Dubai set to become innovation hub; woos Indian entrepreneurs

Looking to transform itself into an innovation hub, Dubai is wooing entrepreneurs from India, the third biggest startup base in the world, to set up shops in the emirate.

The focus is on technology-driven startups, wherein the authorities are offering easier business licences, office spaces and access to funding.

Dubai grew to prominence first as a trading hub, and then as a construction, tourism and manufacturing centre. However, it grew at 1.9 per cent in 2018, the slowest growth since the post-crisis time in 2010.

“When we decided to launch the programme of attracting overseas startups here, naturally the first choice was India, as 30 per cent co-founders of our Dubai Startup Hub have Indian origin,” Natalia Sycheva, manager, entrepreneurship department of Dubai Chamber of Commerce said.

“We have a strong focus on India and we realise how our incubators will benefit from Indian talent,” she said, adding that the chamber has launched Dubai Startup Hub to attract startups here.

“We would like to have around a couple of hundreds of startups, to bring their businesses to Dubai,” she added.

They are looking at companies in emerging technologies like blockchain, artificial intelligence and digital transformations, with a focus on how their solutions can be applied to help the local economy, she said.

These startups should bring changes in e-commerce, constction, logistics and retail sectors, she said.

The hub organised roadshows at the Indian startup capital of Bengaluru and Delhi last month to identify and attract high-potential startups from India.

Selected startups will get business licences and an office set-up in Dubai as well as assistance in getting access to various government or private sector funding, she said.

Sycheva added that efforts are also on to get startups from different African countries.

The chamber feels that there is a lot of potential for the growth of trade between India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

“India is Dubai’s second-largest trading partner with $31.4 billion worth of bilateral non-oil trade in 2018, a 17 per cent increase compared to the previous year. But we see a lot of opportunity in the increase of this figure in coming future,” she said.

The local government is expecting approximately 1.5 per cent of the UAE’s annual forecast of the gross domestic product (GDP) during the six months of the Dubai Expo 2020 to be held next year, Jon Bramley, vice president, communication of the Dubai Expo 2020 said.

He said India is participating in a big way at the Expo, which will feature 192 individual country pavilions in 4.38 square km area.

The World Expo is one of the world’s oldest and largest international events, taking place every five years and lasting for six months, which serve as a bridge between governments, companies, international organisations and citizens.