District 2020:
The human-centric smart city that will emerge from Expo 2020 Dubai, has revealed a range of main collaborations that will help curate its industrial transformation and startup culture, coinciding with UAE Innovates 2021, the annual UAE Innovation week.
District 2020 is commemorating its contribution to promoting innovation in the UAE and projecting the UAE’s goal of being the world’s most ambitious and future-ready nation. This is widely exhibited during the nationwide event.
District 2020 is bringing together Fortune 500 firms. the global entities which comprise, SMEs, entrepreneurs, research institutes, laboratories, accelerators, and venture capitalists to consciously curate a business ecosystem focused on fostering innovation. It is backed by the new 5G technology, innovative technologies such as IoT, an urban lab, and an ecosystem built to meet the needs of the companies and people who will live, work, and play there as a human-centered smart city. It will encourage collaboration and enable large and small businesses to evaluate and implement ideas and solutions that will benefit their respective industries.
Local Foreign Partnership
District 2020 has also revealed its new local and foreign partnerships with startup enablers from the UAE and around the world, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Namibia, Slovenia, Malaysia, and Botswana. These new partners will include a network of qualifying foreign startups and small businesses to District 2020’s global entrepreneur program, Scale2Dubai, building a network of local, regional, and international startups at the forefront of the innovation ecosystem.
The latest international collaborations between Scale2Dubai and the Founder Institute in the United States; British Centres for Business (BCB); Namibia’s Ministry of Industrialization and Trade; the Slovene Enterprise Fund; Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC); Botswana’s Local Enterprise Authority highlight District 2020’s commitment to attract and support small businesses. District 2020 has previously partnered with important local institutions such as Dubai SME and the Mohammed Bin Rashed Innovation Fund.
Solving problems with the use of smart Technologies
District 2020 is recreating an environment that will prioritize the needs of these companies and the potential workforce in a rapidly changing global landscape and the post-pandemic world through its human-centered approach and infrastructure design. District 2020 will incorporate creative implementations of the new smart technology, such as IoT-to solve problems and develop services, allowing the city to work both smarter and more environmentally sustainable, thanks to the knowledge gained from Expo 2020 Dubai. District 2020’s urban lab, an open data platform, and testbed for organizations to test their solutions to urban issues in a real-world setting, they simply want to help make things better in that regard.
“We are developing an innovation ecosystem and community that will allow businesses in District 2020 to realize their potential,” as explained by Tala Al Ansari, Director, Innovation Ecosystem and Scale2Dubai Program, District 2020. We recognize how difficult it is for most companies to expand into new markets. We developed the Scale2Dubai program to directly address the needs of start-ups and small businesses and help them on their journey after researching the challenges they face.
“Our partnership with District 2020 is a smart step for our organization and the global tech startups we support,” said Sameer Sortur, Managing Director, The Founder Institute – UAE. The Founder Institute and District 2020 also recognize the difficulties that growing companies face, as well as the enormous, industry-changing potential that can be realized once these constraints are defeated.
