within Dubai Future Accelerators are:

Machine Colony, a company that uses machine intelligence to transform the way businesses operate, unlocking value from transaction, operating, and macro data

*gramLabs an Artificial Intelligence start up, leveraging deep learning, speech recognition and holographic design to deliver holograms you could have a conversation with ConsenSys, which is building decentralized applications and various developer and end-user tools for blockchain ecosystems and

Loyyal, a universal loyalty and rewards platform built with blockchain and smart contract technology

BlockApps, a scalable Ethereum compliant platform for rapid development, deployment

and management of enterprise blockchain applications.

Dubai Holding has a long history of contributing to Dubai’s economic growth and innovative infrastructure, creating businesses communities that nurture creative thinking and delivering sustainable, innovation-led projects. The launch of the Innovation Hub under TECOM Group, the initiation of the “Intrapreneurs Challenge”, the development of Burj Al Arab Terrace, and the unveiling of the Jumeirah Central master plan are recent examples of Dubai Holding’s fundamental role in developing strategic projects for Dubai’s next phase of growth and furthering the Emirate’s economic diversification.