Deeptech founders, CEOs and industry leaders are exploring strategies for smarter enterprise approaches, highlighting cross-continental collaboration at Gitex Global which kicked off welcoming 6,500 exhibitors from over 180 countries.

 

The entire international tech ecosystem has descended on Dubai to attend the world’s largest and best-rated tech event. The latest addition to the packed schedule comes at a vital time where statistics showed there were more than 1,000 unicorns around the world in 2023. 

 

This week’s showcase will help support the next development while bringing together 59 top global unicorns with a combined valuation of $400 billion. The impressive list to have gathered includes Axelera, DeepL Synthesis AI, and Insilico Medicine.

 

1,800 startups

The show welcomed 1,800 startups, 1,200 investors alongside governments from more than 180 countries – the highest-ever international participation at Gitex Global – comprising enterprises, experts, investors, startups, academia, researchers, and the entire global tech ecosystem. 

 

Across a capacity-crowd venue, international audiences became acquainted with a wide variety of incredible innovations on Day 1 of Gitex Global 2024. UAE technology group G42 presented its Intelligence Grid immersive experience, enabling visitors to discover how AI can power every aspect of future life as a ‘super utility’. Lenovo showcased its new range of hardware and cloud solution equipped with transformative AI capabilities of the future, while e& showcased some the world’s most mindblowing protypes in all of tech. One of the highlights was the XPeng AeroHT eVTOL Flying Car – enabling audiences to discover how such innovations represent a historic opportunity to revolutionise aviation and personal transportation. 

 

With five incredible themes across five unmissable days this year, “Tech Investment Day” was first up with World Future Economy Digital Leaders Summit amongst the many shows that drew huge crowds and received widespread audience acclaim. 

 

Global leader in the new economy

In a special briefing, Abdullah Bin Touq Al Marri, Cabinet Member & UAE Minister of Economy, addressed attendees during ‘Rise of the New Economy: AI & Emerging Industries’. This session delved into the UAE’s strategic initiatives fostering innovation, enhancing competitiveness, and positioning the country as a global leader in the new economy.

 

With the UAE’s non-oil sector accounting for 74% of national gross domestic product (GDP) in 2024, Al Marri reaffirmed the Ministry of Economy’s ambitious plans for the years ahead, insisting: “We are in the business of breaking records. We’ve already achieved a non-oil sector that accounts for 74% of GDP – this record has never happened before in our country’s history. The UAE’s environment and ecosystem attracts people from around the globe – and the target now is to reach 80% by 2030 and become an R&D hub for the world.”

 

With several leadership sessions held throughout the Monday schedule, Faisal Al Bannai, Advisor to the UAE President & Secretary General of the Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), shared key insights and perspectives during ‘AI Leadership: Steering Societal Transformation’. AI socio-economic implications were discussed alongside global AI leadership, models, governance, and regulation.

 

Elsewhere on a historic opening day to celebrate Gitex Global’s record-extending 44th edition, new industry-defining programmes were also launched – including Gitex Editions, an exclusive platform for late-stage advanced tech companies and a premier hub for unicorns, soonicorns and rhinos. 

 

59 top unicorns

Gitex Editions connect 59 top global unicorns and was attended by Omar Sultan Al Olama, UAE Minister of State for AI, Digital Economy & Remote Work Applications, also addressed attendees between another applauded leadership session – ‘The UAE As The Sandbox For Pragmatic Ai Regulation And Policy Development’. 

 

The year’s most impactful discussions surrounding AI’s future in society and industry were also attending by high numbers of visitors. While discussing the most transformative AI case studies across government, enterprise, and startups, the need to balance AI’s potential with creativity and human intuition was examined in various sessions, including ‘Regulating Tech: The Intersection of Tech, Crime and Law’. 

 

Didier Jacobs, Head of ICT & Chief AI Officer at Europol, stressed that heightened collaboration and cooperation are needed to overcome challenges and solve international crime, adding: “Cybercrime knows no borders. There are many technologies that can be misused for hacking, extortion, sabotage, illegal transactions, and so on. What’s needed are solutions – a blend of increased human collaboration and technology deployment is essential.”

 

As this week marks the largest-ever European participation at Gitex Global with 38 European countries exhibiting alongside 1,000-plus SMEs and 450-plus startups, the European Innovation Council pavilion was officially launched to commemorate the milestone. 

 

With debuting exhibitors from countries including Austria, Portugal, Latvia, Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Switzerland in attendance, Trixie LohMirmand, Executive Vice President of DWTC, the organiser of Gitex Global, opened the brand-new site. This casts a unique spotlight on Europe’s AI, tech, and innovation advancements alongside the cross-continental collaboration efforts currently taking shape across the continent. 

 

Super AI Tuesday

Gitex Global 2024 continues Tuesday as “Super AI Tuesday” showcases how AI is transforming business strategies, revolutionising industries, and creating new growth opportunities across the globe. Up until Friday (October 18), attendees can also explore the latest tech sector services and solutions being rolled out across Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. 

 

Gitex Global is seamlessly connecting with world’s largest network of tech events with its stellar list including Gitex EUROPE Berlin, Gitex ASIA Singapore, Gitex AFRICA Morocco, and Gitex NIGERIA. These events are fostering collaboration and driving innovation to shape the tech landscape of tomorrow.

 

In one of the sessions, the Founder and CEO of digital health unicorn Insilico Medicine, Dr Alex Zhavoronkov joined Tamer Elhamy, Chief Partner Officer of Microsoft Middle East to discuss the importance of Merger and Acquisitions (M&A) and how AI companies are making their foundational models work smarter for enterprises. 

 

The audience heard that the Middle East region is leading the way with digitalisation with more than 300 deals related to M&A completed in the first half of 2024 with half of those led by the UAE.

 

Scaling GCC business globally

The staging of Gitex Editions aligns with Dubai’s ambition to be the home of 30 startup unicorns by 2030 as the emirate continues to transform itself from a regional to a global entrepreneurship hub and support its digital ambitions. Today, Dubai is embarking on its journey with 40% of Mena’s scaleups already based in the emirate.

 

To help nurture the growth of tomorrow’s giants in the GCC region, Harrison Lung, Group Chief Strategy Officer of e& was joined by Tanuja Randery, Managing Director, Europe, Middle East and Africa of Amazon Web Services (AWS) in an insightful session that focused on the importance of collaboration.

 

Harrison Lung explained the importance of joining hands to forge stronger alliances. He said: “For us, it’s more about a transformation towards a global technology company. In the areas of partnering, the idea is to develop a win-win proposition and solving the needs of customers.”

 

With the region growing rapidly, Tanuja Randery said there is no better time than now for companies to enter the market and agrees collaboration is crucial. She said: “This region is so attractive in terms of the growth potential. I read a stat that showed that almost 70 per cent of businesses in the Middle East want to move most of their operations to the Cloud in two years’ time and this could unlock $733 billion of economic value by 2033. To make Cloud make accessible, we need partners and alliances.”

 

Driving investments for startups

Funding is a key pillar to drive growth – both in the long and short-term but can be often challenging. Steven Hoffman, Venture Investor, Author; and Chairman & CEO of Founders Space, gave key advice on how startups should adopt a vertical growth strategy for the future. 

 

He said: “There is a lot of money going into AI but most of that is going into a handful of companies which are dominating the market and this is impacting the growth of startups. As such, a lot of money is now going into vertical AI where the specialist area is only on one focus such as healthcare or hospitality and this is centred around this business model and adding AI on top of this.”

 

In another session, Kai Zenner, Head of Office & Digital Policy Advisor of EU Parliament and Dr Agostino Ghiglia, Board Member of the Italian Data Protection Authority took part in a broader discussion on the AI EU Act and its global implications for the next generation of AI-driven unicorns.--TradeArabia News Service