UAE digital startups could increase global GDP by $1.5 trillion and create 10 million youth jobs, according to industry experts.

Demonstrating the UAE’s potential, the country ranks as the top in the Mena region, and top 20 in the world in supporting entrepreneurs, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Index 2016, experts highlighted at the recent SAP Startup Focus Event, held in the build-up to the upcoming Gitex Technology Week 2016 in Dubai, UAE.

By 2020, digital startups in general will help increase global GDP by $1.5 trillion, according to the recent Accenture report “Harnessing the Power of Entrepreneurs to Open Innovation”.

In line with UAE Vision 2021, which is transforming the country into a global entrepreneurship hub, the SAP Training and Development Institute has conducted a second Startup Focus Event in the UAE, held in partnership with Dubai Internet City’s in5 Innovation Center.

During the two-day event with more than 150 participants, innovators gained insights from successful startup founders, and interacted with media and venture capitalists. Promising entrepreneurs also learned operational details on running their startup, and gained coding skills to build their application on SAP HANA, one of the world’s fastest growing in memory platforms. The event provided attending startups with the opportunity to become part of the global SAP Startup Focus Program.

Majed Al Suwaidi, managing director of Dubai Internet City and Dubai Outsource City, said: "We are pleased to supports this year's SAP Startup Focus event which is one of the largest software companies in the world, and together we will offer entrepreneurs a vibrant environment to ignite their ideas.”

“The success story of in5 innovation centre we launched in 2013 is a testament to Dubai Internet City's commitment to support and encourage innovation and creativity among startups and technopreneurs by providing promising talents with opportunities to network and learn from experts. In5 has played a leading role in supporting the tech start-up ecosystem in the region, and we are developing the innovation hub to stimulate innovation and excellence across technology, new media, smart education and sciences.

"We shall always try to provide small businesses and startups the right platforms to grow, expand and continue to look at ways to foster innovation, enterprise and entrepreneurship over the coming years,” added Al Suwaidi.

The Startup Focus Program supports more than 3,400 startups worldwide, providing startups with free access to tools, support, and training to develop innovations on the SAP HANA Cloud Platform, and bring them to market in an ecosystem of 2 million people and 310,000 customers in 190 countries.

The SAP Training and Development Institute launched the Startup Focus Program in Mena in fall 2015, while meanwhile 10 startups building their business success on SAP’s innovative technology. – TradeArabia News Service