UAE launches competition for sustainability-tech startups

In line with UAE Net Zero 2050 and the UAE’s direction towards sustainable economic development and industrial decarbonization, the Ministry of the Industry and Advanced Technology is hosting high potential technology start-ups with a focus on sustainability and decarbonization to participate in a start-up competition launched ahead of COP28.

The Ministry 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 competition invites transformative start-ups seeking to have a global impact to showcase and pitch new innovations and technologies and provides 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. 

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.

Taking place at the Make it in the Emirates Forum from 31 May to 1 June, the competition is open to just 24 start-ups from all over the world. Startups from various sectors with a focus on sustainability, decarbonization-and digitalization are welcomed to apply.

Tariq Al Hashimi, Director of Advanced Technology Adoption and Development at the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology 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. However, access to funding and other enablers remains a huge challenge for startups all over the world. That is why the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology is leveraging the Make it in the Emirates Forum as 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.

Al Hashimi added: “Start-ups participating in the competition will be able to access unique investment and collaboration opportunities, as well as get exposed to a suite of incentives offered by the UAE’s Advanced Technology ecosystem. The Ministry is committed to supporting companies of all sizes as part of our mission to create an industrial and technology ecosystem that generates inclusive and sustainable economic growth.”

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.

In 2022, MoIAT launched the inaugural Make it in the Emirates Forum, which received the attendance of around 1,800 stakeholders, including investors from around the world. The forum resulted in offtake agreements worth AED 110 billion with national enterprises committing to purchase more than 300 products from local suppliers to support their future growth plans.

The second Make it in the Emirates Forum, which takes place at the Abu Dhabi Energy Centre, aims to build on this success and is set to draw significant interest and attendance from across the region and beyond.