The Dubai Future Accelerators, an intensive public-private sector program that pairs top firms and cutting-edge entrepreneurs with leading government departments to co-create breakthrough solutions for the public good, has named Jon Bradford as the executive advisor and Paul Smith as the head of the program.

It is a part of a larger program called the Dubai Future Agenda and hosted by the Dubai Future Foundation in partnership with the seven founding entities of the Dubai Government, was recently launched by the Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

The program received an unprecedented number of submissions. Over 2,200 companies from 73 countries, on all seven continents, applied to be a part of the inaugural program. Only one per cent of applicants were accepted.

On the appointment, CEO Saif Al Aleeli, said: "The positive global reaction that the programme received from innovation-led companies and entrepreneurs attracted Bradford and Smith, both of whom had amassed extensive experience and boast an impeccable track record in managing the biggest business accelerators around the world."

"Selecting them to be a part of the team is a testament to our commitment to enrich the programme with the most prominent experts in the world in order to achieve Sheikh Mohammed's vision which aims to cement the status of Dubai and the UAE as a global hub for anticipating and shaping the future," he stated.

"We have no doubt that John Bradford's and Paul Smith's experience and deep knowledge - coupled with their ability to achieve outstanding results - will support our efforts to attract the best and most innovative startups, and to overcome the challenges facing the economic sectors of the cities of the 21st century. We are certain that these experts will bring immense experience to their roles in the Accelerators programme, and contribute to building our national capacities."

Bradford, one of the most experienced early stage investors in Europe, had launched the first accelerator bootcamp outside of the US in 2009 that subsequently was merged with Techstars to become Techstars' first international programme.

He also helped launch a further nine accelerators from Montreal to Moscow earning him the title "Godfather of European Accelerators".

Bradford is also the cofounder of F6S, the world's largest social network for entrepreneurs with over 1.5MM users and the cofounder of Tech.eu, Europe's premier tech news site. He was recently appointed as the director of the John Bradford Centre based in Cambridge.

"The UAE government has invited the world to help transform the future and I have the privilege of being part of this massively ambitious initiative", remarked Bradford, who also pointed out that today's global challenges are the byproduct of mainstream economic growth models; and that the Dubai Future Accelerators program is a front runner for change and innovation, and 21st century new technologies.

Smith is the former CEO and co-founder of Ignite, one of Europe's leading accelerator programs.

He has managed a dozen programmes and coached over 200 entrepreneurs besides co-founding Campus North, a 15,000 sq ft co-working space voted Best Workplace in Britain 2016.

More recently, Paul was Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Techstars.

"For startups and scale-ups, I don't think there's an opportunity like this anywhere else in the world right now," stated Smith.

"The scale of both the ambition and enthusiasm for supporting the development of transformational technologies has taken me by surprise; Dubai genuinely has the potential to benefit the world," he added.-TradeArabia News Service